Ross Stores Inc. announced plans to expand its footprint at a time when much of the retail industry is contracting in an effort to stay profitable.
The California-based bargain retail chain recently opened thirty-six Ross Dress for Less locations and four dd’s Discounts stores across 17 states throughout September and October, completing the company’s store growth plans for fiscal 2025.
The company doesn’t have plans to press pause on its expansion plans with plans to open 90 new locations throughout the rest of the year.
“This fall, we continued to strengthen our brand presence by opening stores in existing markets and expanding in new markets,” Richard Lietz, Executive Vice President of Property Development, said.
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For Ross Dress for Less locations, the company is adding locations in the Midwest as well as the Northeast. It’s adding new stores in Michigan, New Jersey and New York and simultaneously boosting its presence in the sunbelt states, Lietz said.
Meanwhile, it’s expanding dd’s in the core markets of California and Texas, Lietz added.
“Looking ahead, we remain confident in our expansion plans and see plenty of opportunity to grow to at least 2,900 Ross Dress for Less and 700 dd’s DISCOUNTS locations over time.”
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The company stands out as an outlier amid a wave of major retail behemoths that have been trimming their footprint to ensure their long-term viability.
Macy’s announced plans in 2024 to close 150 underproducing locations by 2026 to try and boost profitability as it faces cost pressures including tariffs. Macy’s executives said on its earnings call last month that it had to pay steep tariffs, as high as 145%, on certain imported items.
Meanwhile, Kohls’s closed 27 underperforming stores by April 2025 and its e-commerce fulfillment center in San Bernardino, California, the following month.
Pharmacies and grocery chains haven’t been spared by the uncertain macroeconomic environment either, with household names like Walgreens and Kroger announcing plans to shrink their footprints.
John Mercer, head of global research for Coresight Research, told FOX Business that off-price has been a growth segment for several years, “as store expansion has met consumer demand for discount alternatives to midrange stores.”
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Mercer noted that Ross is among the off-price stores like T.J. Maxx and Burlington that “have been structural market-share winners with a strong value proposition attracting a mix of lower-income shoppers and those trading down from midtier retailers.”
In addition, Mercer said those companies can be considered to be counter-cyclical retailers because shoppers trade down more during times of economic pressure.
Coresight Research data shows that six of the 10 retail chains opening the most stores in 2025 are discount formats. For instance, we expect the three major off-price retailers, TJX, Ross Stores and Burlington, to open a combined total of 289 stores this calendar year. That follows an estimated 340 openings across these three companies in calendar 2024.
“Off-price is a part of a generally expanding discount segment that includes dollar stores, grocery discounters (such as Aldl, Grocery Outlet and Lidl), other specialized discounters (such as Primark) and discounters such as Ollie’s Bargain Outlet,” Mercer said.
CFRA analyst Zach Warring told FOX Business that the off-price space, particularly Ross Stores and TJX, are taking market share from department stores and even some big box retailers,
“The main reasons Ross Stores and TJX are able to continue to open new locations while other aren’t is due to the great business model and continued momentum of off-price.
Their business model, in which they buy old or excess inventory from other retailers for penny’s on the dollar and sell them for 30% to 70% off retail, also allows for them to open new locations with little to no outside capital, Warring said.
To date, there are 2,273 Ross Dress for Less and dd’s DISCOUNTS stores operating in 44 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico.
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