TJX Companies 10-K 2021-01-30

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, DC 20549

FORM 10-K

For the fiscal year ended January 30, 2021

OR

For the transition period from _______ to _______

Commission file number 1-4908

The TJX Companies, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (508) 390-1000

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: NONE

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒ No ☐.

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer”, “accelerated filer”, “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of

the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C.

7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes ☐ No ☒

The aggregate market value of the voting common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant on August 1, 2020, the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter, was $62.3 billion based on the closing sale price as reported on the New York Stock Exchange.

There were 1,205,970,255 shares of the registrant’s common stock, $1.00 par value, outstanding as of March 26, 2021.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the Proxy Statement to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with the Annual Meeting of Shareholders to be held on June 8, 2021 (Part III).

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Form 10-K and our 2020 Annual Report to Shareholders contain “forward-looking statements” intended to qualify for the safe harbor from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including some of the statements in this Form 10-K under Item 1, “Business,” Item 7, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” and Item 8, “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data,” and in our 2020 Annual Report to Shareholders under our letter to shareholders and our performance graphs. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks, uncertainties and potentially inaccurate assumptions. Such statements give our current expectations or forecasts of future events; they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. We have generally identified such statements by using words indicative of the future such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “intend,” “looking forward,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “project,” “should,” “target,” “will” and “would” or any variations of these words or other words with similar meanings. All statements that address activities, events or developments that we intend, expect or believe may occur in the future are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act. These “forward-looking statements” may relate to such matters as our future actions, future performance or results of current and anticipated sales, expenses, interest rates, foreign exchange rates and results and the outcome of contingencies such as legal proceedings.

We cannot guarantee that the results and other expectations expressed, anticipated or implied in any forward-looking statement will be realized. The risks set forth under Item 1A of this Form 10-K describe major risks to our business. A variety of factors including these risks could cause our actual results and other expectations to differ materially from the anticipated results or other expectations expressed, anticipated or implied in our forward-looking statements. Should known or unknown risks materialize, or should our underlying assumptions prove inaccurate, actual results could differ materially from past results and those anticipated, estimated or projected in the forward-looking statements. You should bear this in mind as you consider forward-looking statements.

Our forward-looking statements speak only as of the dates on which they are made, and we do not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether to reflect new information, future events or otherwise. You are advised, however, to consult any further disclosures we may make in our future reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), on our website, or otherwise.

The TJX Companies, Inc.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART I

BUSINESS OVERVIEW

The TJX Companies, Inc. (together with its subsidiaries, “TJX”, the “Company”, “we”, or “our”) is the leading off-price apparel and home fashions retailer in the United States and worldwide. We have over 4,500 stores and four distinctive branded e-commerce sites that offer a rapidly changing assortment of quality, fashionable, brand name and designer merchandise at prices generally 20% to 60% below full-price retailers’ (including department, specialty, and major online retailers) regular prices on comparable merchandise, every day.

Our mission is to deliver great value to our customers every day. In our stores and online, we offer consumers our value proposition of brand, fashion, price and quality. Our opportunistic buying strategies and flexible business model differentiate us from traditional retailers. We offer a treasure hunt shopping experience and a rapid turn of inventories relative to traditional retailers. Our goal is to create a sense of excitement and urgency for our customers and encourage frequent customer visits. We acquire merchandise in a variety of ways to support that goal. We reach a broad range of customers across income levels with our value proposition on a wide range of items. Our strategies and operations are synergistic across our retail chains. As a result, we are able to leverage our expertise throughout our business, sharing information, best practices, initiatives and new ideas, and to develop talent across our Company. Further, we can leverage the substantial buying power of our businesses with our global vendor relationships.

During fiscal 2021, our business operations were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to the temporary closures and reopenings of our stores and other facilities, the pandemic has led to modifications of our operations, including the implementation of health and safety protocols, and has had an impact on our results of operations, financial position and liquidity, as well as consumer behavior. See Risk Factors and Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations below for more information.

In this report, fiscal 2021 means the fiscal year ended January 30, 2021; fiscal 2020 means the fiscal year ended February 1, 2020 and fiscal 2019 means the fiscal year ended February 2, 2019. Fiscal 2022 means the fiscal year ending January 29, 2022. Unless otherwise indicated, all store information in this Item 1 is as of January 30, 2021, and references to store square footage are to gross square feet.

Our Businesses

We operate our business in four main segments: Marmaxx and HomeGoods, both in the U.S., TJX Canada and TJX International.

MARMAXX

Our T.J. Maxx and Marshalls chains in the United States (“Marmaxx”) are collectively the largest off-price retailer in the United States with a total of 2,402 stores. We founded T.J. Maxx in 1976 and acquired Marshalls in 1995. Both chains sell family apparel (including footwear and accessories), home fashions (including home basics, decorative accessories and giftware) and other merchandise. We primarily differentiate T.J. Maxx and Marshalls through different product assortment, including an expanded assortment of fine jewelry and accessories and a high-end designer section called The Runway at T.J. Maxx and a full line of footwear, a broader men’s offering and a juniors’ department called The Cube at Marshalls, as well as varying in-store initiatives. This differentiated shopping experience at T.J. Maxx and Marshalls encourages our customers to shop both chains. Marmaxx currently operates two e-commerce websites, tjmaxx.com, launched in 2013 and marshalls.com launched in 2019.

HOMEGOODS

Our HomeGoods segment, introduced in 1992, is the leading off-price retailer of home fashions in the U.S. Through its 821 stores, HomeGoods offers an eclectic assortment of home fashions, including furniture, rugs, lighting, soft home, decorative accessories, tabletop and cookware as well as expanded pet, kids and gourmet food departments. In 2017, we launched Homesense in the U.S. Our 34 Homesense stores complement HomeGoods, offering a differentiated mix and expanded departments, such as large furniture, ceiling lighting and rugs, as well as different departments, such as a general store and an entertaining marketplace. During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021, we announced our plan to make online shopping available on www.homegoods.com in late fiscal 2022.

TJX CANADA

Our TJX Canada segment operates the Winners, HomeSense and Marshalls chains in Canada. Acquired as a five-store chain in 1990, Winners is now the leading off-price apparel and home fashions retailer in Canada. The merchandise offering at its 280 stores across Canada is comparable to T.J. Maxx, with select stores offering fine jewelry, and The Runway, a designer section. We opened our HomeSense chain in 2001, bringing the home fashions off-price concept to Canada. HomeSense has 143 stores with a merchandise mix of home fashions similar to HomeGoods in the U.S. We brought Marshalls to Canada in 2011. We operate 102 Marshalls stores in Canada and, similar to Marshalls in the U.S., our Canadian stores offer an expanded footwear department and The Cube juniors’ department, differentiating them from Winners stores.

TJX INTERNATIONAL

Our TJX International segment operates the T.K. Maxx and Homesense chains in Europe and the T.K. Maxx chain in Australia. Launched in 1994, T.K. Maxx introduced off-price retail to Europe and remains Europe’s only major brick-and-mortar off-price retailer of apparel and home fashions. With 602 stores, T.K. Maxx operates in the U.K., Ireland, Germany, Poland, Austria and the Netherlands. Through its stores and its e-commerce website for the U.K., tkmaxx.com, T.K. Maxx offers a merchandise mix similar to T.J. Maxx. We brought the off-price home fashions concept to Europe, opening Homesense in the U.K. in 2008 and in Ireland in 2017. Its 78 stores offer a merchandise mix of home fashions similar to that of HomeGoods in the U.S. and HomeSense in Canada. We acquired Trade Secret in Australia in 2015 and re-branded it under the T.K. Maxx name during 2017. The merchandise offering at T.K. Maxx in Australia's 62 stores is comparable to T.J. Maxx.

In addition to our four main segments, we operate Sierra, acquired in 2012 and rebranded from Sierra Trading Post in 2018. Sierra is an off-price retailer of brand name and quality outdoor gear, family apparel (including footwear), sporting goods and home fashions. Sierra operates sierra.com and 48 retail stores in the U.S. The results of Sierra are included in our Marmaxx segment.

Flexible Business Model

Our flexible off-price business model, including our opportunistic buying, inventory management, logistics and flexible store layouts, is designed to deliver our customers a compelling value proposition of fashionable, quality, brand name and designer merchandise at excellent values every day. Our buying and inventory management strategies give us flexibility to adjust our merchandise assortments more frequently than traditional retailers, and the design and operation of our stores and distribution centers support this flexibility. Our buyers have more visibility into consumer, fashion and market trends and pricing when we buy closer to need, which can help us “buy smarter” and reduce our markdown exposure. Our selling floor space is flexible, without walls between departments and largely free of permanent fixtures, so we can easily expand and contract departments to accommodate the merchandise we purchase. Our logistics and distribution operations are designed to support our global buying strategies and to facilitate quick, efficient and differentiated delivery of merchandise to our stores, with a goal of delivering the right merchandise to the right stores at the right time.

Opportunistic Buying

As an off-price retailer, our buying practices, which we refer to as opportunistic buying, differentiate us from traditional retailers. Our overall global buying strategy is to acquire merchandise on an ongoing basis that will enable us to offer a desirable and rapidly changing mix of branded, designer and other quality merchandise in our stores at prices below regular prices for comparable merchandise at full-price retailers, including department, specialty, and major online retailers. We seek out and select merchandise from the broad range of opportunities in the market to achieve this end. Our global buying organization, which numbers over 1,100 Associates and has offices across 4 continents in 12 countries, executes this opportunistic buying strategy, buying merchandise from more than 100 countries in a variety of ways, depending on market conditions and other factors.

