In my law school days, I was a huge fan of TJ Maxx — I’d spend many a study break roaming the aisles, looking for treasure (and finding it more often than not — I once got a pair of Armani trousers there, deeply discounted to $80.)  Still, I haven’t been a regular shopper there in years.  Part of it was lack of time on my part (as you ladies know, it’s often a challenge to shop in the store when you work long hours and can’t get there before they close!), and part of it was a general dissatisfaction when I’d been to NYC stores.  (I’ve always found that TJ Maxx can be very location-centric — if you’re in a ritzier area, the store will have much better merchandise than it will in a worse neighborhood.  For example, I’d heard reports of a friend finding La Perla lingerie in a bargain bin at the store in the Hamptons; my Armani find was from the store near the posh Chevy Chase, MD.)

Still, I never quite “got it” — how could they have the same dress that I’d just seen at the department store, but for 50% off? I assumed that everything was irregulars, or that perhaps there was some problem I couldn’t quite detect (like a sloppy stitch somewhere) or didn’t care about (e.g., a mislabeled size).  So a a few weeks ago, I was honored to be invited (along with a few other bloggers) to visit the headquarters of TJ Maxx and hear more about their business…. and since a lot of you readers may be traveling to more suburban homes this weekend, I thought I’d talk about it today.

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