Shoppers worry new T.J. Maxx puts nearby stores at risk

The announcement that T.J. Maxx will be part of the retail complex at the Stone Bridge Crossing mixed use development in Cheshire has some area shoppers wondering what that might ultimately mean for the retailer’s other locations in the area.

The new T.J. Maxx, which is scheduled to open in late 2025 or early in 2026, will be located in what will be called Cheshire Crossing, a shopping center that will be part of the Stone Bridge complex, near the intersection of Route 10 and Interstate 691. That’s just a few miles west of another T.J. Maxx location in the Meriden Mall at 470 Lewis Ave.

The new Cheshire T.J. Maxx store will also be located just a few miles north of another retail location that is also part of the stable of brands operated by Massachusetts-based TJX Companies. The Marshalls department store location in Cheshire is in Maplecroft Plaza on Highland Avenue, and for months there has been speculation on social media that the store would close at that site and relocate to Stone Bridge Crossing.

Now that T.J. Maxx has been identified as one of the tenants of Cheshire Crossing, social media discussions in Cheshire and neighboring communities have pivoted to whether the opening of the new store will result in the closing Marshalls in Cheshire or the T.J. Maxx in Meriden.

Burt Flickinger, managing director of the New York City-based retail consulting firm Strategic Resource Group, said most retailers “don’t want another of their stores within three miles of their primary trade area and within five miles of their secondary trade area.” Primary trade areas are where a majority of a retailer’s customers come from, while the secondary trade area is where as many as a quarter of a store’s customers are drawn from.

Flickinger said some retailers will build a new store within those trade areas as a hedge against real estate problems at an existing store.

“Sometimes they’ll build a replacement location before the lease at an existing store runs out in case they can’t negotiate an extension,” he said.

But Flickinger said executives at TJX “are some times very comfortable having a T.J. Maxx and Marshalls within the same shopping center or very nearby.”

Andrew Martelli, Cheshire’s director of economic development and grants, said that’s the case on Universal Drive in North Haven.

“You have a T.J. Maxx right across the street from a Home Goods,” Martelli said, referring to another brand in the TJX portfolio. “So I don’t think you will see them close the Marshalls in Cheshire.”

Marshalls now has about 20 locations in Connecticut, while T.J. Maxx has 18 stores in the state, according to the web sites for the two brands.

TJX officials did not respond to inquiries from Hearst Connecticut Media about what the company’s policies are in terms of proximity of its stores to each other.

T.J. Maxx has been open in the Meriden Mall for about a decade.

But the mall has fallen on hard times as of late. At end of last year, Meriden Mall had 38 vacancies.

Dave Zajac/Hearst Connecticut Media file Crews pour a foundation as construction continues in Cheshire.