We take advantage of opportunities to acquire merchandise at substantial discounts that regularly arise from the production and flow of inventory in the apparel and home fashions marketplace. These opportunities include, among others, closeouts from brands, manufacturers and other retailers; special production direct from brands and factories; order cancellations and manufacturer overruns. Our global buying strategies are intentionally flexible to allow us to react to frequently changing opportunities and trends in the market and to adjust how and what we source as well as when we source it. Our goal is to operate with lean inventory levels compared to conventional retailers to give us the flexibility to seek out and to take advantage of these opportunities as they arise, close to the time it is needed in our stores and online and when we have more visibility into fashion trends and price. In contrast to traditional retailers, which tend to order most of their goods far in advance of the time the product appears on the selling floor, our merchants generally remain in the marketplace for goods throughout the year, frequently looking for opportunities to buy merchandise. We buy much of our merchandise for the current or immediately upcoming selling season. We also buy some merchandise that is available in the market with the intention of storing it for sale, typically in future selling seasons. We generally make these purchases, referred to as packaway, in response to opportunities to buy merchandise that we believe has the right combination of brand, fashion, price and quality to supplement the product we expect to be available to purchase later for those future seasons. We also acquire some merchandise that we offer under in-house brands or brands that are licensed to us. We develop some of this merchandise ourselves in order to supplement the depth of, or fill gaps in, our expected merchandise assortment.

Manufacturers, retailers and other vendors make up our expansive universe of approximately 21,000 vendors, which provides us substantial and diversified access to merchandise. We have not experienced difficulty in obtaining sufficient quality merchandise for our business in either favorable or difficult retail environments and expect this will continue as we continue to grow. We believe a number of factors provide us excellent access on an ongoing basis to leading branded merchandise and make us an attractive channel for many vendors in the market. We are typically willing to purchase less-than-full assortments of items, styles and sizes as well as quantities ranging from small to very large; we are able to disperse merchandise across our geographically diverse network of stores and to target specific markets; we typically pay promptly according to our payment terms; we generally do not ask for typical retail concessions (such as advertising, promotional and markdown allowances), delivery concessions (such as drop shipments to stores or delayed deliveries) or return privileges; and we have an excellent credit rating.

Inventory Management

We offer our customers a rapidly changing selection of merchandise to create a treasure hunt experience in our stores and to spur frequent customer visits. To achieve this, we seek to turn the inventory in our stores rapidly, regularly offering fresh selections of apparel and home fashions at excellent values. Our specialized inventory planning, purchasing, monitoring and markdown systems, coupled with distribution center storage, processing, handling and shipping systems, enable us to tailor the merchandise in our stores to local preferences and demographics, achieve rapid in-store inventory turnover on a vast array of products and generally sell through most merchandise within the period we planned. We make pricing and markdown decisions and store inventory replenishment determinations centrally, using information provided by specialized computer systems designed to move inventory through our stores in a timely and disciplined manner. We invest in our supply chain with the goal of continuing to operate with low inventory levels, to ship more efficiently and quickly, and to more precisely and effectively allocate merchandise to each store.

Pricing

Our mission is to deliver great value to our customers every day. We do this by offering quality, fashionable, brand name and designer merchandise in our stores with retail prices that are generally 20% to 60% below full-price retailers’ (including department, specialty, and major online retailers) regular prices on comparable merchandise, every day. We do not generally engage in promotional pricing activity such as sales or coupons. We have generally been able to react to price fluctuations in the wholesale market to maintain our pricing gap relative to prices offered by traditional retailers as well as our merchandise margins through various economic cycles.

Low Cost Operations

We operate with a low cost structure compared to many traditional retailers. We focus aggressively on expenses throughout our business. Our advertising is generally focused on promoting our retail banners rather than individual products, including at times promoting multiple banners together, which contributes to our advertising budget (as a percentage of sales) remaining low compared to many traditional retailers. We design our stores to provide a pleasant, convenient shopping environment without spending heavily on store fixtures. Additionally, our distribution network is designed to run cost effectively.

Customer Service/Shopping Experience

Our general practice is to renovate and upgrade our stores across our retail banners to enhance our customers’ shopping experience and help drive sales. Although we offer a self-service format, we train our store Associates to provide friendly and helpful customer service and seek to staff our stores to deliver a positive shopping experience. We typically offer customer-friendly return policies. We accept a variety of payment methods including cash, credit cards and debit cards. We also offer TJX-branded credit cards in the U.S. through a bank, but do not own the customer receivables.

Distribution

We operate distribution centers encompassing approximately 22 million square feet in six countries. These centers are generally large, and built to suit our specific, off-price business model, with a combination of automated systems and manual processes to manage the variety of merchandise we acquire. We ship substantially all of our merchandise to our stores through a network of distribution centers and warehouses as well as shipping centers operated by third parties.

Store Growth

Expansion of our business through the addition of new stores continues to be an important part of our global growth strategy. The following table provides store growth information for our four major segments for the two most recently completed fiscal years, as well as our estimates of the long-term store growth potential of these segments in their current geographies:

(a)Reflects store growth potential for T.K. Maxx in current geographies and for Homesense in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

(b)Includes 46 Sierra stores in fiscal 2020, and 48 Sierra stores for fiscal 2021. Sierra stores are not included in estimated store potential.

Some of our home fashion stores are co-located with one of our apparel stores in a “combo” or superstore format. We count each of the stores in the combo or superstore format as a separate store.

Competition

The retail apparel and home fashion business is highly competitive. We compete on the basis of numerous factors including brand, fashion, price, quality, selection and freshness; in-store and online shopping experience and service; reputation and store location. We compete with local, regional, national and international department, specialty, off-price, discount, warehouse and outlet stores as well as other retailers that sell apparel, home fashions and other merchandise that we sell, whether in stores, online, through catalogs, or other media channels.

Human Capital

As of January 30, 2021, we had approximately 320,000 employees (who we refer to as Associates), many of whom work less than 40 hours per week. Approximately 86% of these Associates worked in our retail stores. We hire thousands of temporary employees each year, particularly during the peak back-to-school and holiday seasons, and offer many entry-level retail positions. Many Associates in our distribution centers in the United States and Canada are covered by collective bargaining agreements and other Associates are members of works councils in Europe. Our large, global workforce supports the execution of our flexible off-price business model, including the timing and frequency of store deliveries and the management of a rapidly changing mix of merchandise in over 4,500 retail stores in nine countries and across four distinctive branded e-commerce sites. We believe our Associates are key to our business success.

Focus on Health, Safety and Well-being during the COVID-19 Pandemic

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we developed and implemented new practices that prioritized the health and safety of our Associates and customers, and reopened stores only when practices were in place, including social distancing protocols, access to personal protective equipment, occupancy limits and enhanced cleaning regimens. During fiscal 2021, we also continued to pay or provide benefits for eligible Associates during temporary closures, provided appreciation bonuses to the majority of our store and distribution center Associates, and enhanced our mental health resources and other wellness offerings.

Workplace and Culture

We work to foster a strong, supportive culture where Associates at TJX feel welcome in the Company, valued for their contributions, and engaged with our business mission. We use defined cultural factors and leadership competencies throughout our global business to express our organizational values, such as personal integrity, relationship-building and collaboration, and respect for our business model, and to promote consistency in leadership development. Our policies and practices, including our open-door philosophy, encourage open and honest communication and engagement with the business.

Inclusion and Diversity

We strive to create an inclusive workplace, where Associates are inspired to work hard, challenge themselves, and be innovative in their thinking, and we believe the diversity of our Associates strengthens our business. We have expanded our education programs and resources, including training on unconscious biases, and we sponsor a variety of affinity resource groups to support Associate networking and development. During fiscal 2021 we accelerated our efforts on inclusion and diversity, including those related to racial justice, and have begun to deploy a global, four-phase strategy to drive these efforts.

Training and Career Development

We are highly focused on teaching and mentoring to support the career growth and success of our Associates, and we believe these efforts have promoted stability and expertise in our workforce. Training happens broadly throughout the organization, from informal mentoring and direct training to a range of career and leadership development programs such as our TJX University for merchandising Associates.

Compensation and Rewards

Our compensation programs are designed to pay our Associates competitively in the market and based on their skills, qualifications, role, and abilities. Our approach to compensation across the organization reflects our global total rewards principles, which include encouraging teamwork and collaboration, being fair and equitable, and sharing in the success of the Company.

Trademarks

We have the right to use our principal trademarks and service marks, which are T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods, Winners, Homesense/HomeSense, T.K. Maxx, Sierra and Sierra Trading Post, in relevant countries. We expect our rights in these trademarks and service marks to endure in locations where we use them for as long as we continue to do so.

Seasonality

Our business is subject to seasonal influences. In the second half of the year, which includes the back-to-school and year-end holiday seasons, we generally realize higher levels of sales and income.

