TJX Oct. sales down 2%

FRAMINGHAM, Mass. The TJX Companies reported that sales for the four-week period ended Nov. 1, were $1.48 billion, a 2% decrease from the $1.52 billion achieved during the four-week period ended Nov. 3, 2007.

Consolidated comparable-store sales for the four-week period decreased 6% compared to last year.

Carol Meyrowitz, president and ceo of The TJX Companies, stated, “We often talk about the resiliency of our off-price business model, and we are seeing that resiliency benefiting us in this difficult consumer environment. Our buyers are buying very close to need to make even better buys, offering customers excellent values on great brand name merchandise. In this challenging environment, consolidated comparable-store sales were down 1% excluding the impact of foreign exchange. The fundamentals of our business remain strong. It is important to note that customer traffic is up across virtually all divisions as we continue to gain market share. We are managing our inventories extremely tightly, with inventory levels even leaner than last year, to maximize gross margins, while continuing to aggressively manage expenses. We believe this is a prudent approach in the current economic environment and going forward, we continue to believe that the flexibility of our business model will help us weather these tough times.”