Five Maxxinistas on Their Secrets to Shopping TJ Maxx
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TJ Maxx is one of those stores that can only be experienced to its fullest in person. As someone who grew up going with my mom and sister, I have memories doing myback-to-schoolanddorm-room shoppingthere. But even as a seasoned shopper, I find the retailer overwhelming nearly every time I visit. The unpredictability is part of the thrill, but I wanted to see if there was a smarter way to shop the store. I reached out to five self-proclaimed Maxxinistas and gathered their best tips and tricks for shopping the different sections. One note every one of them mentioned was to make friends with the employees and figure out when your local store restocks. “Mine is usually a Tuesday or Wednesday,” says Christina Williams. “So if I go on the weekend, it’s already been ransacked. If I go midweek, I’ll find multiple sizes of an item rather than just one leftover.” Find even more insider tips from Williams and the four other folks I spoke to, below.
Morgan Branson, the interstate Maxxinista
Morgan Branson, who lives in West Virginia, crosses state lines weekly to shop at her closest TJ Maxx in Virginia. “I’m a huge shopper, so it’s a struggle living in my town,” she says. Because of the long commute, she blocks out at least an hour to shop at the retailer: “It’s a whole event. But you usually never leave empty-handed or upset or anything.” Over the years, she’s found deals on everything from Free Peoplefleeces(usually $100 but snagged at $20) and popular books to luxury perfumes and Hunter rain boots.
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Go in with a fabric or brand in mind
Branson spends the bulk of her time shopping the clothing section. It’s best to go in person, she says, because she’s able to feel the fabrics, sift through tags, and see how an actual piece flows. She typically looks for cotton, satin, and silk clothing, noting that cotton is the most commonly found material. It’s still rare to find something 100 percent cotton, though, so she advises not to pass up those pieces. Usually, she’s on the hunt forAbercrombie, and she’s also spotted Zara,Free People, and Athleta at her store. As far as smaller brands go, she’s learned to look for Pink Rose’s sweaters, cardigans, and going-out tops.
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Check the perfume section
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“Theperfumeis actually a hidden gem,” Branson says. It’s a section she used to overlook but now never skips. On her most recent trip, she purchased a bottle of Burberry Her for under $100. Other brands she’s found are Mii.Miic and Byredo.
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The fitness section is usually stocked
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“I was able to basically stock an entire home gym at TJ Maxx,” Branson says. On multiple trips, she found wrist weights, ankle weights, three-pound bars,mats, Pilates balls, and sliders from the trendy fitness brand Bala. While she’s brand loyal, she’s also seen a decent amount of Gaiam and PopSugar mats, fitness equipment, and gear for workout classes.
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Sort the website A-Z
Like most of my sources, Branson prefers the IRL experience, but she’s shopped on the TJ Maxx site occasionally. The one qualm she has with the platform is there isn’t an option to filter brand names. Her work-around and tip for this, though, is to sort by brand from A to Z. She recently did this and found a Calpak suitcase within minutes, instead of sifting through dozens of pages.
Halle Minton, the efficiency expert
Halle Minton is an assistant designer in Milwaukee who grew up shopping at TJ Maxx with her family. And it’s still one of her favorite stores to shop for its deals and sense of discovery every time she goes. Like Branson, she’s big on shopping the clothing section, usually looking for brands she recognizes (Set Active, Free People, Abercrombie), but she’ll also pick up the occasional coffee syrup from the food aisle or home décor.
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Have a consistent route
“I have the same route every time I go in,” says Minton. She starts on the outer perimeter — scouring the purses, accessories, makeup, then shoes — and ends with the clothing section. She picked up on this strategy from going with her mom (“My mom’s huge into purses, so we would look at them first,” she says), and she also finds it efficient. She likes ending in the clothing section, since she can spend a bulk of her time there. Having a consistent path also helps her scan the store faster. “If you go a lot, you start to recognize things or you just get in a rhythm. It makes it more efficient,” she says.
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Don’t skip the stationery section
While Minton is known to pick up the occasional home-décor item, likefauxflowers, wall art, and trinkets, she is enthusiastic about the store’s stationery section. Every year, she finds her annualplannerat the store, since it stocks a robust selection of planners with different layouts and pages. It’s also her go-to for other office supplies: “Anytime I need anotebookor pen, I’m going there.”
Christina Williams, the gift hunter
Christina Williams, a 24-year-old who works at an architecture firm, has been shopping at TJ Maxx since she was a child. “It has been a hobby I do with my mom and sister. On a day off, we always want to go get food and then go to TJ Maxx,” she says. Growing up, she’d go straight for the makeup section, looking for brands like Urban Decay and Too Faced, since they were more affordable than at Sephora. Now she frequents the purse and home sections for deals. “I have more of a personal style as an adult, so I’m more targeted with what I buy,” she says.