SEC Filings and Certifications

Copies of our annual reports on Form 10-K, proxy statements, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and current reports on Form 8-K filed with or furnished to the SEC, and any amendments to those documents, are available free of charge on our website, tjx.com, under “SEC Filings,” as soon as reasonably practicable after they are electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC. They are also available free of charge from TJX Global Communications, 770 Cochituate Road, Framingham, Massachusetts 01701. The SEC maintains a website containing all reports, proxies, information statements, and all other information (www.sec.gov).

Information appearing on tjx.com is not a part of, and is not incorporated by reference in, this Form 10-K.

INFORMATION ABOUT OUR EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

The following are the executive officers of TJX as of March 31, 2021:

The executive officers hold office until the next annual meeting of the Board in June 2021 and until their successors are elected and qualified.

The statements in this section describe the major risks to our business and should be considered carefully, in connection with all the other information set forth in this annual report on Form 10-K. The risks that follow are those that we think, individually or in the aggregate, are potentially material to our business and could cause our actual results to differ materially from those stated or implied in forward-looking statements.

OPERATIONAL AND STRATEGIC RISKS

Our business has been and may continue to be materially and adversely affected by the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

After COVID-19 emerged and spread worldwide, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic in March 2020. National, state and local governments as well as private entities began issuing various restrictions, including travel restrictions, restrictions on public gatherings, limitations on business operations, stay at home orders and advisories, and quarantining protocols. The temporary closures of our stores, online businesses, and distribution centers, and additional operating expenses and other impacts from the ongoing pandemic, have had and may continue to have an adverse impact on our business operations, financial position, and liquidity. For example, during the time our facilities were closed in the first half of fiscal 2021 and our day-to-day retail operations were suspended, we were unable to generate sales. At the same time, we continued to incur expenses, including labor, occupancy and other costs, such as continued pay for certain Associates during closures, continued employee benefits coverage for eligible Associates during temporary furloughs at no cost to impacted Associates in the U.S. and Canada and comparable actions with respect to portions of our TJX Europe workforce. As our stores and facilities reopened, we implemented new practices and protocols, including enhanced cleaning protocols, occupancy limitations, and additional health and safety protocols that resulted in additional payroll and continued or increased expenses while potentially impacting sales opportunities. Many stores have had additional temporary closures since we began reopening in May 2020, with the vast majority of the closures in Europe and Canada, and some stores and facilities are currently closed and/or may be closed again in the future, further adversely impacting sales opportunities. Some of these pandemic-related expenses and/or operational limits have continued into the beginning of fiscal 2022 and we expect they may continue to some extent in the future. In addition, the pandemic may have changed our Associates’ willingness or ability to staff our stores and distribution centers or otherwise continue employment as a result of health concerns, economic pressures or otherwise.

Further, changes in our customers’ willingness to shop our stores, the levels of our customers’ spending at our stores, and the more general impact of the ongoing pandemic on the economy and consumer discretionary spending (for example, as a result of erosion in consumer sentiment or the impact of high unemployment or otherwise) have also impacted and may continue to impact our business operations, financial performance, and liquidity. We have seen reduced customer traffic and sales declines in most of our divisions. These declines could continue or accelerate for the remainder of the pandemic and beyond. In addition, market conditions and the impact of the pandemic on the global economy have impacted and may continue to impact the financial viability or business operations of some of our suppliers and transportation or logistics providers, which has interrupted and increased costs for, and may in the future interrupt and further increase costs for, our supply chain and could require additional changes to our operations.

The extent of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business will depend on future developments, which remain highly uncertain and difficult to predict, including the duration, severity and sustained geographic spread of the pandemic, additional waves of increased infections, the virulence and spread of different strains of the virus, and the extent to which associated prevention, containment, remediation and treatment efforts, including global vaccination programs, are successful.

Failure to execute our opportunistic buying strategy and successfully manage our inventory could adversely affect our results.

Key elements of our off-price business strategy, including opportunistic buying, operating with lean inventory levels, and frequent inventory turns, subject us to risks. If we do not obtain the right merchandise at the right times, in the right quantities, at the right prices, and in the right mix, our customer traffic and our sales, margins, and other financial results could be adversely affected.

Our opportunistic buying strategy places considerable discretion with our merchants. They typically buy throughout the year, with much of our merchandise purchased for the current or immediately upcoming season. Our merchants are expected to effectively react to rapidly changing opportunities and trends in the market, to assess the desirability and value of merchandise, and to generally make determinations of how and what we source as well as when and from where we source it. If they do not make assessments accurately or otherwise cannot execute our strategy in an effective or timely way, our customer traffic and our sales, margins, and other financial results could be adversely affected. If our merchandise is not generally purchased at prices sufficiently below prices paid by conventional retailers, we may not be able to maintain an adequate overall pricing differential to full-price retailers, including department, specialty, and major online retailers, at various times or in some reporting segments, banners, product categories, or geographies.

In addition, to respond to customer demand and effectively manage pricing and markdowns, we need to appropriately allocate and deliver merchandise to our stores, maintain an appropriate mix and level of inventory in each store, and be flexible in our allocation of floor space at our stores among product categories. We also base our inventory purchases, in part, on our sales forecasts. If our sales forecasts do not match customer demand, we may experience higher inventory levels and need to take markdowns on excess or slow-moving inventory, or we may have insufficient inventory to meet customer demand, either of which could adversely affect our financial performance.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has impacted, and may continue to impact, execution of our opportunistic buying strategy and inventory management. Our ability to allocate, deliver and maintain an appropriate mix and level of inventory was also impacted during fiscal 2021 by temporary closures of our stores, distribution centers, and e-commerce sites, including by affecting decisions on mark-downs, pack-away, and perishables, particularly in the second quarter when our stores and distribution centers reopened after the first temporary closures, and by other operational and market changes related to the global pandemic.

If we fail to successfully implement our various marketing efforts or if our competitors’ programs are more effective than ours, our revenue or results of operations may be adversely affected.

Customer traffic and demand for our merchandise may be influenced by our marketing efforts. Although we use marketing to drive customer traffic through various media including television, radio, print, outdoor, digital/social media, email, mobile, and direct mail, some of our competitors may expend more for their programs than we do, or use different approaches than we do, which may provide them with a competitive advantage. Further, we may not effectively develop or implement strategies with respect to rapidly evolving digital communication channels. If our marketing efforts are not as successful or cost effective as anticipated, our revenue and results of operations could be adversely affected.

Failure to identify consumer trends and preferences, or to otherwise meet customer demand or expectations, in new or existing markets or channels could negatively impact our performance.

As our success depends on our ability to meet customer demand and expectations, we work to identify consumer trends and preferences on an ongoing basis and to offer inventory and shopping experiences that meet those trends and preferences. However, we may not do so effectively and/or on a timely basis across our diverse merchandise categories and in each of the many markets in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Australia in which we do business. Trends and preferences in markets may differ from what we anticipate, and could change rapidly, as they did during fiscal 2021 in connection with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Although our business model allows us greater flexibility than many traditional retailers to meet consumer product preferences and trends (for example, by expanding and contracting merchandise categories in response to consumers’ changing tastes), we may not successfully do so, which could impact inventory turns, customer traffic and sales and add difficulty in attracting new customers, retaining existing customers, and encouraging frequent customer visits, which could adversely affect our results.

Customers may also have expectations about how they shop in stores or through e-commerce or more generally engage with businesses across different channels (for example, through various digital platforms). These expectations may vary both across and within demographics and geographies and may evolve rapidly or be impacted by external factors, such as the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on consumers’ comfort levels in visiting stores as well as their expectations for our stores, including health and safety protocols. Meeting these expectations effectively generally involves identifying the right opportunities and making the right investments at the right time and with the right speed, among other things, and failure to do so may impact our financial results.

We operate in highly competitive markets, and we may not be able to compete effectively.

The retail apparel and home fashion businesses are highly competitive. We compete on the basis of various factors affecting value (which we define as the combination of brand, fashion, price, and quality) – merchandise selection and freshness; banner name recognition and appeal; both in-store and online service and shopping experience; convenience; and store location. We compete with local, regional, national and international retailers that sell apparel, home fashions, and other merchandise that we sell, including retailers that operate through stores, e-commerce, and/or other media or channels. Some of our competitors are larger than we are or have more experience in selling certain product lines or through certain channels than we do. New competitors frequently enter the market. Additionally, existing competitors may enter or increase their presence in markets in which we operate, consolidate with other retailers, expand their merchandise offerings, expand their e-commerce capabilities, and/or add new sales channels or change their pricing strategies. During fiscal 2021, additional regulations or health and safety concerns related to the ongoing pandemic impacted our competitors differently, based on factors such as location, sales channel strategy, merchandising strategy and others. Consumer spending online, which has been increasing, also appears to have accelerated as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. E-commerce may continue to increase, while our business is primarily in brick and mortar stores. If we fail to compete effectively, our sales and results of operations could be adversely affected.

Failure to continue to expand our business successfully could adversely affect our financial results

Our growth strategy includes successfully expanding within our current markets and/or into new geographic regions, product lines, and channels, including e-commerce, and, as appropriate, adding new businesses, whether by development, investment, or acquisition. If any aspect of our expansion strategy does not achieve the success we expect, in whole or in part, we may fail to meet our financial performance expectations generally or within certain markets or divisions, and/or may be required to increase investments, slow our planned growth, or close stores or operations. For example, if we are not able to find and lease appropriate real estate on attractive terms in the locations where we seek to open brick and mortar stores, or if new stores do not perform as well as we anticipated, we may need to change our planned growth in those markets.

