Ross Stores runs off-price retail chains with two brands: Ross Dress for Less and dd's DISCOUNTS. It buys off-season, overstocked, or irregular items from manufacturers and department stores and sells them at significant discounts—about 20% to 60% below regular prices at Ross, and 20% to 70% at dd's DISCOUNTS. The chain differentiates itself through its large scale and two-brand approach, targeting value-conscious shoppers who want brand-name and designer merchandise at bargain prices. The goal is to make fashionable, brand-name items affordable for a wide range of customers by offering substantial savings compared with traditional retailers.
Company Size
10,001+
Company Stage
IPO
Headquarters
Dublin, California
Founded
1957
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Ross plans a 1.75m-square-foot distribution center: phase the volume Before the building. Listen to article Logistics Industry Analysis Ross Stores' planned Bakersfield, California, distribution center is enormous by almost any measure. But 1.75 million square feet of completed building does not automatically equal 1.75 million square feet of productive capacity. The operational risk lies in the handoffs: suppliers must change ship-to instructions, inventory must move without starving stores, associates must learn new processes, carriers must absorb new lanes, and the yard must handle real arrival patterns. Bringing all of that online at once turns a construction milestone into a network-wide stress test. A safer launch phases volume through measurable gates. Each wave should prove that people, inventory, systems, transportation, and yard operations can perform together before the next wave begins. Put 1.75 million square feet in network context. Supply Chain Dive reports that Ross plans to invest $500 million in the Bakersfield processing and distribution center. The multiyear project is expected to break ground in 2027, create nearly 1,000 jobs, and become the retailer's 10th distribution center. The site will join three other Ross distribution facilities in California, plus locations in Arizona, Texas, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina. It also supports a growing store base: Ross announced plans to open 47 stores this year, while second-quarter comparable sales increased 10% year over year and total sales rose 13%. Those numbers make the new capacity strategically understandable. They do not determine how the capacity should be activated. The building's role must be defined lane by lane: which suppliers will ship there, which inventory categories it will process, which stores and regions it will replenish, and which existing facilities will surrender volume. Before launch, establish a network baseline for inbound purchase orders, weekly units, pallets, cartons, store orders, trailer arrivals, dwell time, outbound miles, service performance, and peak-week demand. That baseline gives planners a way to distinguish a successful transfer from volume that merely moved locations. Build launch waves around operational risk. The first wave should not be a random slice of freight. Start with stable suppliers, predictable products, manageable order profiles, and nearby outbound destinations. Avoid combining a new facility, a new supplier process, unusually seasonal merchandise, and distant stores in the same first test. * Controlled pilot: A small group of reliable suppliers and low-complexity categories serves a limited set of nearby stores. The objective is to validate appointments, receiving, putaway, allocation, picking, loading, and delivery confirmation. * Category expansion: Add products with different handling and storage characteristics. Confirm slotting rules, inventory accuracy, replenishment, exception handling, and productivity by work area. * Regional expansion: Increase outbound geography and carrier demand. Test longer routes, multi-stop schedules, store receiving windows, trailer pools, and backhaul opportunities. * Peak simulation and full transfer: Run forecast peak volumes before exposing the operation to a real seasonal surge. Transfer the remaining volume only after the earlier waves meet their gates consistently. Wave size should be expressed in operational units - not just a percentage of forecast volume. Specify daily inbound trailers, cartons received, active stock-keeping units, orders, outbound trailers, and doors required by shift. A 10% volume increase can create a much larger workload if it adds fragmented orders or difficult product profiles. Ramp labor with the work, not the floor area. Nearly 1,000 planned jobs will not become a productive workforce on opening day. Hiring, training, coaching, and retention need their own ramp curve. Staffing plans should connect each launch wave to certified headcount by role, expected learning-curve productivity, supervisor coverage, equipment availability, and overtime limits. Measure the operation by process and shift. Inbound Logistics recommends monitoring indicators such as cycle time, employee turnover, on-time inbound delivery, inventory accuracy, on-time shipping, direct versus indirect labor hours, labor cost per unit, safety, and overtime. The same source describes how one logistics operator reduced an unwieldy scorecard from 44 measures to 28, a useful