Tuesday Morning Inc. (TUES – Snapshot Report) has been struggling with its brand for several years. This Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) is now in the midst of a “Rebuilding Program.”

Will it succeed?

Tuesday Morning operates 750 off-price retail stores in 41 states selling discounted home accessories, housewares, seasonal goods and branded gifts.

What Happened to the Brand?

My mother worked as a sales clerk at a Tuesday Morning store for years in the Chicago suburbs in the 1990s and early 2000s.

The brand previously had a strong identity. It used to be famous for its Tuesday morning sales wherein the stores would literally close for several weeks four times a year while new merchandise was brought in.

While the stores were closed and being restocked, fliers would go out to dedicated customers highlighting the merchandise that would be available that Tuesday morning when the store would reopen.

The items were usually one-of-a-kind items such as 1,000 thread count sheets for half the price you could get at a department store or unique well-known designer lamps or rugs.

But quantities were limited of the high quality merchandise which meant if you wanted to buy it, you had to be there the day the sale began.

That Tuesday morning of the re-open, at my mother’s store in Naperville, customers would be lined up at 7 am for a 9 am opening and would literally run into the store when the doors opened. My mother saw customers nearly come into fist fights over some of the merchandise.

It was a retail dream. Who else had people lining up to get into their stores for sales? Only a select few retailers saw that and it was on Black Friday.

But this model was before Amazon.com and the Internet changed the way shopping was done.

Tuesday Morning Sales No More

The Tuesday morning sales, where the stores actually shut down, were phased out years ago. They tried to remain open while restocking but that meant customers could “see” the merchandise but not buy it until the sale began.