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Have a vision before shopping for home goods
Williams shops the clothing and purse section by scoping specific brands, but she has a different strategy with the home-goods section. Since the lack of organization can sometimes get overwhelming, she comes in with a Pinterest board of her home aesthetic. (At the moment, she’s into the “surfer-indie-vibe” look.) “I know what items I’m looking for. I ask myself with each item, ‘Does it match my personality? Does it fit in my room?’” she says. She also keeps a running note of things she needs, like dishwares or sheets, so she can keep an eye on those items when she goes in. “If you’re moving into a new place, they always have fun, funky furniture that is way more accessible in price than other department stores,” she says, noting that the last home purchase she got was tiger-printbedsheets.
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Never buy full-price hair care
For the past couple of years, Williams has exclusively bought her hair care at TJ Maxx. “If I run out ofdry shampoo, I’m not going to Walmart or Target. I’m going to TJ Maxx,” she says, adding that salon-grade brands like Living Proof and Biolage are often stocked at drugstore prices.
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It’s a hub for gifts
Williams buys gifts at the retailer, whether it’s for Christmas, a birthday, an anniversary, or a housewarming. Its wineglasses and serving platters are her go-tos, as is a hot-pepper jelly she buys yearly for her family. “It’s become a tradition,” she says. “The only place we can ever find the specific one we like is in the back of the food shelf at TJ Maxx.” She also often finds stocking stuffers in the checkout line. “They curate it brilliantly,” she says. “It’s like a summary of the store withmugs,candles, press-on nails, and greeting cards.”
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Melanie Coyne, the Maxx “Runway” enthusiast
Melanie Coyne, who works in nonprofit fundraising in Los Angeles, has been shopping at TJ Maxx since her now-teenage children were young. She first started buying them Baby Gap, Ralph Lauren clothes, and matching sets, but has since started shopping at the store for herself more and more. “I call it my ‘mom vacation,’” she says. “I could be in there for an hour or two just looking around.” Her favorite finds have been designer deals (more on that below), and she’s such a regular that she was invited to the store’s Maxxinista event last year.
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Find a Runway store near you
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Coyne regularly travels for work and plans a pit stop at a TJ Maxx nearly every time she’s out of town. She also hits up different stores in her area outside of her closest one, because they each have different selections. The top tip she’s learned: The Runway stores have the best selection of designer items. “My TJ Maxx right by LAX doesn’t have a Runway section, but the first time I saw one was in Burbank and Rancho Palos Verdes,” she says, noting that both are areas with higher home values. Her favorite finds at Runway stores: a Longchamp bag for about $100 (that is normally $300 to $400) and a Gucci cardholder for under $200.
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Grab deep discounts on denim
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Denimis one section Coyne never skips. As someone who’s a size 10, she says the store has a lot of options. “I love that you can try on a ton of different brands at the same time. At a mall, you’d go to seven stores hoping they have your size,” she says. While she likes trying on trendier styles, like barrel jeans and bandanna-print pants, she often buys Levi’s at the store. She finds them for around $25 versus $98, but notes that they’re sometimes “a little irregular or too long. I just get them hemmed, and it’s still less than retail.”
Shanick Suarez, the professional (no, really)
Shanick Suarez, a 29-year-old accountant from Naples, Florida, has been shopping at TJ Maxx for “as long as I can remember.” She grew up going with her mom and sisters, and she now shops at the retailer for her own family. A couple of years ago, she started documenting her hauls on TikTok and has since become a part-time personal shopper for specifically TJ Maxx and Marshalls items. She has about 25 to 30 returning clients who DM her for things like beaded bags and dresses, and she charges them a small “finder’s fee.”
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Know what to shop at Runway versus normal stores
Like Coyne, Suarez also shops Runway TJ Maxxes in “ritzier” areas for designer-specific items from brands like Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Fendi, Prada, and Dior. Besides the designer goods, she says the Runway stores have a better stock of contemporary women’s clothing with brands like Moon River, Free People, and Camila Coelho. When it comes to home goods, though, she prefers the non-Runway selection. “It’s more fairly priced and the selection is broader,” she says. “If I want a pitcher or a glass set, I go to a regular store.”
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Find contemporary brands online
Suarez was one of the few sources I spoke to who frequents the retailer’s website. “Seven times out of ten, if I can’t find it in store, I can find it on the site,” she says, noting that the site ships fast, too. She says it’s hard to find specific brands because they’ll be hidden from view, so “you have to know how to navigate the categories. If I want Camila Coelho, I go to ‘New Dresses’ and look for that contemporary style,” she says. And she notes that the best time to look online is in the mornings when the site uploads new releases and fresh stock. The best deal she found online was a Longchamp bag in a rare pink-on-pink combination.
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Don’t dillydally on high-end baby gear
While the baby section is often stocked with decently priced clothes, Suarez says you can occasionally find some high-end gear at a steal. She once saw a Doona stroller for $200 and an Elvie breast pump for $100. “If you see those grab-and-go items, buy them immediately,” she says.
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The Strategistis designed to surface useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. Every product is independently selected by our team of editors, whom you can read abouthere. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change.