Growth can add complexity to effective information sharing and requires significant attention from our management and other functions across our business. It also requires appropriately staffing and training an increased number of Associates and/or managing appropriate third-party providers. These risks may increase with further growth, particularly if we expand into additional countries. If we are unable to manage our growth effectively, our business may be adversely affected or we may need to reduce the rate of expansion or otherwise curtail growth, which may adversely affect our business plans, sales and results.

Failure to effectively manage the large size and scale of our operations may adversely affect our financial results.

Our substantial size can make it challenging to run our complex operations effectively and to manage suitable internal resources and third party providers with appropriate oversight to support our business effectively, including for administration, systems (including information technology systems), merchandising, sourcing, store operations, distribution, logistics, and compliance. The large size and scale of our operations, our multiple banners and locations across the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Australia, and the autonomy afforded to the banners in some aspects of the business also increase the risk that our systems, controls, practices, and policies may not be implemented effectively or consistently throughout our Company, that information may not be appropriately shared across our operations, and that our marketing and communications strategies may lack cohesion. The size and scale of our business also creates challenges in effectively managing, training, retaining, and engaging a large, disparate workforce. These challenges may be exacerbated if a large portion of our workforce is unable to work on site, temporarily furloughed or working remotely, as was the case during parts of fiscal 2021. If we are unable to manage our size and scale effectively, our results of operations may be adversely affected.

We source our merchandise globally, which subjects us to risks, including when moving merchandise internationally.

We are subject to various risks of sourcing merchandise, particularly from other countries, including risks related to moving merchandise internationally. Many of the products sold in our stores are sourced by our vendors and, to a lesser extent, by us, in locations, particularly China, India, and southeastern Asia, which are outside of the country where they will be sold. Where we are the importer of record, we may be subject to regulatory or other requirements, including those similar to requirements imposed upon the manufacturer of such products. Risks related to sourcing merchandise include:

**–**potential disruptions in manufacturing and supply;

–changes in duties, tariffs, trade restrictions, sanctions, quotas and voluntary export restrictions on imported merchandise, including, for example, changes to trade requirements resulting from the U.K.’s withdrawal in January 2020 from the European Union (commonly referred to as “Brexit”); tariffs and border adjustment taxes; changes to the United States Mexico Canada Agreement (the successor to the North American Free Trade Agreement) or successor or other trade agreements;

–transport availability, capacity and costs;

–information technology challenges;

–problems in third-party distribution and warehousing, logistics, transportation and other supply chain interruptions;

–strikes, threats of strikes and other events affecting delivery;

–consumer perceptions of the safety or quality of imported merchandise;

–compliance with product laws and regulations of the destination country;

–compliance with laws and regulations including changing labor, environmental, international trade and other laws in relevant countries and those concerning ethical business practices, such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the U.K. Bribery Act;

–product liability claims from customers or investigations, enforcement or penalties from government agencies relating to products that are recalled, defective or otherwise noncompliant or alleged to be harmful;

–intellectual property enforcement and infringement issues;

–pandemics and epidemics (including the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic) affecting sourcing, including manufacturing, buying or delivery;

–concerns about human rights, working conditions and other labor rights and conditions in countries where merchandise is produced or materials are sourced, such as the concerns related to treatment of the Uyghur population in the Xinjiang province of China;

–concerns about transparent sourcing and supply chains;

–currency exchange rates and financial or economic instability; and

–political or other disruptions in countries from, to or through which merchandise is imported.

These and other factors relating to sourcing, international trade and imported merchandise could affect the availability and the price of our inventory and our operating costs. Furthermore, although we have implemented policies and procedures designed to facilitate compliance with laws and regulations relating to production of merchandise, international operations and importing merchandise, there can be no assurance that our Associates and our contractors, agents, vendors or other third parties with whom we do business or to whom we outsource business operations will not violate such laws and regulations or our policies, which could subject us to liability and could adversely affect our reputation, operations or operating results.

Our results and profitability could be adversely affected by labor costs, including wage, pension and healthcare costs, or other challenges from our large workforce.

Our Associates are key to supporting our business and operations effectively, and increased labor costs put pressure on our operating expenses, which could adversely affect our financial results. We have a large workforce, and our ability to meet our labor needs and control labor costs is subject to various external factors such as minimum wage laws and benefits requirements; market pressures, including prevailing wage rates and benefit levels and unemployment levels; changing demographics; economic conditions; interest rate changes; actuarial assumptions and methods; the costs of providing and managing retirement, health, and other employee benefits, including health and insurance costs; and a dynamic regulatory and policy environment, including with respect to health care, immigration, labor, employment, pension and other employee benefits, and taxes. Any of these factors could increase our labor costs. Increased labor costs may adversely affect our results of operations. In addition, when wage rates or benefit levels have increased in particular markets, increasing our wages or benefits has negatively impacted and may continue to negatively impact our earnings. Conversely, failing to offer competitive wages or benefits could adversely affect our ability to attract or retain sufficient or quality Associates, causing our customer service or performance to suffer.

Additionally, many Associates in our distribution centers are members of unions. We are subject to the risk of labor actions of various kinds, including work stoppages, as well as risks and potential material expenses associated with multiemployer plans, including from pension plan underfunding, benefit cuts, increased contribution or funding requirements, changes in plan terms, withdrawal liability, increased premium costs, conditions imposed under any governmental assistance programs, or insolvency of other participating employers or governmental insurance programs. Certain of our Associates in Europe are members of works councils, which may subject us to additional requirements, actions or expense.

Failure to employ quality Associates in appropriate numbers and to retain key Associates and management could adversely affect our performance.

We need to employ capable, engaged Associates in large numbers for our stores and distribution centers and, to a lesser extent, for other areas of our business, including information technology functions. We must constantly recruit new Associates to fill entry level and part-time positions with historically high rates of turnover and at times find seasonal talent in sufficient numbers. The availability and skill of Associates may differ across markets in which we do business and in new markets we enter, and we may be unable to meet or manage our labor needs effectively. In addition, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we have faced and may continue to face additional challenges in recruiting sufficient talent due to health and safety concerns and disruption to the availability of school or childcare, among other factors, as well as the challenges in engaging, overseeing and training those Associates who would typically work from our offices, most of whom have been working remotely since March 2020.

Our performance also depends on recruiting, hiring, developing, training, and retaining talented Associates in key areas such as buying and management. Similar to other retailers, we face challenges in securing and retaining sufficient talent in management and other key areas for many reasons, including competition for talent in the retail industry and in various geographic markets. In addition, because of the distinctive nature of our off-price model, we must provide significant internal training and development for key Associates across the Company, including within our buying organization, and must effectively manage succession planning. If we do not effectively attract qualified individuals, train them in our business model, support their development, engage them in our business, and retain them in sufficient numbers and at appropriate levels of the organization, our growth could be limited, and the successful execution of our business model could be adversely affected.

Compromises of our data security, disruptions in our information technology systems, or failure to satisfy the information technology needs of our business could result in material loss or liability, materially impact our operating results or materially harm our reputation.

Our business depends on our information technology (“IT”) systems, which collect and process information of customers, Associates and other persons, as well as information of our business and of our suppliers, service providers, and other third parties. We rely heavily on information technology systems, including those operated and maintained by our suppliers, service providers, and other third parties to manage all key aspects of our business, including planning; purchasing; sales, including point-of-sale processing and e-commerce; supply chain management; inventory management; human resources; financial management; communications; information security; and legal and regulatory compliance. This reliance requires us to accurately anticipate our current and future information technology needs and successfully develop, implement, and maintain appropriate systems, as well as effective disaster recovery plans for such systems. Our ongoing operations and successful growth are dependent on doing so, as well as the ongoing integrity, security and consistent operations of these systems, including related back-up systems.

As is common in the retail industry, our information technology systems, as well as those of our suppliers, service providers, and other third parties whose information technology systems we utilize directly or indirectly, are targeted by attempts to access or obtain personal or sensitive information, attempts at monetary theft, and attempts to disrupt business. These attempts could include use of malware, ransomware, phishing, social engineering, denial-of-service attacks, exploitation of system vulnerabilities, employee malfeasance, digital and physical skimmers, account takeovers, and other forms of cyber attacks. These attempts are becoming increasingly sophisticated, heightening the risk of compromise or disruption. Our information technology systems and those of our suppliers, service providers and other third parties also may be damaged or disrupted, or personal or sensitive information compromised, from a number of other causes, including power outages, system failures, catastrophic events, or employee error. Such damage, disruption or compromise could materially impair our ability to operate our business or otherwise result in material impacts on our operating results.

Changes in the business landscape and the increase of remote working for our Associates, service providers, and other third parties have the potential to increase the likelihood of system damage or disruption and increase the risk of a data security compromise. These factors have led to additional mitigation strategies and investments across our IT Security workforce, technologies, and processes. In addition, the global regulatory environment surrounding information security and privacy is increasingly demanding, and unauthorized access of personal or sensitive information could result in regulatory enforcement actions, class actions, contract liability, or other forms of material legal liability. Any successful compromise or disruption of our information technology systems, or other compromise of the information of our customers, Associates or other persons that we collect, could result in material reputational harm and impact our customers’ willingness to shop in our stores or online and/or our suppliers’, service providers’ or other third parties’ willingness to do business with us.

