AJWright

AJWright

Former type	Subsidiary of TJX Companies
Industry	Retail
Fate	Some stores converted to either T.J. Maxx, Marshalls or HomeGoods, other stores closed beginning late January to early February
Founded	1998
Defunct	2011
Headquarters	Framingham, MA
Products	Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, and housewares.
Website	www.aj-wright.com

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AJWright (formerly formatted as A.J. Wright until 2009) was a chain of about 129^[1] American retail/outlet stores established in 1998 and owned by TJX Companies. Like its sister company T.J. Maxx, AJWright sold clothing, domestics, giftware, footwear, accessories, and fragrances at prices between twenty and seventy percent below regular prices.^[2] AJWright differed from other TJX chains by refreshing its merchandise on a regular basis. For most stores, new shipments arrived every weekday.^[2] In early 2011, TJX closed the chain's remaining stores and converted some stores to other TJX brands.

Although AJWright's primary target market was moderate-income families, its recent expansion drew additional consumer groups.^[1] The company's community service strategy centered on monetary donations to the Boys and Girls Club of America and other affiliates.^[3]

History

AJWright's former logo, used until 2009

AJWright opened its first six stores in the northeastern region of the United States in the fall of 1998.^[4] The first three stores – located in the towns of Brockton, Somerville, and Malden, Massachusetts – were opened simultaneously on September 20 of that year.^[5] During the initial openings, Johnson & Wales University's marketing director, Mark Neckes, approved of AJWright; he stated that AJWright strengthens TJX's coverage of urban markets, an area "where people need a place to shop [and] a place where retailers understand what people are looking for".^[5]

AJWright continued to open new stores as its customer base increased. By 2000, AJWright operated 25 stores across the United States; by December 2001, the number had increased to 40.^[6] The chain opened an additional 112 stores by the end of 2005, bringing its total to 152;^[1] however, this number will fluctuate due to store closures. In 2006, one business article stated that AJWright was "in the red" and that TJX needed to "figure out the future of its newer divisions, the less profitable AJWright and HomeGoods stores and the non-off-price Bob’s Stores".^[7] Therefore, the company chose to focus on lowering the rapid expansion of the chain.^[7]

One of the 34 stores undergoing closing procedures

On November 30, 2006, TJX announced the closure of 34 underproducing stores.^[8] According to a TJX 10-Q on December 1, 2006, the closures were determined by "several factors, including market demographics and proximity to other AJWright stores, cash return, sales volume and productivity, recent comparable store sales and profit trends, and overall market performance".^[9] Employees were provided with severance packages or offers to transfer to other AJWright or TJX stores.^[10] Ben Cammarata, CEO of TJX Companies, stated:^[11]

The tentative closure date for the stores was January 27, 2007.^[11] Because of closing expenses, TJX expected to include a reduction of $37 million in their fourth quarter 2006 net income statement.^[8] On February 21, 2007, TJX reported that the net income had fallen from $288.7 million the previous year to $205.5 million; the reduction included the $37 million closing expenses.^[12][13] The company expected to open about ten new stores by 2008.^[8]

During this period, the TJX database was hacked and customer information was compromised.^[14][15] Although TJX originally stated that the security breach occurred between May 2006 and January 2007, the company discovered that the database had also been compromised in 2005.^[12][13]

In December, 2010 TJX corporation announced a consolidation that would eliminate the A.J. Wright chain. Many A.J. Wright stores were converted into T.J. Maxx, Marshalls or HomeGoods stores, while the remaining were permanently shuttered along with distribution centers. The entire process resulted in approximately 4400 layoffs.^[16]
A.J. Wright stores created many unwelcomed complaints for the owner of a Chicago-based PR firm that owns the website under the same name and whom had the website years prior to the stores existence. The owner contacted TJX corporation many times over the past years to come up with a reasonable solution to infringement on the name and website confusion but they kept putting it off and now are out of business in some locations. However, the company's executives never shared with the stockholders what was going on with the name and how the confusion caused the PR firm unwanted threats, complaints and lawsuits. TJX simply ignored the attempt to come to a win win resolution for both entities and perhaps aided in the closure of the stores. The owner of the Chicago firm, which still operates today, warned the TJX executives that not disclosing the conflict would not be a good PR move for the company or its stockholders who she knew didn't know the entire story behind the losses, suits, etc. She even suggested that she attend a board meeting to explain to the stockholders what was going on with the chain and to allow her to share some of the evidence that affected her firm as well due to the confusion. However, the executives did nothing and hoped that both the complaints and the PR firm's owner would just go away. What may be behind the failure of the chain is the fact that they did not disclose the conflicts with the PR firm and the numerous suits that they did not know about due to their unwillingness to come up with an amicable agreement with the owner over the violations.

Slogans

• "Part of your family. Part of your community."^[2]
• "More of what you like, for less."^[2]

See also

• BJ's Wholesale Club
• Home Club
• Zayre

References

External links

• AJWright Official Website
• TJX Companies Official Website
• Demographics breakdown for the company website

v t e The TJX Companies, Inc. Carol Meyrowitz (Director and President) Retailers: AJWright (closed)  · HomeGoods · HomeSense · Marshalls · StyleSense · T.J. Maxx · T.K. Maxx · Winners Annual Revenue: $17.4 billion USD (FY 2006) · Employees: 125,000 · Stock Symbol: NYSE: TJX · Website: tjx.com