Ross Dress For Less comes to Long Island: The off-price retailer penetrates new territories

Ross Dress for Less plans to debut on Long Island, continuing to expand into new markets as an off-price retailer.

Ross, which opened its first stores in New York State last year, plans to open a branch in the village of Hempstead.

The store is planned for the Hempstead Village Commons, 320 Peninsula Blvd., said Joseph Simone Jr., director of the village’s planning department.

The mall’s owner, Woodmere-based real estate developer Basser-Kaufman, submitted construction plans to the township in June for exterior and interior renovations to convert a former Pep Boys store into a Ross store, he said.

After approval by the village’s Planning Board and Building Department, a building permit was issued July 23 to renovate a 1,858-square-foot space for a Ross store, Simone said.

Basser-Kaufman declined to comment.

Ross Stores Inc., based in Dublin, California, declined to provide details about its plans for a Hempstead store, so it’s unclear when the store will open. The company also declined to comment on whether it plans to open additional locations on Long Island.

“We have not announced any new stores in Long Island,” a spokeswoman said in an email.

On average, a new Ross store employs about 40 full-time and part-time workers, she said.

Inflation boosts off-price segment

Ross is the largest discount clothing and home goods retailer in the United States, with 1,795 stores in 43 states, Washington, DC, and Guam. The retailer’s sister chain, DD’s Discounts, has 353 stores in 22 states.

Ross Stores’ goal is to expand Ross to approximately 2,900 locations and DD to approximately 700 stores, according to its 2023 annual report.

The company will open approximately 90 new stores – 75 Ross and 15 DD locations – in several states in fiscal 2024.

The first Ross stores in Michigan and Minnesota opened last year, while the chain expanded its presence in core markets such as California, Florida and Texas.

There are now six Ross stores in New York, all in the upstate, and the retailer plans to open a store in Vestal in Broome County this fall.

According to the company, Ross stores average about 2,500 square feet in size.

Ross Stores has opened about 90 stores each year for the past decade. Given the impact of inflation on price-conscious consumers in recent years, the company’s growth plan bodes well for the company, said Noah Rohr, an equity research analyst at Morningstar Research Services LLC, a financial services firm in Chicago.

Ross Stores is doing well financially: Sales at stores open for at least a year rose 5% in fiscal 2023 and 3% in the first quarter of this fiscal year, Rohr said.

The company’s sales growth was largely due to actual increases in the volume of goods sold and not just price increases, he said.

“I think the company is quite well positioned for a tighter economic environment,” he said.

Off-price retailers in general, including Burlington, TJ Maxx and Marshalls, are gaining market share in part because they have spent the past 20 years removing the stigma that off-price stores offer cheap goods, says Simeon Siegel, managing director of equity research in the Manhattan office of BMO Capital Markets, a Toronto-based financial services firm.

“That, and the fact that (full-price) department stores are under pressure, means that off-price deals are becoming a target rather than a … collection of mistakes,” he said.

Ross’ target customers are mostly from middle-income households, while DD’s target customers generally have more moderate incomes than the typical Ross customer, according to a Ross Stores investor report.

Ross Stores’ net income was $488 million for the first fiscal quarter ended May 4, up from $371 million for the same period a year ago.

The company’s total revenue increased 8% to $4.9 billion.

The company’s overall sales were respectable in the first quarter, but there are concerns that inflation could put pressure on discretionary spending among low- to middle-income customers, Ross Stores CEO Barbara Rentler told analysts during a May quarterly earnings call.

“It is therefore more important than ever that we continue to focus on delivering the best possible brand values. In addition, we will continue to tightly control inventory costs to maximize sales and profit growth for the remainder of the year,” she said.

Tory N. Parrish covers retail and small business for Newsday. She has worked at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Observer-Dispatch in Utica, NY.