Sierra, the off-price outdoor retailer operated by TJX Companies, has increased its long-term store potential and will open an additional 20 stores in 2025.
Sierra opened 22 stores in the fiscal year ended Feb. 1, 2025, bringing the total to 117. Its long-term potential is now 325 stores, according to Ernie Herrman, TJX CEO, and CFO John Klinger on the company’s Wednesday morning earnings call.
“As we begin a new year, we are confident that remaining focused on the off-price fundamentals of our great company will continue to serve us well, as it has over many decades, and as always, we will strive to beat our plans,” Herrman said in a statement. “Longer term, we see many opportunities to successfully grow our business and deliver value to even more consumers around the world.”
Sierra doesn’t report its results independently, but is part of TJX’s Marmaxx group, which also includes TJ Maxx and Marshalls.
Full-year net sales at Marmaxx increased 4% year over year to $34.6 billion in the last fiscal year, which contained one week less than the previous year. Fourth quarter sales for the 13-week period were down 1% to $9.9 billion compared to the 12-week period a year before.
TJX’s full-year sales performed similarly: up 4% in the year to $56.3 billion year over year. Sales were flat in the shorter fourth quarter at $16.3 billion.
For the 13-week fourth quarter, TJX’s net income was $1.4 billion and diluted earnings per share were $1.23, up 1% compared to $1.22 in the 14-week fourth quarter of fiscal 2024. For the 52-week year, net income was $4.9 billion and diluted earnings per share were $4.26, up 10% compared to $3.86 in the 53-weekprior year period.
“I am very pleased with our outstanding fourth quarter,” Herrman said. “Our sales, profitability, and earnings per share were all well above our expectations.”
Marmaxx Results and Sierra Store Expansion Plans
Herrman didn’t divulge specific details about the Sierra business’s results, but said he and the executive team were “very pleased” with their strong performance for the year. Apparel and home categories under the Marmaxx umbrella both had comparable sales increases in the year, and comparable stores sales grew in all Marmaxx regions and income demographics, he said. Sierra will expand by an additional 20 stores this year, fiscal year 2026, bringing the total to approximately 137.
As to where the stores could go, Herrman and Klinger said there are plenty of real estate opportunities available, and each opportunity is evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
“As we’ve talked about in the past, we do see an opportunity to expand into some more rural areas where the department store of the area closes and we can fill that void in those areas,” Klinger said, speaking of TJX’s portfolio as a whole. “Also, you’re still seeing large box closures that we have the opportunity to either go into a new area or to relocate a store to a better shopping area. So again, we still see opportunities and that’s reflected in the increase to our sales or our store potential.”
Herrman said they’re opportunistic when evaluating where to add stores and are also considering smaller footprint stores in smaller markets in addition to big box stores. TJX will also put all of its stores in one area.
“We have a group of stores where we have all five brands down the street here, and they all work extremely profitably,” Herrman said. “As you know, we’ve put HomeSenses near HomeGoods with minimal transfer sales and, in some cases, have actually increased our sales. So we’re bullish on being able to add those stores in different areas, something like Sierra or HomeGoods.”
Cultivating an Eclectic Brand Mix
Herrman said one of the keys to TJX’s success is bringing fresh offerings from a variety of brands, and its nimbleness to add and remove products to match consumer appetites.
“We want to sell to everyone and believe our offerings across good, better, and best brands appeal to shoppers across most income and age demographics,” he said. “(And) we believe we have one of the most flexible business models in retail. This allows us to buy close to need and adjust our selections as macro trends and consumer preferences change.”
TJX is also always aiming to grow its vendor list to include niche brands.
“We call them little niche-y brands that keep popping up year after year, which is really what generates that 21,000-vendor list,” Herrman said, adding that every year approximately 2,000 vendors drop off the list, and 2,000 new ones are added. “And because we want all these new vendors, typically, oh my gosh, 90+% of them are anxious to have us in their back pocket because they’re relying on, say, a specialty store business and they know they’re going to have X amount of leftover inventory and they need to have a home for (it) even though they’re not big.”
Those niche brands add to the treasure hunt element of the shopping experience for consumers, he said.
“We don’t want narrow big vendor assortments. We want eclectic mixes,” Herrman said. “We often spot these little niche vendors online because some of them just start online, strangely enough, without a store.”
Kate Robertson can be reached at kate@shop-eat-surf-outdoor.com.