reminder that launch teams need a focused set of actionable signals. For each wave, define the minimum number of trained receivers, equipment operators, inventory-control specialists, pickers, loaders, yard coordinators, maintenance technicians, and supervisors. Count demonstrated proficiency, not people who merely attended training. Test transportation and yard flow before full volume. A large building can still be constrained by a gate, a shift-change queue, insufficient trailer parking, or poorly synchronized appointments. Model inbound and outbound flows in 15- or 30-minute intervals. Daily averages conceal the congestion that occurs when suppliers, linehaul carriers, and store routes converge. Run live yard tests before expanding a wave. Include gate check-in, security, appointment validation, door assignment, drop-trailer moves, live unloading, empty-trailer control, staging, outbound dispatch, and exception recovery. Measure gate-to-door time, unload time, door utilization, yard dwell, appointment compliance, detention, and missed cutoffs. Transportation planners should tender representative loads early enough to expose capacity gaps. Confirm carrier acceptance by lane and day of week, not only through broad commitments. Compare planned versus actual transit time and monitor whether the new network design creates excessive empty miles, driver waiting, or store delivery bunching. Make readiness milestone-based. Construction completion answers whether the building is available. Go-live readiness answers whether the operation can serve the network reliably. Create an approval gate for every wave with named owners from distribution, transportation, merchandising, inventory, IT, safety, human resources, and store operations. Require several consecutive operating days at target rather than a single successful shift. Core gates should include: * inventory and location accuracy at the agreed threshold; * stable receiving, picking, and loading productivity; * on-time inbound and outbound performance; * acceptable yard dwell, detention, and door utilization; * trained labor and supervisor coverage for the next wave; * successful interface, label, scan, allocation, and financial tests; * documented contingency capacity at another facility or carrier. If a gate fails, hold the next wave and resolve the cause. That is disciplined network control, not a delayed launch. The cost of pausing a transfer is usually smaller than the cost of misplaced inventory, missed store deliveries, emergency transportation, and customer-facing stockouts. Turn a major investment into dependable capacity. Ross's Bakersfield project can add significant western distribution capability, but its value will be realized through sequencing rather than square footage. A controlled ramp lets the team learn with bounded risk, protects the existing network, and connects every volume increase to evidence that the operation is ready. CXTMS gives transportation teams the shipment visibility, carrier performance data, appointment context, and exception controls needed to manage a phased distribution-center launch. Request a CXTMS demo to see how one platform can coordinate the transportation side of your next network expansion.
North Lauderdale Ross store faces lawsuit over alleged restroom slip and fall. A negligence lawsuit filed in Broward Circuit Court alleges a shopper slipped and fell on water in the women's restroom of the Ross Dress for Less store on McNab Road in North Lauderdale. By Boca Post Legal Desk | Edited by Mike Thomas Published Sep 26, 2026, 12:09 pm EDT Last updated Sep 26, 2026, 12:09 pm EDT The Ross Dress for Less store at 7300 McNab Road in North Lauderdale is named in a premises liability lawsuit filed in Broward County Circuit Court. NORTH LAUDERDALE, FL - The Ross Dress for Less store on McNab Road in North Lauderdale is the subject of a negligence lawsuit in Broward County after a shopper alleged she slipped and fell on water on the floor of the store's women's restroom, according to a complaint filed in circuit court. April Lashawn Williams, identified in the complaint as a Broward County resident, filed the case against Ross Dress for Less Inc. on Sept. 21, 2026, in the Circuit Court of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit in and for Broward County. The case, Williams v. Ross Dress for Less Inc., is docketed as Case No. CACE26015341 and is classified by the Broward County Clerk of Courts as a commercial premises liability negligence case. Court records assign the case to Circuit Judge Carlos Augusto Rodriguez at the Central Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale. The complaint is signed by attorney Robyn Lustgarten of Rubenstein Law, P.A. According to the complaint, the incident happened on or about July 28, 2025, at the Ross store at 7300 McNab Road. The filing states Williams was a business invitee lawfully inside the store when she used the women's bathroom and slipped and fell on water on the floor. Independent local news, every morning. Boca Raton, Delray, Boynton and the rest of Palm Beach County. No paywall, no corporate owner. The complaint alleges Ross owned, managed, operated or maintained the store at the time and owed its customers a duty to provide a reasonably safe environment. The