The TJX Companies Inc. CEO Carol Meyrowitz reiterated her interest last week in developing Sierra Trading Post into the company's fourth major U.S. retail brand behind its T.J. Maxx, Marshalls and Homegoods chains.
Since being acquired by TJX in December, 2012, Cheyenne, WY-based Sierra Trading Post has expanded from two retail locations to six – a tiny fraction of the nearly 2,600 stores TJX operates in the United States.
TJX raised its forecast for fiscal 2016 earnings per share and comp store sales growth May 19, when it reported results for the fiscal first quarter ended May 2 exceeded plan. The off-price retailer reported net sales for the period increased 6 percent to $6.9 billion, and consolidated comparable store sales increased 5 percent. Net income reached $475 million, or 69 cents per fully diluted share, up 8 percent over the fiscal first quarter a year earlier.
In the company's quarterly earnings call, Meyrowitz said an abundance of goods and brands, TJX's unparalleled ability to buy them at deep discounts worldwide and a store remodeling effort that is drawing younger customers boosted her confidence that TJX can add more than 1,500 new stores in North America.
“This does not even include the potential of rolling out Sierra Trading Post as the fourth U.S. chain,” she said.
Sierra Trading Post plans to open its seventh and eighth new stores this year, including its first location in the Northeast. The company recently pulled permits to build a store in Colorado Springs, that would mark its third location in Colorado, where it opened two stores last year. The retailer also recently broke ground on a 350,000-square-foot expansion to its fulfillment center in Cheyenne.
