TJX decides to fold A.J. Wright

HTT Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 12/10/2010 2:45:54 PM

Framingham, Mass. - The TJX Companies plans to shutter its A.J. Wright operations, converting 91 stores to its T.J. Maxx, Marshalls or HomeGoods formats and closing the remain 71 stores as well as its two distribution centers and home office.
The move will cut 4,400 jobs from the company payroll, nearly half of them part-time positions.
The decision "will allow us to focus our financial and managerial resources on our highest return businesses, all of which have significant growth opportunities, as well as to significantly improve the economic prospects of our business. A critical factor in this decision is that, over the past two years, we have learned how to serve the A.J. Wright customer with our T.J. Maxx and Marshalls banners and have seen very strong performance from these stores in demographic markets similar to those in which we have A.J. Wright stores," said Carol Meyrowitz, TJX president and ceo.
The company now expects the Marmaxx division to grow to 2,300 to 2.400 stores, which is 300 to 400 more stores than its had originally projected.
The stores are to close between late January and mid February.