TikTok is going bananas for the rumored TJ Maxx yellow tag sale. The Maxxinista shopping creators are alerting the internet that there’s a massive clearance sale happening — up to 90% off — not just at TJ Maxx, but also at Marshalls and HomeGoods. Supposedly, this clearance event is on clothing, household items, purses, perfume, and jewelry. So, pretty much everything. Sounds amazing for all of the back-to-campus shopping, right? An extra sale on top of already discounted items: it sounds almost too good to be true.
And… yeah. That’s because it kinda is.
On TikTok, customers woke up at the crack of dawn on July 21, showing up to TJ Maxx before opening time ready to dive into those mythical deals. If you know the Maxxinistas, they are dead serious about getting the most bang for their buck. The troops are storming in the moment the doors open, carts blazing, only to find… nothing. No yellow tags in sight. No wild markdowns. Just their basic summer sale. So what the hell is happening? Both customers and employees are confused. Is this yellow tag sale even real? Where did this rumor come from? And why are creators now saying that they “got it wrong” and the sale will be on July 28?
Is the TJ Maxx yellow tag sale real?
It’s complicated. In my hunt to figure this out, I called my local TJ Maxx and was told this: “Some stores have yellow ticket clearance, but it’s not some big event, just something that happens on our regular markdown schedule at certain stores.” Tea.
So yes, there are items with yellow tags on sale at some stores, but no — it is not some major event like creators are saying.
My best guess is that creators found some yellow ticket items, maybe even heard they were coming to certain stores on a certain date, and the rumor spiraled out of control into a huge national event. TJ Maxx never announced a sale. With basic media literacy, one might deduce that to mean there wasn’t a sale to start with. However, they also didn’t do anything to deny the rumors — probably because this buzz brought people into the stores.
Why are creators now saying that the TJ Maxx yellow tag sale starts on July 28?
Frankly, nobody is giving an explanation on that one. My guess is that a store stocks some of those items on the 28, an employee let a customer know, and now the rumor has evolved into a new event date.
However, a user cleared up this rumor in the comment section, writing in full: “coming from an actual marshalls worker, we DO have these sales but it’s NOT what you think it is.. going back to my first point, we do have these sales but not all stores are at the same time! for example my store isn’t even doing this at all, we normally do it during the holidays and only once at that. Second point of this sale isn’t what you think it is, how we discount is red tag then double red tag and THEN a yellow tag for the final discount. yellow tags are there but it’s majority items that aren’t being sold which is more commonly makeup and beauty products or some random home toys. I wouldn’t listen to these creators telling people that these sales are happening at a specific time because it’s not true and all stores are very much different! happy shopping!!”
I’m sure we’ve all heard not to believe everything we see on the internet, but it’s easy to be fooled over something like this. It’s a strange thing to lie about. And frankly, I don’t think creators are outright lying, it just sounds like people got confused. So next time, maybe call the store before getting excited and waking up early for an event that may or may not be real — might save you some time and energy.