We visited Target and TJ Maxx to see which store offered a better shopping experience — and the winner was clear

• Target and TJ Maxx shoppers love these stores because of the treasure-hunt shopping experience that they provide.
• Both are known for their addictive shopping experience. They're frequently featured in memes about going into a store to make one purchase but ending up buying far more.
• We visited two stores in Downtown Manhattan and found that Target offered a better atmosphere for shopping.

From the outset, Target and TJ Maxx seem to be two quite different stores.

TJ Maxx is an off-price retailer with around 1,200 US stores that sell clothing, homeware, and gourmet food at discounted prices.

Target, on the other hand, is a big-box retailer with around 1,800 stores in the US, selling everything from groceries to electronics and clothing, with some locations also offering cafés and CVS pharmacies in-store. It's more often compared to Walmart or Costco.

Despite this, these two stores have one very similar defining characteristic: they're both known for their so-called treasure-hunt shopping experience, and there is a big overlap in shoppers because of this. They both have become the subject of memes about customers coming in to a store for one item but leaving with much more. 

We decided to put these two stores head to head to see which offered a better experience for shoppers. The locations that we compared were near each other in Downtown Manhattan, New York City.  

Here's what we found:

SEE ALSO: We shopped at TJ Maxx and Ross to see which was a better discount store — and the winner was clear

First, we visited a Target store in Tribeca. This is one of the retailer's new, smaller-format stores. Target has been focusing on rolling out more of these smaller stores to reach a new set of shoppers in urban areas.

The focus at the front of the store was instantly on drawing in female customers, who make up the majority of Target's customer base. 

Some of these women's summer dresses were offered with deals like buy one, get one 50% off. 

Source: Business Insider

Next, we came across its Chobani café.

As this is one of only three Chobani cafés in existence, it could be a strategic way to drive new customers to this location.

As we headed further into the store, we spotted its Hearth & Hand with Magnolia collection. The pieces in this collection were designed with Chip and Joanna Gaines from the TV show "Fixer Upper."

This new collection launched in 2017.