Sierra Trading Post sold to TJX Cos. For $200 million

Get ready to possibly see more discounted outdoor products in your neighborhood.

The parent company of TJ Maxx, Marshalls and HomeGoods stores announced Friday it has acquired discount outdoor retailer Sierra Trading Post for $200 million.

TJX Companies (NYSE:TJX) officials said they will leverage Sierra Trading Post’s e-commerce expertise to build a greater online retail platform for its other discount stores, and in return help Sierra Trading Post expand.

“As an off-price online retailer, Sierra Trading Post shares many characteristics with TJX,” said Carol Meyrowitz, CEO of TJX. “We see Sierra’s management team, with their deep Internet retailing experience, as a complement to the strong e-commerce team we have built within TJX. Further, we are confident that TJX can help grow the Sierra business profitably through our buying scale, marketing and our other capabilities.”

Founded in 1986 in Reno, Nev., and based in Cheyanne, Wyo. since 1992, Sierra Trading Post has four retail outlet stores in Idaho, Nevada and Wyoming. It’s best known for selling outdoor closeouts, overstocks and seconds at discounts of 35-70 percent. Sierra Trading Post began its e-commerce business in 1999, which helped spur significant growth to more than $200 million in annual revenue and 700 employees, officials said. To help draw more e-commerce talent, Sierra Trading Post recently opened an additional technology campus in Fort Collins, Colo.

TJX’s operates 1,039 T.J. Maxx stores, 912 Marshalls, and 417 HomeGoods nationwide. Officials could not be reached late Friday before the holidays, on whether TJX planned to sell discounted outdoor goods through those retail store channels, potentially ruffling the feathers of nearby specialty outdoor retailers.

–David Clucas