We maintain policies, procedures, and controls designed to reduce the risks of data security compromises and information technology failures or disruptions, but such controls cannot fully eliminate such risks and may fail to operate as intended or be circumvented. While we have implemented measures designed to further strengthen these policies, procedures and controls since the unauthorized intrusions into our network discovered late in 2006, we may suffer a similar or different cyber event in the future. These measures also require costly and ongoing investment in technologies, hiring, training, and compliance.

There is a risk of material business disruption, liability and reputational damage associated with ongoing actions intended to update, enhance, modify or replace our systems and infrastructure, including from not accurately capturing and maintaining data, efficiently testing and implementing changes, realizing the expected benefit of the change and managing the potential disruption of the actions and diversion of internal teams’ attention as the changes are implemented.

Damage to our corporate reputation or those of our retail banners could adversely affect our sales and operating results.

Our relationships with our customers and our reputation are based, in part, on perceptions of subjective qualities. Incidents involving us, our retail banners, our executives and other Associates, our board of directors, our policies and practices, our third party providers, our vendors and others within our supply chain, the merchandise and brands, including our licensed or owned brands, that we sell, our partners and our industry more generally that erode trust or confidence could adversely affect our reputation and thereby impact our business, particularly if the incidents result in rapid or significant adverse publicity, protest, litigation, or governmental inquiry. Information on such incidents that is publicized through traditional or digital media platforms, including social media, websites, blogs, and other forums that facilitate rapid, broad communications to an audience of consumers and other interested persons, may adversely affect our reputation and brand, even if the information is inaccurate, incomplete or unverified. Similarly, challenges or reactions to action (or inaction), or perceived action (or inaction), by our company to crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, or on issues like corporate responsibility, responsible sourcing, environmental sustainability, inclusion and diversity (including racial justice and equity), human rights, politics and lobbying, privacy, merchandising, product safety, compensation and benefits, labor compliance, workforce reductions or other employment actions, or other sensitive topics, and any perceived lack of transparency about such matters, could harm our reputation, particularly as expectations of corporate action and of companies’ corporate responsibility obligations have changed and may continue to change.

This kind of reputational damage could occur locally or globally and could impact our company or our individual retail banners. Damage to the reputation of our company and our banners could result in declines in customer loyalty and sales; affect our vendor relationships and/or business development opportunities; limit our ability to attract and retain quality Associates; divert the attention and resources of management, including to respond to inquiries or additional regulatory scrutiny; and otherwise adversely affect our results.

We depend upon strong cash flows from our operations to supply capital to fund our operations, growth, stock repurchases and dividends and interest and debt repayment.

Our business depends upon our operations to continue to generate strong cash flow to supply capital to support our general operating activities, to fund our growth and our return of cash to stockholders through our stock repurchase programs and dividends, and to pay our interest and debt repayments. If we are unable to generate sufficient cash flows (due to the ongoing pandemic or otherwise) or to repatriate cash from our international operations in a manner that is cost effective, our growth plans, capital expenditures, operating expenses, and financial performance, including our earnings per share, could be adversely affected. Changes in the capital and credit markets, including market disruptions, limited liquidity, and interest rate fluctuations may increase the cost of financing or restrict our access to these potential sources of liquidity. Our continued access to these liquidity sources on favorable terms depends on multiple factors, including our operating performance and maintaining strong credit ratings. We borrow on occasion to finance our activities and if financing were not available to us in adequate amounts and on appropriate terms when needed, it could also adversely affect our financial performance.

Further expansion of our international operations could expose us to risks inherent in operating in new countries.

We have a significant retail presence in countries in Europe and in Canada and Australia. We also operate buying offices around the world. Our goal is to continue to expand our operations into other countries in the future. It can be costly and complex to identify appropriate store locations and establish, develop and maintain international operations and to promote business in new international jurisdictions, which may differ significantly from other countries in which we currently operate.

Just as with our current operations, there are risks inherent in opening and developing operations in new countries, such those related to compliance under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the U.K. Bribery Act. Additional risks include, among others, understanding the local retail climate and trends, local customs and cultures, seasonal differences, business practices and competitive conditions; complying with relevant laws, rules and regulations; developing the appropriate infrastructure; identifying suitable partners for local operations and for integration with our global operations and effectively communicating and implementing company policies and practices in new, possibly remote, jurisdictions. There are also financial, regulatory and other risks associated with international operations, including currency exchange fluctuations; potentially adverse tax consequences; limitations on the repatriation and investment of funds outside of the country where earned; trade regulations; the risk of sudden policy or regulatory changes; the risk of political, economic and civil instability and labor unrest; and uncertainties regarding interpretation, application and enforceability of laws and agreements. Any of these risks could adversely impact our operations, profitability or liquidity.

Our quarterly operating results fluctuate and may fall short of prior periods, our projections or the expectations of securities analysts or investors, which could adversely affect our stock price.

Our operating results have fluctuated from quarter to quarter at points in the past, including varying significantly from past quarters during fiscal 2021, and may do so again in the future. If we fail to increase our results over prior periods, to achieve our projected results or to meet the expectations of securities analysts or investors, our stock price may decline (as it did at times during fiscal 2021), and the decrease in the stock price may be disproportionate to the shortfall in our financial performance. Results may be affected by various factors, including those described in these risk factors. We maintain a forecasting process that seeks to plan sales and align expenses. If we do not control costs or appropriately adjust costs to actual results, or if actual results differ significantly from our forecast, our financial performance could be adversely affected. In addition, if we suspend our buyback program, as we did during fiscal 2021, or if we have an active buyback program and are repurchasing shares but do not repurchase the number of shares we contemplated pursuant to our stock repurchase programs, or if we reduce or suspend our dividend distributions, our earnings per share may be adversely affected.

If we engage in mergers or acquisitions or investments in new businesses, or divest, close or consolidate any of our current businesses, our business could be subject to additional risks.

We may acquire new businesses (as we have in the past with our Australia business and with Sierra), invest in other businesses (as we did with our minority investment interest in privately held Familia, a Russian off-price apparel and home fashions retailer, in fiscal 2020) or enter into joint ventures with other businesses, develop new businesses internally (as with Homesense, our additional U.S. home store concept launched in fiscal 2018), launch or expand e-commerce platforms (as we plan to do in fiscal 2022 with a HomeGoods e-commerce business), and divest, close or consolidate businesses. Failure to execute on mergers, acquisitions, investments, divestitures, closings and consolidations in a satisfactory manner could adversely affect our future results of operations and financial condition. Acquisition, investment or divestiture activities may divert attention of management from operating the existing businesses, and we may not effectively evaluate target companies, investments or investment partners or assess the risks, benefits and costs of buying, investing in or closing businesses or of the integration of acquired businesses, all of which can be difficult, time-consuming and dilutive. These activities may not meet our performance and other expectations and may expose us to unexpected or greater-than-expected costs, liabilities and risks. In addition, we recorded intangible assets and goodwill and the value of the tradenames in connection with our last acquisitions and may similarly do so in the future in connection with other acquisitions. If we are unable to realize the anticipated benefits from acquisitions, we may be required to impair some or all of the goodwill associated with an acquisition, which would adversely impact our results of operations and balance sheet, such as with an impairment charge. Divestitures, closings and consolidations could involve risks such as significant costs and obligations of closure, including exposure on leases, owned real estate and other contractual, employment, pension and severance obligations, and potential liabilities that may arise under law as a result of the disposition or as a result of the credit risk of an acquirer.

Our real estate leases generally obligate us for long periods, which subjects us to financial risks.

We lease virtually all of our store locations and either own or lease for long periods our primary distribution centers and administrative offices. Accordingly, we are subject to the risks associated with leasing and owning real estate, which can adversely affect our results. While we have the right to terminate some of our leases under specified conditions, including by making specified payments, we may not be able to terminate most of our leases if or when we would like to do so. If we decide or are required to permanently close stores, we are typically required to continue to perform obligations under the applicable leases, which generally include, among other things, paying rent and operating expenses for the balance of the lease term, or paying to exercise rights to terminate, and the performance of any of these obligations may be significant. When we assign leases or sublease space to third parties, or if we sell or close a business, we can remain liable on the lease obligations if the assignee or sublessee does not perform (as was the case with some of our former operations). In addition, when the lease terms for the stores in our ongoing operations expire, we may be unable to negotiate renewals, either on commercially reasonable terms or at all, which could cause us to permanently close stores or to relocate stores within a market on less favorable terms or in a less favorable location.

Failure to protect our inventory or other assets from loss and theft may impact our financial results.

Risk of loss or theft of assets, including inventory shrinkage, is inherent in the retail business. Loss may be caused by error or misconduct of Associates, customers, vendors or other third parties. Our inability to effectively prevent and/or minimize the loss or theft of assets, or to effectively reduce the impact of those losses, could adversely affect our financial performance.

EXTERNAL AND ECONOMIC RISKS

Economic conditions on a global level or in particular markets, geopolitical uncertainty, and other factors creating uncertainty and instability may adversely affect consumer confidence and discretionary spending, which could affect our financial performance.

