Business Insider/Mary Hanbury HomeGoods is one of TJX's homeware stores.
- People love shopping at TJ Maxx for the "treasure-hunt" experience it offers. Its sister store, HomeGoods, offers a similar kind of experience.
- TJX Companies' homeware business accounts for 30% of its sales overall. Its homeware offering in the United States is spread across three stores: HomeGoods, TJ Maxx, and most recently, Homesense.
- The retailer is doubling down on this category, opening more homeware stores across the US.
- We visited one of its HomeGoods stores outside Philadelphia and were extremely impressed by the shopping experience, especially the selection, price, and quality of the products on offer.
TJ Maxx's parent company is doubling down on its homeware business to boost growth.
Off-price
HomeGoods has 690 stores in the United States, while Homesense is a brand-new concept with only four locations. Homesense is native to Canada and only hit US soil with a location in Framingham, Massachusetts, in 2017.
The company is now looking to grow both stores alongside each other. Homesense could eventually reach 400 locations in total, CEO Ernie Herrman told investors in a recent earnings call.
HomeGoods, TJX's other homeware store, has been around much longer, since 1992. It stocks top home brands at prices that are generally 20-60% below department-store prices.
During a recent visit to a TJ Maxx store in Pennsylvania, I stumbled across an attached HomeGoods store. This was my first experience shopping at HomeGoods, and while it should be noted that this store was pretty much brand-new - it opened in November - and therefore more likely to be a shining example of the chain, I left with a good impression.
The only confusing part is knowing when to go to HomeGoods and when to go to Homesense - and how HomeGoods will differentiate itself without cannibalizing sales at its sister store.
Here's what it was like to shop at HomeGoods: