MARSHALL'S STORES

Current Fashion Industry Environment

The Marshall's store chain is owned by The TJX Companies, which operates several retail chains nationwide. Marshall's, which was bought by TJX in 1995, is treated as a single operating unit along with TJ Maxx stores, the combined unit being known as Marmaxx.

Overall, The TJX Companies operate 1493 retail locations, of which 661 are TJ Maxx stores while 538 are Marshall's stores. While Marshalls is subsumed for operating and reporting purposes within the Marmaxx unit, Marshall's stores are thus effectively the secondlargest component of TJX in terms of locations, accounting for slightly more than a third of the parent firm's total retail outlets.

Strictly speaking, Marshall's is a department store rather than purely an apparel retailer. However, from observation the great majority of floor space at a typical Marshall's is given over to apparel. Moreover, other store offerings, such as bed linens, have a commonality with apparel as fashion items designed to support the buyer's personal style and image.

Clearly Marshall's is not competing in volume and range in these areas with, say, Bed Bath and Beyond. Rather, these departments may be viewed as supporting Marshall's overall personalstyle emphasis. Marshall's may thus be regarded as part of the fashion industry. Merchandise available in Marshall's is of worldwide origin; one source no

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(National Retail Federation, 2002). For this discussion we will concentrate on two competitors, The Gap in the brand-name, full-price segment, and Ross Dress for Less in the off-price segment. The Gap Whatever the specific historical origin of the name, The Gap aptly conveyed the role it played in the 1980s and early 1990s. For Baby Boom and Generation X consumers, it filled a gap between traditional low-price, off-brand retailers with limited selection and quality, and the old-line department stores, whose style sensibility was tied to an earlier generation. More recently, however, The Gap has struggled (Green Street, 2002). In 2000-2001 its growth of 1.3 percent was scarcely an eighth of that posted by Marshall's or Ross Dress For Less (National Retail Federation, 2002). The Gap has had difficulty in adjusting to the strong consumer pressure for off-price values, while its own name no longer conveys the cutting-edge style that it at one time embodied. For a competitor in the fashion retail sector, there could scarcely be a more difficult situation than facing rivals that offer both lower prices and a more contemporary feel. Ross Dress For Less This firm posted robust 10.2 pct growth in 2000-2001, slightly less than

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