Consumer confidence and discretionary spending can be affected by various economic conditions, both on a global level and in particular markets, that can, in turn, affect our business or the retail industry generally. These factors include, among others, economic recession; unemployment levels; availability of disposable income and actual and perceived wealth; actual or perceived declines in consumer purchasing power; health care costs; costs of oil, gas, and other commodities; interest rates and tax rates and related policies; weakness in the housing market and housing costs; volatility in capital markets; credit availability; and inflation and deflation.

Similarly, in addition to the impact of regulatory or policy changes, regulatory volatility or uncertainty, including in areas such as international trade, including U.S. tariff policies; challenges presented by implementation following Brexit, as well as threats or occurrences of war, terrorism, pandemics or epidemics (such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic), geopolitical instability or uncertainty and political or social unrest and/or conflict (locally or across regions) may have significant effects on consumer confidence and spending that can in turn, affect our financial results and impact the retail industry generally. These conditions and factors also shift trends in consumer spending that could affect our business. Although we believe our flexible off-price model helps us react to such changes, they may adversely affect our sales, cash flows, merchandise orders, and results of operations and performance.

Instability in financial markets or other factors may adversely affect economic conditions, on a global level or in particular markets, impacting our sources of liquidity and costs of capital and increasing our financial exposure, and our strategies for managing these financial risks may not be effective or sufficient.

Global financial markets can experience volatility, disruption and credit contraction, which could adversely affect global economic conditions. Changes in economic conditions could adversely affect sources of liquidity available to us or our costs of capital, including through capital markets, could adversely affect plan asset values and investment performance, and increase our pension liabilities, expenses, and funding requirements and other related financial exposure with respect to company-sponsored and multiemployer pension plans. Our strategies for managing these financial risks and exposures may not be effective or sufficient or may expose us to risk.

Our results may be adversely affected by serious disruptions, catastrophic events or public health crises.

Natural or other disasters, such as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes and other extreme weather; climate conditions; unforeseen public health issues, such as pandemics and epidemics (such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic); fires or explosions; and acts of war, domestic or foreign terrorism, or violence, including riots or active shooter situations, could disrupt our operations in a number of ways, including by causing injury or serious harm to our Associates, including when traveling on business, or customers; severely damaging or destroying one or more of our stores, distribution facilities, data centers or office facilities, or could disrupt the operations of, or require the closure of, one or more of our vendors or other parts of our supply chain located in the affected areas. Day-to-day operations, including our ability to receive products from our vendors or third party service providers or transport products to our stores or to our e-commerce customers could be adversely affected, transportation to and from our stores (by customers or Associates) could be limited, or we could temporarily close stores or distribution centers in the affected areas or in areas served by affected distribution centers for a short or extended period of time (as with closures of our stores and other facilities beginning in March 2020).

As our business is subject to seasonal influences, a decrease in sales or margins, a severe disruption or other significant event that impacts our business during the second half of the year could have a disproportionately adverse effect on our operating results.

Our business is subject to seasonal influences; we generally realize higher levels of sales and earnings in the second half of the year, which includes the back-to-school and year-end holiday seasons. Any decrease in sales or margins or any significant adverse event during this period, including those described in these risk factors, could have a disproportionately adverse effect on our results of operations.

Our results may be adversely affected by increased utility, transportation or logistics costs; reduced availability or increased cost of oil or other fuels; or increased costs of other commodities.

Energy and fuel costs can fluctuate dramatically and, at times, have resulted in significant cost increases, particularly for the price of oil and gasoline. An increase in the price of oil increases our transportation costs for distribution, utility costs for our retail stores and costs to purchase our products from suppliers. Although we typically enter into derivative instruments designed to manage a portion of our transportation costs (a hedging strategy), any such strategy may not be effective or sufficient and could result in increased operating costs. Increased regulation related to environmental costs, including cap and trade, carbon taxes or other emissions management systems could also adversely affect our costs of doing business, including utility, transportation and logistics costs, as could other shortages or disruptions impacting transportation, such as those relating to trucking and freight hauling. For example, in recent years, increased freight cost related to labor, equipment and capacity shortages, as well as other factors, had an impact on our margins, and in fiscal 2021, the ongoing pandemic impacted operations of many third parties along our supply chain, impacting our inventory flow and financial performance. Similarly, other commodity prices can fluctuate dramatically. Such increases can impact the cost of merchandise, which could adversely affect our performance through potentially reduced consumer demand or reduced margins.

Adverse or unseasonable weather may adversely affect our sales and operating results.

Adverse or unseasonable weather, such as storms, severe cold or heat or unseasonable temperatures (even if not extreme) may affect customers’ buying patterns and willingness to shop at all or in certain categories we offer, particularly in apparel and seasonal merchandise, possibly impacting our sales and customer satisfaction with our stores and increasing our markdowns. As a result, our business could be adversely affected.

Fluctuations in currency exchange rates may lead to lower revenues and earnings.

Sales made by our stores outside the U.S. are denominated in the currency of the country in which the store is located, and changes in currency exchange rates affect the translation of the sales and earnings of these businesses into U.S. dollars for financial reporting purposes. Because of this, movements in currency exchange rates have had and are expected to continue to have a significant impact on our consolidated and segment results from time to time. Changes in currency exchange rates can also increase the cost of inventory purchases that are denominated in a currency other than the local currency of the business buying the merchandise. When exchange rates change significantly in a short period or move unfavorably over an extended period, it can be difficult for us to adjust accordingly, and gross margin can be adversely affected. For example, a significant amount of merchandise we offer for sale is made in China and accordingly, a revaluation of Chinese currency, or increased market flexibility in the exchange rate for that currency, increasing its value relative to the U.S. dollar or currencies in which our stores are located, could be significant.

Additionally, we routinely enter into inventory-related derivative instruments (a hedging strategy) to mitigate the impact of currency exchange rates on merchandise margins resulting from merchandise purchases by our segments denominated in currencies other than their local currencies. In accordance with GAAP, we evaluate the fair value of these derivative instruments and make mark-to-market adjustments at the end of each accounting period. These adjustments are of a much greater magnitude when there is significant volatility in currency exchange rates and may have a significant impact on our earnings.

We expect that currency exchange rate fluctuations could have a material adverse effect on our sales and results of operations from time to time. In addition, fluctuations in currency exchange rates may have a greater impact on our earnings and operating results if a counterparty to one of our hedging arrangements fails to perform.

REGULATORY, LEGAL AND COMPLIANCE RISKS

Failure to comply with laws, rules, regulations and orders and applicable accounting principles and interpretations could negatively affect our business operations and financial performance.

We are subject to national, state, provincial, regional and local laws, rules, regulations, mandates, accounting standards, principles and interpretations, as well as government orders in various countries in which we operate that collectively affect multiple aspects of our business. We are also subject to new and changing laws, rules and regulations, mandates, evolving interpretations of existing laws by judicial and regulatory authorities, changes in accounting standards or interpretations, and reforms in jurisdictions where we do business. These requirements, current or changing, could adversely affect our operating results, including those involving:

**–**labor and employment practices and benefits, including for labor unions and works councils;

–health, welfare and safety requirements, such as those implemented in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic;

–import/export, supply chain, trade restrictions and logistics, including resulting from changes to requirements or policies from the outcome of Brexit;

–climate change, energy and waste;

–consumer protection and product safety;

–marketing;

–financial regulations and reporting;

–tax;

–data protection and privacy, such as to comply with, or fines and penalties related to, General Data Protection Regulation in the European Union and the California Consumer Privacy Act;

–Internet regulations, including e-commerce, electronic communications and privacy;

–protection of intellectual property rights; and

–compliance with governmental assistance programs.

Complying with applicable laws, rules, regulations, standards, interpretations, orders and our own internal policies may require us to spend additional time and resources to implement new procedures and other controls, conduct audits, train Associates and third parties on our compliance methods or take other actions, particularly as we continue to grow globally and enter new markets, countries or product categories, any of which could adversely impact our results. Particularly in a dynamic regulatory environment, anticipated changes to laws and regulations may require us to invest in compliance efforts or otherwise expend resources before changes are certain.

In addition, if we, or third parties that perform services on our behalf, fail to comply with applicable laws, rules, regulations, standards, interpretations and orders, we may be subject to judgments, fines or other costs or penalties, which could adversely affect our operations and our financial results and condition.

Our results may be materially adversely affected by the outcomes of litigation, legal proceedings and other legal or regulatory matters.

We are involved, or may in the future become involved, in legal proceedings, regulatory reviews, audits and other legal matters. These may involve inquiries, investigations, lawsuits and other proceedings by local, provincial, state and national governmental entities (in the U.S. and other countries) and private plaintiffs, including with respect to employment and employee benefits (such as classification, employment rights, discrimination, wage and hour and retaliation); whistleblower claims; harassment claims; tax; securities; disclosure; real estate; environmental matters; hazardous materials and hazardous waste; tort; business practices; consumer protection; privacy/data security; product safety and compliance; advertising; and intellectual property. There continue to be employment-related and consumer protection lawsuits, including putative class actions, in the United States, and we are subject to these types of suits. We cannot predict the results of legal and regulatory proceedings with certainty, and actual results may differ from any reserves we establish estimating the probable outcome. Regardless of merit or outcome, these proceedings can be both time-consuming and disruptive to our operations and may cause significant expense and diversion of management attention. Legal, regulatory and other proceedings could expose us to significant defense costs, fines, penalties and liability to private parties and governmental entities for monetary recoveries and other amounts and attorneys’ fees and/or require us to change aspects of our operations, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

Quality, safety, or other issues with merchandise we buy and sell could impact our reputation, sales, and financial results.

