Hundreds of shoppers fill T.J. Maxx on opening day

Discount apparel and accessories retailer T.J. Maxx opened its first store in Olympia Sunday morning, welcoming about 230 shoppers into the store shortly after it opened at 8 a.m.

The North Thurston High School drill team, Olympia City Manager Steve Hall and a local charity were on hand to mark the occasion.

The local charity, Homeless Backpacks of Lacey, which distributes weekend food to school-age children who need it, also received a $5,000 check from T.J. Maxx, founding board member Terryl Graham said.

The nearly 17,000-square-foot store is at Westfield Capital mall, filling a building that was left vacant after a Borders bookstore closed. The Borders store closed last year after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

About 100 shoppers lined up before the store opened Sunday morning, then they were joined by another 100 or so after 8 a.m., store manager Jody Lara said.

Inside, shoppers were busy filling their carts with clothes and other items.

Cindy Rakoz of Chehalis stopped by the store on her way back to Chehalis Sunday morning. She didn't realize it was the store’s grand opening, but stopped anyway because it “looked like they had good stuff” for sale, Rakoz said.

Marsha Beery’s shopping cart was nearly overflowing with clothes soon after the doors opened. The Olympia resident described herself as the consummate shopper, someone who loves to shop, even when she doesn’t need to.

“I try to get value,” Beery said. She praised T.J. Maxx for selling quality merchandise at reasonable prices.

Paulette Beadling of Olympia, who recently moved here from Pittsburgh, said she needed to do some shopping because she was limited in the amount of stuff she could put in her car during her cross-country trip to Olympia. The Pittsburgh-area has several T.J. Maxx stores, she said.

“That’s the only thing Olympia was missing,” Beadling said.

She, too, praised the store for selling designer brands at much lower prices than you would find at a department store.

T.J. Maxx is a division of the TJX Companies Inc., based in Framingham, Mass. The T.J. Maxx brand was launched in 1976. The same company also owns Marshalls, which it acquired in 1995, according to the company’s annual report. Marshalls has a store in Lacey at South Sound Center.

T.J. Maxx also has stores in Kent, Federal Way, Puyallup and Tacoma.

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