Discount giant Ross opening 2 Long Island stores as shoppers hunt for bargains

Ross Dress for Less will double its number of Long Island stores to four Saturday, as the national off-price retailer benefits from major sales growth from more budget-watching shoppers.

Ross, which sells off-price clothes and home goods, will open its two new Long Island stores in Lake Grove and Riverhead, less than a year after the retailer first entered the region.

"We are excited to serve even more customers in the greater New York region with additional openings across several different counties later in the year," Connie Kao, group vice president of investor relations for Ross, said in an email.

Ross entered the Long Island region in July with a store opening in Hempstead Village Commons, followed by a store opening in Farmingville in October.

The retailer's new, approximately 26,000-square-foot store in Lake Grove, at 3210 Middle Country Rd., is in a portion of a former Fairway Market grocery store space in DSW Plaza, said Jerry Welkis, president of Welco Realty Inc., the New Rochelle-based firm that oversees leasing at the shopping center.

In Riverhead, Ross and Boot Barn are splitting some of the space in Roanoke Plaza vacated in 2024 by TJ Maxx, which relocated to another shopping center in the town.

Ross’ Riverhead store, at 1080 Old Country Rd., is occupying 22,221 square feet, or about half, of the former TJ Maxx space, said Kristen Moore, a spokeswoman for Brixmor Property Group, the Manhattan-based real estate firm that owns the Riverhead shopping center.

The average Ross store employs 55 to 60 full- and part-time workers, Kao said.

Growth amid consumer worries

Ross Stores Inc. ended 2025 with 2,267 stores, consisting of 1,904 Ross Dress for Less locations and 363 DD's Discount stores.

Over the last decade, the Dublin, California-based company has opened an average of about 80 stores annually.

The company plans to open 110 stores this year, with 85 being Ross stores, while the rest will be DD’s Discount stores, Ross Stores Inc.'s CEO, James G. Conroy, told analysts during an earnings call Tuesday.

The company is seeing higher customer counts and strong sales growth from shoppers of all income brackets amid consumers’ persistent worries about the affordability of goods and their desire to stretch their dollars, said Brett Husslein, equity analyst at Morningstar Research Services LLC, a financial services firm in Chicago.

Ross has a strong competitive advantage because of its ability to "procure inventory and merchandise, at like, at such a low price and ... have the flexibility to do that and fulfill that need," he said.

Ross Stores Inc.’s sales in the fiscal fourth quarter, which ended Jan. 31, were $6.6 billion, up 12% from $5.9 billion in the same period a year earlier, the company reported Tuesday.

At stores open at least one year, sales grew in 12 of the last 13 quarters, with the highest increase, 9%, occurring in the last quarter.

Ross’ improved inventory assortment with more brand value is one of the reasons for its strong financial performance, Conroy said.

"Our buying organization has done an incredible job navigating through tariffs and strengthening our vendor relationships to deliver merchandise that is resonating with our customers," he said.

By Tory N. Parrish

tory.parrish@newsday.comToryParrish1

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