Ross Stores has opened another 40 locations — 28 under the Ross Dress for Less banner and another 12 under its DD’s Discounts banner.
The retailer’s store footprint crossed the 2,000 mark this fall. The new locations include stores in California, Florida, Texas, Ohio and Illinois.
For the fiscal year as a whole, Ross added roughly 100 locations. Gregg McGillis, Ross’ group executive vice president for property development, said in a press release that the company sees “plenty of opportunity to grow” in the long term to 2,900 Ross Dress for Less stores and 700 DD’s Discounts locations.
The company’s largest competitor, TJX Cos., had 1,290 T.J. Maxx stores and 1,157 Marshalls stores in the U.S. as of July 30.
Ross Chief Operating Officer Michael Hartshorn said in May that “we think there’s market share available” when asked by an analyst if the retailer would stick to its store opening plan for the year.
“We think value will become increasingly important for the customer as it has over the last number of years,” Hartshorn added, according to a Seeking Alpha transcript. “And we think we have a great opportunity ahead of us. So, we would continue with our store opening.”
This year, Ross has found its core customer struggling with inflation. As Telsey Advisory Group analysts noted in September, the retailer’s customers “did not respond favorably” when Ross tried making some strategic price increases on its products earlier this year.
“Our customer’s looking for branded bargains, great values every day,” Ross CEO Barbara Rentler told analysts in August. “That’s what she’s come to expect for 40 years, and that’s what she expects from us now.”
