Ross Dress for Less expanding on Long Island, opening 2 more stores

Ross Dress for Less’ expansion strategy, bolstered by inflation-weary customers seeking bargains, included a Long Island entrance last summer that has brought five of the off-price stores to the region.

Now, two more Ross stores are planned for Long Island — in Levittown and Holbrook, the latter of which Newsday reported on in August.

"Their initial openings have exceeded their projections and they have extremely aggressive expansion plans for the NY metro region," Brian Schuster, a vice chairman at Ripco Real Estate LLC in Woodbury, said in a text message Thursday. He represents the landlord for the Levittown shopping center where Ross plans to open a store.

Ross’ Levittown store will open in July, Connie Kao, senior vice president of investor relations at Ross Stores Inc., said in an email Thursday.

The clothing and home goods retailer will open its Levittown store at 2965 Hempstead Tpke., in a space vacated by Wren Kitchens in April. The Ross store will occupy about 20,000 square feet in the shopping center, Kao said.

Ross’ Holbrook store will open Oct. 10 in a 22,913-square-foot space in The Shops at SunVet.

Located at 5801 Sunrise Hwy., the Holbrook shopping center was formerly the site of Sun Vet Mall, which was built in 1973. The property was renamed in 2023 and, in a project that was primarily completed last year, underwent a $96 million redevelopment from an enclosed mall to an open-air shopping center.

Ross stores have an average of 50 to 60 full- and part-time employees each, Kao said.

Demand for bargains

Dublin, California-based Ross Stores Inc. operates 1,952 Ross stores in 44 states; Washington, D.C.; Guam; and Puerto Rico. The company also operates 376 DD's Discounts stores in 23 states, but none in New York.

Ross entered the Long Island market in July 2025 with a store opening in Hempstead Village Commons, followed by a store in Farmingville in October, two stores in Lake Grove and Riverhead in March, and one in West Babylon last July.

In recent years, the company has seen strong sales growth fueled by price-sensitive consumers' increasing demand for bargains, which is one reason it is pushing a boost in its store numbers.

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

This year, the company plans to open about 115 stores — 90 Ross Dress for Less and 25 DD's Discounts locations.

Ross is seeing an increase in new customers across a wide range of incomes and ages, Chief Executive Officer James G. Conroy told analysts during a second-quarter quarter earnings call in August.

"Once in our stores, both new and existing customers are responding to our compelling values and a broader selection of fashion and brands," he said.

Ross Stores' sales in the second quarter, which ended Aug. 1, increased 13% to $6.3 billion, up from $5.5 billion for the same period in 2025, the company reported last month. Sales at stores open at least one year "rose a very strong 10% for the quarter," Ross 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.