lawsuit brings a single count of negligence. In plain terms, the plaintiff claims the company did not take reasonable care to keep the store safe for shoppers. The complaint lists several ways it alleges the company fell short, including allowing water or other substances to accumulate on the floor, not warning customers of the condition, not placing wet floor signs or barricades, and not removing the water. The complaint also alleges the company knew or should have known about the condition because it had existed long enough to be discovered and fixed. It further claims the condition occurred often enough that the owner should have been aware of it. According to the lawsuit, Williams suffered injuries the complaint describes as severe and permanent or continuing. The filing lists alleged physical and mental pain and suffering, disability, physical impairment, disfigurement, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, lost earnings and reduced earning capacity, and possible aggravation of a pre-existing condition. It also claims she incurred hospital and medical bills. The complaint states the action is for damages exceeding $50,000, not counting interest and costs. The civil cover sheet filed with the case lists an estimated claim amount of $100,001. The lawsuit seeks a judgment for damages, costs and interest, along with any other relief the court considers appropriate, and demands a jury trial on all issues. The docket shows the plaintiff also filed a request for admissions, a request for production, a notice of service of interrogatories and a notice of disclosure on the same day as the complaint. An electronic summons was issued to Ross Dress for Less Inc. on Sept. 22, 2026. The filing reviewed by Boca Post does not include a response from the defendant, and the docket does not list an attorney for Ross. Allegations in a complaint are claims made by one side and have not been proven in court. Boca Post reviewed the complaint, Williams v. Ross Dress for Less Inc., Case No. CACE26015341, filed Sept. 21, 2026, in the Circuit Court of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit in and for Broward County. Court records list the case as active, with no hearings scheduled as of the docket reviewed. Boca Post monitors civil litigation filed in Broward County and reports on selected cases with local relevance through its Broward County Lawsuits coverage. Your side of the story. A complaint contains allegations that have not been proven. Being sued is not a finding of liability. If Boca Post misstated a fact from the filing, Boca Post will correct it. If you are a named party, send Boca Post a statement in your own words and Boca Post will add it to this article as a clearly labeled response. If the case has been dismissed, settled, or decided, send Boca Post the documentation. Whether Boca Post update the article depends on the outcome and is its editorial decision.
A major women's fashion retailer is closing 120 stores this year as shoppers feel the sting of higher prices. Cato Fashions, a competitor to TJ Maxx and Ross, said it plans to close more locations than expected: 'We do not expect these marginal stores to improve.' This year has seen a number of retailers deciding to close a significant number of stores. As Fast Company reported last month, those closures have included hundreds of Eddie Bauer, Francesca's, GameStop, and Walgreens locations. Now, another major retailer is joining that list. The Cato Corporation, parent company of Cato Fashions, which operates more than 1,000 women's apparel and accessories stores across 31 states, has announced it will close 120 of them - more than 10% - by the end of the year. Here's what you need to know. What is Cato? The Cato Corporation is a company that owns and operates three different retailers that focus on fashion and apparel. The company's main brand is Cato (aka Cato Fashions), a women's fashion retailer that operates in 30 states. Cato was founded in 1946, making the retailer 80 years old this year. As a value retailer, Cato focuses on price-conscious consumers. Its closest competitors are the likes of TJ Maxx. The Cato Corporation also operates two other retailers. Versona is a boutique, upscale apparel, jewelry, and accessories brand with 90 locations in the U.S. It's Fashion and It's Fashion Metro are the company's junior retailers, with 119 locations in the United States. In total, the company's stores cover 31 states. Its largest market is the southeastern United States.
Waterbury shopping center lands national tenant, nears full occupancy. September 24, 2026 Ross Dress for Less is coming to Waterbury's Wolcott Street retail corridor, leasing 28,500 square feet at Waterbury Shopping Center. Get instant access to this article. * Critical Hartford and Connecticut business news updated daily. * Immediate access to all subscriber-only content on our website. * Bi-weekly print or digital editions of our award-winning publication. * Special bonus issues like the Hartford Book of Lists. * Exclusive ticket prize draws for our in-person events.
Ross Dress for Less to open stores in Hamden and Waterbury. The Hamden store will open on Oct. 10 next to fellow discounter Burlington in a space formerly occupied by Joann Fabrics. |!| Waterbury New Haven Hamden