I compared TJ Maxx locations in the suburbs and the city. The prices were the same, but the shopping experiences couldn’t have been more different.

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I loved being a stay-at-home mom. Now that my kids are teens, I regret losing my identity in the early years.

• I visited two TJ Maxx settings in New York: one in the suburbs of Long Island and one in Manhattan.
• I was expecting to prefer the suburban location, but I liked the selection better in Manhattan. 
• In any event, both required some patience to sift through and find the hidden gems.

TJ Maxx is one of the most popular off-price (or discounted) retail chains in the US, with over 1,000 stores across the US and Canada.

The earliest two TJ Maxx locations opened in Massachusetts in 1977, according to the company’s timeline. Since then, its parent company, TJX, has tendered HomeGoods, TK Maxx (its European equivalent), and Homesense, and acquired Marshalls, Winners Apparel, Bob’s Stores, and Sierra Trading Publish.

Sometimes, a shopping experience will differ drastically between an urban location and a suburban location, from cost outs to products, and I wanted to see if the same could be said of TJ Maxx. I decided to visit a location in the suburbs of Long Island, New York, and parallel it to a store in Manhattan.

Here’s what I thought.