Various governmental authorities in the jurisdictions where we do business regulate the quality and safety of the merchandise we import, transport, and sell to consumers. Regulations and standards in this area, including federal regulations related to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 and the U.S. Food Safety Modernization Act, state regulations like California’s Proposition 65, and similar legislation in other countries in which we operate, impose restrictions and requirements on the merchandise we buy and sell. These regulations change from time to time, and new national, state, provincial, or local regulations in the U.S. and other countries that may affect our business are contemplated and enacted with some regularity. We rely on our vendors to provide quality merchandise that complies with applicable laws, as well as our vendor code of conduct that requires our merchandise vendors to ensure the products they sell to us comply with all applicable laws and regulations. However, our vendors may not comply with such obligations. If we or our merchandise vendors are unable to comply with regulatory requirements on a timely basis or at all, or to adequately monitor new regulations that may apply to existing or new merchandise categories or in new geographies, we could incur significant fines or penalties or we could have to curtail some aspects of our sales or operations, which could have an adverse effect on our financial results. Although our arrangements with our vendors frequently provide for indemnification for product liabilities, the vendors may fail to honor these obligations to an extent we consider sufficient or at all. In certain circumstances, we may bear some responsibility for compliance with applicable product safety laws, labeling requirements, and other applicable laws. In addition, failure to comply with, or the perception that we have failed to comply with, other social compliance, product, labor and/or environmental standards or monitoring practices, which continue to evolve, related to the products we sell could subject us reputational harm and impact our financial results.

Concerns or issues with the quality, safety, and sourcing of merchandise, particularly with products subject to increased levels of regulation or inquiry, or the authenticity of merchandise, regardless of whether unverified or not our fault, could result in regulatory, civil or criminal fines or penalties, litigation, or reputational harm, any of which could have an adverse effect on our financial results.

Tax matters could adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition.

We are subject to income and other taxes in the U.S. and numerous foreign jurisdictions. Our effective income tax rate and future tax liability could be adversely affected by numerous factors including the results of tax audits and examinations, income before taxes being lower than anticipated in countries with lower statutory income tax rates and higher than anticipated in countries with higher statutory income tax rates, changes in income tax rates, changes in transfer pricing, changes in the valuation of deferred tax assets and liabilities, changes in applicable tax legislation, regulations, treaties and other guidance, and changes in accounting principles and interpretations relating to tax matters, any of which could adversely impact our results of operations and financial condition in future periods. The U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the “2017 Tax Act”) significantly revised the previous federal income tax code. Additional interpretive guidance has been and will continue to be issued with respect to the 2017 Tax Act, and such guidance may be different from our interpretation and thus adversely affect our results. In addition, it is uncertain if and to what extent various states will conform to the 2017 Tax Act, which could also impact our tax obligations. Significant judgment is required in evaluating and estimating our worldwide provision and accruals for taxes, and actual results may differ from our estimations.

In addition, we are subject to the continuous examination of our tax returns and reports by national, state, provincial and local tax authorities in the U.S. and foreign countries, and the examining authorities may challenge positions we take. We are engaged in various proceedings, which are at various stages, with such authorities with respect to assessments, claims, deficiencies and refunds. We regularly assess the likely outcomes of these proceedings to determine the adequacy and appropriateness of our provision for income taxes, and we increase and decrease our provision as a result of these assessments. However, developments in and actual results of proceedings, rulings or settlements by or with tax authorities or courts (including due to changes in facts, law or legal interpretations, expiration of applicable statutes of limitations or other resolutions of tax positions) could result in amounts that differ from those we have accrued for such proceedings in either a positive or a negative manner, which could materially affect our effective income tax rate in a given financial period, the amount of taxes we are required to pay and our results of operations. In addition, we are subject to tax audits and examinations for payroll, value added, sales-based and other taxes relating to our businesses, which could adversely impact our financial results.

None.

We lease virtually all of our store locations, as well as some of our distribution centers and office space. Most of TJX's leases in the U.S. and Canada are store operating leases, generally for an initial term of ten years with options to extend the lease term for one or more five-year periods. Store operating leases in Europe generally have an initial term of ten to fifteen years and leases in Australia generally have an initial lease term of seven to ten years, some of which have options to extend. Some of the Company's leases have options to terminate prior to the lease expiration date.

STORE LOCATIONS

Our divisions operated stores in the following locations at the end of fiscal 2021; store counts below include both banners within a combo or a superstore:

(a)Marmaxx operates T.J. Maxx and Marshalls. HomeGoods operates HomeGoods and Homesense.

DISTRIBUTION CENTERS

The following is a summary of our primary owned and leased distribution and fulfillment centers as of January 30, 2021. Square footage information for the distribution and fulfillment centers represents total “ground cover” of the facility.

OFFICE SPACE

TJX has corporate headquarters in Massachusetts which consists of both owned and leased space. Additionally, we own and lease additional office space throughout the United States and in various countries. As of January 30, 2021, TJX owned and leased a combined 3.2 million square feet of office space, primarily within the United States. Square footage information for office space represents total space owned or leased.

See Note O—Contingent Obligations, Contingencies, and Commitments of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for information on legal proceedings.

Not applicable.

PART II

Our common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (Symbol: TJX).

The approximate number of common shareholders of record at January 30, 2021 was 2,045.

Information on Share Repurchases

The number of shares of common stock repurchased by TJX during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021 and the average price paid per share are as follows:

(a)Consists of shares repurchased under publicly announced stock repurchase programs.

(b)Includes commissions for the shares repurchased under stock repurchase programs.

(c)As of January 30, 2021 TJX had approximately $3.0 billion available under previously announced stock repurchase programs. In March 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, TJX suspended its share repurchase program. We did not repurchase additional shares for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021.

TJX provides projections and other forward-looking statements in the following discussions particularly relating to our future financial performance. These forward-looking statements are estimates based on information currently available to us, are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and subject to the cautionary statements set forth on page 2 of this Form 10-K. Our results are subject to risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, those described in Part I, Item 1A, Risk Factors, and those identified from time to time in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. TJX undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

The discussion that follows relates to our 52-week fiscal years ended January 30, 2021 (fiscal 2021) and February 1, 2020 (fiscal 2020). Our 52-week fiscal year ended February 2, 2019 is referred to as fiscal 2019 and our 52-week fiscal year ended January 29, 2022 is referred to as fiscal 2022.

The following is a discussion of our consolidated operating results, followed by a discussion of our segment operating results. Discussions of fiscal 2019 items and year-to-year comparisons between fiscal 2020 and fiscal 2019 that are not included in this Form 10-K can be found in "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in Part II, Item 7 of our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended February 1, 2020.

OVERVIEW

We are the leading off-price apparel and home fashions retailer in the U.S. and worldwide. Our mission is to deliver great value to our customers every day. We do this by selling a rapidly changing assortment of apparel, home fashions and other merchandise at prices generally 20% to 60% below full-price retailers’ (including department, specialty, and major online retailers) regular prices on comparable merchandise, every day. We operate over 4,500 stores through our four main segments: in the U.S., Marmaxx (which operates T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, tjmaxx.com and marshalls.com) and HomeGoods (which operates HomeGoods and Homesense); TJX Canada (which operates Winners, HomeSense and Marshalls in Canada); and TJX International (which operates T.K. Maxx, Homesense and tkmaxx.com in Europe, and T.K. Maxx in Australia). In addition to our four main segments, Sierra operates sierra.com and retail stores in the U.S. The results of Sierra are included in the Marmaxx segment.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic

After a novel coronavirus disease (“COVID-19”) emerged and spread worldwide, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic in March 2020, and national, state and local governments and private entities began issuing various restrictions, including travel restrictions, restrictions on public gatherings, stay at home orders and advisories and quarantine or isolation protocols. We temporarily closed all of our stores, online businesses, distribution centers and offices in March 2020, with Associates working remotely where possible. During April 2020, we temporarily furloughed the majority of hourly store and distribution center Associates in the U.S. and Canada, with employee benefits coverage for eligible Associates continuing during the temporary furlough at no cost to impacted Associates. We also took comparable actions with respect to portions of our European and Australian workforces.

When we began to reopen stores and distribution centers in May 2020, we implemented new health and safety practices, including practices related to personal protective equipment, enhanced cleaning and social distancing protocols. Early in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021, in response to increasing cases of COVID-19, hundreds of our stores had additional temporary closures, the vast majority being in Europe and Canada, and additional stores may close temporarily in the future. We continue to monitor developments, including government requirements and recommendations at the national, state, and local level that could result in possible additional impacts to our operations.

Our results for fiscal 2021 were negatively impacted by the temporary closure of our stores for approximately 24% of fiscal 2021 in the aggregate. This represents total store days closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic as a percentage of potential total store days open. See additional details below by segment.

As of March 30, 2021, we had approximately 580 stores, primarily in Europe, that were temporarily closed due to government mandates in response to the COVID-19 global pandemic. We expect closures in Europe and Canada to impact our first quarter fiscal 2022 results as stores are expected to be closed for approximately 71% and 12% of the quarter, respectively. Although the majority of our Germany and Netherlands stores were reopened by the end of March, additional operating restrictions have been imposed, including appointment requirements, limited business hours and capacity constraints. In total, based on current restrictions, we expect stores to be closed for approximately 12% of the first quarter of fiscal 2022. All of our e-commerce businesses remain open, including tkmaxx.com in the U.K.

