TK Maxx’s largest secrets and techniques most customers do not know – and trick to bag greatest offers

There’s nothing like having a good rummage through TK Maxx.

It’s a great place to pick up bargains, shop on a budget and have a gander for all sorts of exciting products. But it’s always good to know how you can bag even more deals.

Over the years, shoppers revealed exactly where people are going wrong when it comes to hitting the store. There are ways you can save even more money when you visit.

READ MORE: People are just realising why fruit and veg are always at front of supermarkets

You can read more lifestyle stories from Daily Star here

Back in 2022, Channel 5 released a documentary which analysed the chain’s marketing tricks to see how it rakes in £3billion a year. It was exposed which secret discount codes people should keep an eye out for.

For those who haven’t checked a label in TK Maxx, there are numbers on the huge tag. You may be intrigued to know that some of them are pretty important.

In the documentary, former senior merchandiser Daniel Baker said: “The number that is really exciting to a customer is number two.”

If you can spot this number, it means the item is “genuine excess stock” that was flogged at a higher fee somewhere else. This means you’ve bagged a pretty good deal.

Daniel added: “The main three codes are one, two and seven. One means produced for TK Maxx. Two is ‘close-out buy’ that is unsold from another brand.

“And seven is ‘pack away’, which means it’s been packed for a previous year, like Christmas crackers bought in January for the following December.”

When it comes to designer brands, it’s no secret the chain has a number on offer – from Diesel to Calvin Klein and Clarks. Brands like these usually make lines specifically for TK Maxx.

As well as this, the store also whips up its own clothes under 500 trademarked names, so you may have picked up a TK original in the past.

In the documentary, an expert explained that customers often think things placed together have similar value, and this can encourage people to snap them up.

Staff are also trained in “hashing”, which is all about where clothes are located on rails to try and boost sales. On the show back in 2022, a former team leader, Jodie Evans, explained: “We used to hash the products through the rails.

“If you have three sizes small, we might put one at the start… one in the middle and one at the end.”

Daniel added: “We wanted to have only one of everything on the racks because it meant that when (shoppers) saw it, they were adamant they had to buy it there and then.”

If you head to the store to try and find a party dress, it’s no secret it can be a slog to look through all the rails. It may be surprising to hear staff members actually wax the rails before popping the clothes on to make the looking process easier for shoppers.

Jodie added: “Waxing the rails is a well-known secret among the teams at TK Maxx and it’s something the customer wouldn’t necessarily know about. It allows you to glide the products through the rails quite easily without that horrible squeaky, scratchy sound you often hear at many retailers.”

Meanwhile, last year, a former employee revealed something super huge about the chain. Much to a lot of people’s dismay, it doesn’t actually have a stock room.

“The stock room doesn’t exist,” a TK Maxx worker said to Fabulous. “If it’s not on the shelf, it’s not there.”

Despite telling customers this, many shoppers still ask in hope they will find their size lurking at the back. Although stores usually get new stock everyday, it is soon put out on the shop floor.

And, If you take a trip across the pond, the red and white sign of TJ Maxx will read slightly differently as TK Maxx. It turns out there’s a very good reason why it has a different name.

TK Maxx has graced UK high-streets and retail parks with its incredible discounts since 1994. While in America, TJ Maxx has been around a lot longer and is one of the country’s most renowned stores.

Bernard Cammarata founded the discount department store in 1976, with its first two locations opening a year later in Auburn and Worcester, Massachusetts.

Fast forward almost five decades and it now boasts 1,299 stores across the US.

Want all the biggest Lifestyle news straight to your inbox? Sign up for our free Daily Star Hot Topics newsletter