Marshalls is an American chain of

off-price Off-price is a trading format based on discount pricing. Off-price retailers are independent of manufacturers and buy large volumes of branded goods directly from them. The off-price retail model relies on the purchase of over-produced, or excess, b ...

department store A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...

s owned by

TJX Companies The TJX Companies, Inc. (abbreviated TJX) is an American multinational off-price department store corporation, headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts. It was formed as a subsidiary of Zayre Corp. in 1987, and became the legal successor t ...

. Marshalls has over 1,000 American stores, including larger stores named Marshalls Mega Store, covering 42 states and

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

, and 61 stores in Canada. Marshalls first expanded into Canada in March 2011. Marshalls is one of the largest U.S. off-price family apparel and home fashion retailers, along with its sister company,

TJ Maxx TJ Maxx (stylized as T•J•maxx) is an American department store chain, selling at prices generally lower than other major similar stores. It has more than 1,000 stores in the United States, making it one of the largest clothing retailers in ...

. Its slogans are ''Your Surprise Is Waiting'' and ''Never Boring, Always Surprising''. Marshalls Mega Store in Puerto Rico

History

Marshalls traces its history to 1956, when Alfred Marshall gathered a band of innovative entrepreneurs on the East Coast, including Bernard Goldston, Norman Barren, and Irving Blitt (Frank Estey and Bernard Ribas joined the entrepreneurs in 1960 by purchasing Bernard Goldston's shares), to collectively start up the "Brand Names For Less" concept. Marshalls did not carry clothing until Irving Blitt (who later handled the sporting goods concession) called his friend Al Marshall letting him know he had the opportunity to purchase factory second Arrow shirts while on a trip to New York. Contemplating the dual postwar phenomena of a boom in the economy and growth in the suburbs, Marshall and associates came upon a way to meet it profitably. Together, they opened a self-service

in Beverly, Massachusetts, offering apparel and homewares at alluringly low prices. Additional floor space was "sublet" to offer customers shoes, hardware, and sporting goods from separate sellers, but the separate ownership of those departments was invisible to the shopper. The original store also had a soda fountain/grill, which was another sublet of floor space, the "A & M Luncheonette" (for Alice & Mickey Masters, the proprietors). The concept proved extremely successful. Ten years later, Marshalls had become the leading off-price retail chain in the nation. Given the volatility of the American economy in the 1970s, with recession affecting the spending habits of most shoppers, the off-price industry gathered speed. By buying up manufacturers' post-season, overrun, and close-out stock, Marshalls was able to offer fashionable, high-quality "designer" items at prices 20 to 60 percent less than those of the department stores. In 1976, Marshalls was acquired by

Melville Corporation Melville Corporation, formerly based in Rye, New York, was a large retail holding company incorporated by Ward Melville in 1922 from Melville Shoe Company. It became CVS Corporation in 1996 under a massive reorganization plan. The company trade ...

. By 1993, Marshalls had expanded throughout 42 states including

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

, and had opened several downtown locations. In 1995, Marshalls was purchased by

TJX The TJX Companies, Inc. (abbreviated TJX) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Discount store, off-price department store corporation, headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts. It was formed as a subsidiary of Zayre, Zayre ...

, the parent company of its main rival,

, for $550 million. Marshalls and T.J. Maxx operate as sister stores, and share a similar footprint throughout the country. While the two offer near-identical prices and have similar store layouts, Marshalls differentiates itself by featuring a larger emphasis on family footwear and larger men's and juniors departments. In 2019, Marshalls began operating a website for online shopping.

Legal troubles

TJX paid US $100 million settlement in California to settle an employee class-action suit in 2002, which alleged that Marshalls abused exempt/nonexempt classifications to avoid the payment of overtime or compensation time to employees in certain roles performing non-exempt job duties, as required by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.

Charity

The enterprise has developed national and local partnerships with U.S. charitable organizations. All donations and fund-raising efforts from Marshalls are connected to helping children, families, and their communities with these programs: *Domestic Violence Prevention * Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation *National Youth Anti-Drug Campaign * St. Jude Children's Research Hospital *United Way

Marshalls Canada

Marshalls opened its first locations in Canada in March 2011. As of November 2016, Marshalls Canada had 50 stores with plans to operate approximately 100 stores across the country.

References

External links