In addition to the temporary closures and reopenings of our stores and other facilities, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has led to modifications to our operations, including the implementation of health and safety protocols, and has impacted consumer behavior. The continued scope and impact of the pandemic is unpredictable and has in the past caused, currently causes, and may continue to cause additional intermittent or prolonged periods of temporary store closures, and may result in additional changes in consumer demand and behavior or require further modifications to our operations. These potential impacts may lead to increased asset recovery and valuation risks, such as impairment of our stores and other assets and an inability to realize deferred tax assets due to sustaining losses in certain jurisdictions. The uncertainties in the global economy may also impact the financial viability or business operations of some of our suppliers and service providers (including transportation and logistics providers), which may interrupt our supply chain, and require other changes to our operations. These and other factors have had and may continue to have a material impact on our business, results of operations, financial position and cash flows.

Store and Associate Actions

We have taken numerous steps designed to protect the health and well-being of our Associates and customers to operate more safely in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. We established several global task force teams focused on a broad range of strategies to navigate the Company through this global health crisis. Globally, we have put in place practices including social distancing protocols (which include occupancy limits and reducing in-store inventory levels), access to personal protective equipment and enhanced cleaning efforts. For example, upon reopening our stores, we installed protective shields at registers, encouraged social distancing through regular in-store announcements, signage, and markers in our queue lines, implemented new processes for handling merchandise returns, and instituted new cleaning regimens, including enhanced cleaning of high-touch surfaces, such as shopping carts, throughout the day. Further, in many locations, including where mandated, we have required that shoppers wear a face covering in stores.

**Fina

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TJX is exposed to market risks in the ordinary course of business. Some potential market risks are discussed below:

FOREIGN CURRENCY EXCHANGE RISK

We are exposed to foreign currency exchange rate risk on the translation of our foreign operations into the U.S. dollar and on purchases of goods in currencies that are not the local currencies of stores where the goods are sold and on intercompany debt and interest payable between and among our domestic and international operations. Our currency risk primarily relates to our activity in the Canadian dollar, British pound and Euro. As more fully described in Note F—Financial Instruments of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, we use derivative financial instruments to hedge a portion of certain merchandise purchase commitments, primarily at our international operations, and a portion of our intercompany transactions with and within our international operations. We enter into derivative contracts only for the purpose of hedging the underlying economic exposure. We utilize currency forward and swap contracts, designed to offset the gains or losses on the underlying exposures. The contracts are executed with banks we believe are creditworthy and are denominated in currencies of major industrial countries. Our foreign exchange risk management policy prohibits us from using derivative financial instruments for trading or other speculative purposes and we do not use any leveraged derivative financial instruments. We have performed a sensitivity analysis assuming a hypothetical 10% movement in foreign currency exchange rates applied to the hedging contracts and the underlying exposures described above as well as the translation of our foreign operations into our reporting currency. The analysis indicated a potential impact of approximately $38 million on our pre-tax income in fiscal 2021 and approximately $82 million in fiscal 2020.

EQUITY PRICE AND OTHER MARKET RISK

The assets of our funded qualified pension plan, a portion of which are equity securities, are subject to the risks and uncertainties of the financial markets. We invest the pension assets (described further in Note J—Pension Plans and Other Retirement Benefits of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements) in a manner that attempts to manage our exposure to market uncertainties. Investments, in general, are exposed to various risks, such as interest rate, credit, and overall market volatility risks. A significant decline in the financial markets could adversely affect the value of our pension plan assets and the funded status of our pension plan, resulting in increased required contributions to the plan or other plan-related liabilities. Our pension plan investment policy prohibits the use of derivatives for speculative purposes.

The information required by this item may be found on pages F-1 through F-40 of this annual report on Form 10-K.

Not applicable.

(a) Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

We have carried out an evaluation, under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures, as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act, as of the end of the period covered by this report pursuant to Rules 13a-15 and 15d-15 of the Exchange Act. Based upon that evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures are effective at a reasonable assurance level in ensuring that information required to be disclosed by us in the reports that we file or submit under the Exchange Act is (i) recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms; and (ii) accumulated and communicated to our management, including our principal executive and principal financial officers, or persons performing similar functions, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosures. Management recognizes that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving their objectives and management necessarily applies its judgment in evaluating the cost-benefit relationship of implementing controls and procedures.

(b) Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act) during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021 identified in connection with our Chief Executive Officer’s and Chief Financial Officer’s evaluation that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

(c) Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting. Internal control over financial reporting is defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) promulgated under the Exchange Act as a process designed by, or under the supervision of, our principal executive and principal financial officers, or persons performing similar functions, and effected by our Board of Directors, management and other personnel, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with GAAP and includes those policies and procedures that:

–Pertain to the maintenance of records that in reasonable detail accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of TJX;

–Provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with GAAP, and that receipts and expenditures of TJX are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of TJX; and

–Provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of TJX’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, we conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of January 30, 2021 based on criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework 2013 issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). Based on that evaluation, management concluded that its internal control over financial reporting was effective as of January 30, 2021.

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, the independent registered public accounting firm that audited and reported on the consolidated financial statements contained herein, has audited the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of January 30, 2021, and has issued an attestation report on the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting included herein.

Not applicable.

PART III

The information concerning our executive officers is set forth under the heading “Information about our Executive Officers” in Part I of this report. TJX will file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) a definitive proxy statement no later than 120 days after the close of its fiscal year ended January 30, 2021 ("Proxy Statement"). The other information required by this Item and not given in this Item will appear under the headings “Election of Directors” and “Corporate Governance,” including in “Board Leadership and Committees,” and “Audit Committee Report” and, if applicable, “Beneficial Ownership” and “Delinquent Section 16(a) Reports” in our Proxy Statement, which sections are incorporated herein by reference.

In addition to our Global Code of Conduct, TJX has a Code of Ethics for TJX Executives governing its Executive Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President, Chief Financial Officer, Principal Accounting Officer and other senior operating, financial and legal executives. The Code of Ethics for TJX Executives is designed to ensure integrity in TJX’s financial reports and public disclosures. TJX also has a Directors Code of Business Conduct and Ethics which promotes honest and ethical conduct, compliance with applicable laws, rules and regulations and the avoidance of conflicts of interest. Both of these codes of conduct are published at tjx.com. We intend to disclose any future amendments to, or waivers from, the Code of Ethics for TJX Executives or the Directors Code of Business Conduct and Ethics within four business days of the waiver or amendment through a website posting or by filing a Current Report on Form 8-K with the SEC.

The information required by this Item will appear under the headings “Compensation Discussion and Analysis,” “Compensation Tables,” “Director Compensation” and “Compensation Program Risk Assessment” in our Proxy Statement, which sections are incorporated herein by reference.

The information required by this Item will appear under the headings “Equity Compensation Plan Information” and “Beneficial Ownership” in our Proxy Statement, which sections are incorporated herein by reference.

The information required by this Item will appear under the heading “Corporate Governance,” including in “Transactions with Related Persons” and “Board Independence,” in our Proxy Statement, which section is incorporated herein by reference.

The information required by this Item will appear under the headings “Audit Committee Report” and “Auditor Fees” in our Proxy Statement, which sections are incorporated herein by reference.

PART IV

(a) FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES

For a list of the consolidated financial information `included herein, see Index to the Consolidated Financial Statements on page F-1.

Schedule II – Valuation and Qualifying Accounts

(b) EXHIBITS

Listed below are all exhibits filed as part of this report. Some exhibits are filed by the Registrant with the Securities and Exchange Commission pursuant to Rule 12b-32 under the Exchange Act.

• Management contract or compensatory plan or arrangement.

(p) Paper filing.

Unless otherwise indicated, exhibits incorporated by reference were filed under Commission File Number 001-04908.

Not applicable.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the Registrant and in the capacities and on the date indicated.

The TJX Companies, Inc.

INDEX TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

For Fiscal Years Ended January 30, 2021, February 1, 2020 and February 2, 2019.

F-1

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

To the Board of Directors and Shareholders of The TJX Companies, Inc.

Opinions on the Financial Statements and Internal Control over Financial Reporting

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of The TJX Companies, Inc. and its subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of January 30, 2021 and February 1, 2020, and the related consolidated statements of income, of comprehensive income, of shareholders' equity and of cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended January 30, 2021, including the related notes and schedule of valuation and qualifying accounts for each of the three years in the period ended January 30, 2021 appearing under Item 15(a) (collectively referred to as the “consolidated financial statements”). We also have audited the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of January 30, 2021, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO).

In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of January 30, 2021 and February 1, 2020, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended January 30, 2021 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Also in our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of January 30, 2021, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the COSO.

Change in Accounting Principle

As discussed in Note A to the consolidated financial statements, the Company changed the manner in which it accounts for leases as of February 3, 2019.

Basis for Opinions

The Company's management is responsible for these consolidated financial statements, for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting, and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting appearing under Item 9A. Our responsibility is to express opinions on the Company’s consolidated financial statements and on the Company's internal control over financial reporting based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud, and whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects.

Our audits of the consolidated financial statements included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statemen

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