T.K. Maxx

T.K. Maxx

Type	Subsidiary of TJX Companies
Founded	1994
Headquarters	Watford, United Kingdom
Industry	Retail
Products	Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewellery, beauty products, toys and housewares.
Website	www.tkmaxx.com

T.K. Maxx is the only 'off-price' retailer in Europe with stores throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and Germany.^[1] The company is part of the TJX Companies which also owns other 'off-price' retail chains such as T.J. Maxx and Marshalls in the United States. They offer brand name clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, beauty products, and housewares at up to 60% off their recommended retail price.

As of June 2009, T.K. Maxx operated 243 stores across Europe; 212 stores in the United Kingdom, 13 in Ireland and 18 in Germany. In the later part of 2009, TK Maxx is to expand into Poland with the opening of three new stores. Sites in the Krakow, Katowice and Lodz regions are being considered.

History

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The first T.K. Maxx opened in Bristol in 1994.^[2] T.K. Maxx's United States parent company, T.J. Maxx, adopted the name T.K. Maxx to avoid confusion with the existing but separate discount chain T J Hughes^{[citation needed]}.

TK Maxx is part of TJX Europe headed by Paul Sweetenham as SEVP Group President. TJX Europe is split into four divisions: TK Maxx UK & Ireland headed by Susanne Given, TK Maxx Germany headed by Gino Barrera, and HomeSense UK headed by Dave Alves. The fourth division is Shared Services which as the title suggests consists of shared services between the three trading divisions such as distribution, logistics, buying and finance. Each trading division has their own Human Resource, Marketing & Loss Prevention departments to meet the individual needs of each division.

In 2007, TK Maxx began a slowing down of new store openings within the UK. Focus was given to revamping older inner city stores or relocating them. Some of the chains first stores such as Bristol and Reading have been expanded and extensively refurbished while others such as Southampton, Cardiff and Hull have been relocated to bigger sites. As part of the businesses slow down of new stores, TK Maxx confirmed that they were only interested in opening stores averaging 30,000 sq ft. This decision saw the creation of the Maxx Maxx concept, a new department store format that saw TK Maxx get away from its pack it high, sell it cheap reputation into a large store format that sees a much larger product offer. Examples of Maxx Maxx store are Cardiff, Birmingham Bull Ring, Hammersmith, Manchester Market Street, Dundee & Cork.

The business continues to expand and in recent years TK Maxx has concentrated its efforts on developing individual brands, such as Kids Maxx and expanding Shoe departments. The introduction of new departments such as jewellery have improved customer choice.^{[citation needed]}

The company also intends further expansion into the German market. The first store in Germany opened on 4 October 2007 in Lübeck.^[3] The chain hopes that this will be more successful than the company's earlier attempt at opening stores in the Netherlands between 1999 and 2001.

In August 2008, T.K. Maxx opened its first central London store on High Street Kensington, on the site formerly occupied by Habitat.^[4]

In March 2009 the TK Maxx e-commerce site was launched at first only selling handbags. The range of products has now been expanded and includes other accessories.^[5]

In 2009, T.K. Maxx became locked in a dispute regarding their plans to open a store at Piccadilly Circus, London. They signed an agreement in February 2009 to occupy the 20,000-square-foot (1,858 m²) unit, formerly used by Virgin Megastores and later Zavvi, with a £1.55 million a year rent.^[6] The freehold to the land is owned by Crown Estate who had the final decision on allowing the company to move into the unit. Crown Estate rejected the plans, saying that it did not fit in with the strategy they had for the site which planned to give the area an upmarket appeal.^[7] The decision was met with condemnation from publicist Max Clifford who launched a campaign in conjunction with Look magazine to persuade Crown Estate to allow the store open in the unit. The campaign has received the support of girl band The Saturdays and television presenter Konnie Huq.^[8] T.K. Maxx has now gone to court to appeal against the decision.^[9]

2007 credit card fraud

In March 2007, the company was at the centre of major credit card fraud which affected its international operations. Details of customers' credit cards and debit cards were accessed by computer hackers, exposing 45.7 million customers to potential theft from their accounts. According to the company this affected customers who used their card between January 2003 and June 2004 at any branch of T.K. Maxx.^[10] Details were stolen by hackers installing software via wi-fi^[11] in June 2005 that allowed them to access personal information on customers. The breach continued until January 2007.^[12]

Eleven people from around the world were charged with the breach in 2008.^[13] Outside security provider Protegrity has estimated that T.K. Maxx's losses as a result of the data breach may reach £800 million in the years to come. The losses would come as a result of paying for credit checks and administrative costs for managing the fallout from the breach.^[14]

Charity work

In the UK in 2007, T.K. Maxx was an active participant of Comic Relief, having been the sole retailer of the Red Nose Day t-shirts which generated £2 million to the Comic Relief cause.^[15]. In 2009, T.K. Maxx was again the sole retailer of the Red Nose Day t-shirts with exclusive designs by Stella McCartney, raising a total of £3,200,589.^[16]

T.K. Maxx also works with the Woodland Trust by starting to charge for plastic carrier bags in August 2008 and donating the proceeds to the Trust. The proceeds have allowed the Woodland Trust to plant 30,000 new trees on a 15 acres (60,703 m²) site near Elmstead Market, Essex. The usage of carrier bags from T.K. Maxx has reduced by 73% since the scheme was launched. Since 2004, T.K. Maxx has held a Christmas card recycling scheme in conjunction with the Trust.^[17]

See also

• T.J. Maxx
• TJX Companies

References

External links

• T.K. Maxx Official Website
• TJX Companies Official Website