T.J. Maxx and Marshalls Holiday Event

You may have seen my tweets last week about traveling to Boston.

I was invited to the T.J. Maxx and Marshalls Blogger Holiday Event where flight, accommodations, transportation, and meals were provided.

While there I learned about a better way to shop on any holiday budget.

I had never been to Boston before and asked on Facebook for some advice about traveling there. The most common response was “don’t drive” and it was great advice at least for the time I arrived which was right at rush hour. It took me almost as long to get the couple of miles to the Fairmont Copley Plaza as it did to fly in from Cleveland! But I made it and just in time to look through the items my cute gift bag.

We headed out Wednesday night for a meet and greet cocktail party at Post390. On the way there we took a trolley bus that was decorated for the holidays and even played Christmas music. To top it off, it had an electric fireplace in the back with a mantle from which Christmas stockings hung!When we arrived at Post390, the restaurant was wonderful. We had a private room with a warm and cozy fireplace and were able to try a number of passed and served hor d’oeuvers and delicious holiday drinks.

The atmosphere was so cheery and festive, it was the perfect backdrop to get to know the other 22 bloggers in attendance and the representatives from T.J. Maxx and Marshalls. After an ice breaker and the start of what a fun Secret Santa game, the night wound down and we headed back to our hotel.

The next morning we were up bright and early to catch the trolley to the T.J. Maxx and Marshalls headquarters. We were greeted by Christmas carolers and then had a wonderful breakfast.

After breakfast, we heard from Laura McDowell, the Manager of Media Relations, who discussed the differences between T.J. Maxx and Marshalls  and taught us what off-price shopping is all about. Then the president of the T.J. Maxx and Marshalls, Michael MacMillan, talked to us about the ins and outs of the companies and how they are able to offer such deep discounts on designer labels and brands (look for an upcoming post covering this information).

*Exciting Sidenote! Michael MacMillan informed us that one of their buyers recently acquired 2300 iPads, which are going to be shipped to a select few T.J. Maxx and Marshalls stores this week! He said the stores that would carry the iPads are at some of their smaller locations and that there will be no advertising of it.

After a break we met some of the buyers who talked about and showed us some of the upcoming trends for this winter and spring in everything from outerwear, activewear, bags, belts, boots, and shoes.

We also saw a display showing two of the same outfits – one with the department store price and one at T.J. Maxx and Marshall’s price in Splurge vs. Steal:

There was a fun fashion show and then we had a fantastic lunch which felt just like we were at Thanksgiving or Christmas complete with turkey, stuffing, cranberries, green beans, pumpkin pie, and apple cobbler.

We played a game called “Off-Price is Right” where after learning the department store price of the item, we were to guess the T.J. Maxx or Marshalls discounted price. There were some big winners of fabulous designer prizes worth hundreds to thousands of dollars!

We then were shown a beautiful display of unique products all of which are sold by T.J. Maxx and Marshalls. There were many comments of “I didn’t know they sold that!” going around the room during this session. Here’s a look at just some of the items mentioned:

Next we went on a tour of the headquarters to see where the buyers work and the areas where they store the samples. We got a peek in a entire room full of purses and bags…

another full of beauty products…

and hallways stuffed with shoes, boots and more purses, bags, and beauty products.

Then we went shopping! We took the trolley to Marshall’s first and then over to T.J. Maxx where we were able to put some of our newly acquired buying knowledge to work to find great deals to bring home with us.

It was an amazing event and I had an incredible time. I was able to meet both mom and fashion bloggers and they were all so nice and wonderful. Flying home my head was full of Christmas carols and holiday spirit – it certainly was strange to come home and have our Halloween decorations still up!

I will be writing a series of posts this week to share the information I learned from the T.J. Maxx and Marshalls Blogger Holiday Event event. I hope to pass the knowledge along so you can take advantage of the great savings this holiday season too.

You can see tweets from the event and links to other blogger reviews by following the Twitter hashtag #marshallstjmaxx.