Compare
One gives the biggest discount off a brand's list price. The other gives you a catalog you can plan around. They are not the same advantage.
By Catherine Vizcaino · Home-renovation pro & founder
Updated September 2026
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The honest answer is that HomeGoods usually wins on the discount and Target usually wins on the decision — and those are different things worth different amounts depending on what you are buying.
HomeGoods buys brand-name overstock and closeout lots and sells them below the brand’s original list price. When that brand charged a lot to begin with — bedding, bath towels, cookware, decorative lighting — the saving is real and often large. Target designs and sells its own home brands at a set price, publishes it, keeps it in stock, and lets you order it. That reliability is worth money too, just not the kind that shows up on a tag.
Below: which store actually wins in each category, the store counts and return windows that decide most trips, and the one structural difference that settles a lot of arguments — HomeGoods has no online store at all. I renovate and furnish homes for a living, so these are stores I drive to weekly. See our editorial policy for how these calls get made, and the retailer hub for every store compared side by side.
Best for The matching pair HomeGoods can't promise
Two identical lamps in one box — the single hardest thing to source from an off-price store.
#ad · disclosure · Price as of September 27, 2026
Best for A rug in a size you chose
A machine-washable, thin-profile rug in a stated 5x7 — so you can measure the room first and buy second.
#ad · disclosure · Price as of September 27, 2026
Best for Towels you can re-buy next year
Plush cotton towels at a price that lets you replace the whole set — and buy the same ones again later.
| HomeGoods | Target | |
|---|---|---|
| Owner | TJX Companies (NYSE: TJX) | Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) |
| US store count | 963 stores | 2,000+ stores, all 50 states and DC |
| How it gets cheap | Discounts a brand's original list price | Designs its own brands to a price point |
| Assortment | Unrepeatable closeout lots; a few units per item | Planned catalog you can re-buy and match |
| Home brands | Whatever brands landed this week | 45+ owned brands, including its home lines |
| Furniture | Accent pieces and small case goods | Full range, in store and online |
| Returns | 30 days with receipt; store credit after | 90 days; one year on Target owned brands |
| Shop online? | No — TJX lists no HomeGoods e-commerce site | Yes, with pickup, drive-up and delivery |
Bottom line: buy brand-name bedding, towels and cookware at HomeGoods, where an off-price discount on a high list price is a genuine saving. Buy anything you need in a specific size, in a matching set, on a date, or that you might return, at Target — the 90-day window, the one-year window on its owned brands, and the ability to actually order the thing are worth more than a lucky tag. If you only shop one, Target is the safer default; if you shop both, use HomeGoods for the hunt and Target for the plan.
Not uniformly, and the pattern is predictable enough to plan around. Off-price discounting is a percentage off someone else’s list price, so HomeGoods wins biggest exactly where list prices are highest and loses where they were already low.
HomeGoods generally wins on:
Target generally wins on:
One honest caveat about comparing prices at all here: HomeGoods does not publish any of them. There is no site to check, no app inventory, no price you can see before you drive. Target publishes everything. That asymmetry means “is HomeGoods cheaper” is unanswerable for a specific item in advance — you can only know the pattern, which is what this section is for.
This is the cleanest difference between the two and the one people are most surprised by. HomeGoods does not sell online. Not a limited assortment, not a beta — nothing. When TJX lists its e-commerce businesses in its fiscal 2026 annual report it names tjmaxx.com, marshalls.com and sierra.com. HomeGoods and Homesense appear nowhere on that list. HomeGoods ran an online store years ago and shut it down.
It is worth understanding why, because it tells you something about what HomeGoods can and cannot ever do for you. Off-price buying means acquiring closeout and overstock lots, which arrive in odd quantities and get allocated across hundreds of stores — frequently a handful of units of a given item per location. There is no national inventory position to publish and nothing stable to list. The absence of a website is a direct consequence of the thing that makes the prices good.
Target is the opposite in every respect: published prices, published dimensions, in-store pickup, drive-up, same-day delivery, and a catalog that is still there next month. What this means practically:
The gap here is large enough to change which store you should buy from for anything you are not certain about.
A full year versus thirty days, on the category where you are most likely to change your mind, is not a small difference. The practical rule I use: if I am confident, HomeGoods; if the color, the scale or the client’s reaction is uncertain, Target — and I buy a Target owned brand specifically, because that is where the one-year window lives.
The gap both stores leave is the same one: a specific item, in a known size, in the quantity you need, today. These three cover the categories people most often fail to find at HomeGoods — a matching pair of lamps, a rug in a stated size, and towels you can re-buy. Each card shows the live current price rather than a number I typed once and let go stale.
On brand-name bedding, bath towels and cookware, usually yes — off-price discounting takes the biggest markdown where list prices were highest. On basics, storage, furniture and anything you need in a specific size or quantity, Target is cheaper in practice, because those items already list low and HomeGoods may not have yours at all. Neither store is cheaper across the board, and HomeGoods publishes no prices you can check before driving.
No. HomeGoods has no online store at all. When TJX lists its e-commerce businesses it names tjmaxx.com, marshalls.com and sierra.com — no HomeGoods site. That is structural rather than a backlog: off-price lots arrive in small per-store quantities, so there is no national inventory to publish. Target sells its full catalog online with pickup, drive-up and delivery.
Target, clearly. Target allows 90 days on most items and a full year on Target owned brands with a receipt, plus 30 extra days for Target Circle Card holders. HomeGoods allows 30 days with a register receipt, store credit only after that, and requires a valid government-issued photo ID for any no-receipt return. Buy the uncertain item at Target.
HomeGoods for one-off character pieces and brand-name textiles; Target for a coherent look you can plan and repeat. Target’s 45+ owned brands give it consistent, design-led decor at a known price, while HomeGoods depends entirely on which closeout lots arrived that week. The way I actually use them: Target for the backbone of a room, HomeGoods for the one piece that makes it look collected rather than catalog-bought.
No. HomeGoods is owned by The TJX Companies, Inc. (NYSE: TJX), which also owns T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, HomeSense and Sierra. Target Corporation (NYSE: TGT) is a separate, unrelated company. For the full ownership map of every major home store, see our retailer hub.
Browse the roundups I'd actually hand a client — honest picks, real trade-offs, and the one to buy first.