Merchandise Manager

Burlington's new Brooklyn lease fits an expansion story, not the closure story some coverage has attached to it. Burlington signed 31,717 square feet at Steiner NYC's Admirals Row campus in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, a site with a genuinely contested historic-preservation backstory, but the retailer's own SEC filings show it adding stores by the hundreds, not closing 250 of them. By Sabastian Niles / Published: Oct 02 2026, 1:25 PM EDT Burlington Stores has signed a 31,717-square-foot lease at 25 Navy Street, bringing the off-price retailer to Steiner NYC's Admirals Row campus in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, with an opening planned for fall 2027. The vacant two-story building sits opposite New York City's first-ever Wegmans supermarket, part of an 8-acre mixed-use development that also includes CityMD, a Wells Fargo branch and liquor retailer Fresh Direct Wines and Spirits. Ripco Real Estate's Jason Pennington and Ben Weiner represented Steiner NYC in the deal, which carries a 10-year term with renewal options. "They're a fantastic off-price retailer," Doug Steiner said of the new tenant. The site itself carries a genuinely contested history worth understanding before treating this as a routine retail lease. Admirals Row's original structures, built between the 1860s and 1901, served as residences for Brooklyn Navy Yard officers until the yard closed in 1966; the houses sat vacated and decaying for decades afterward. Ownership transferred from the federal government to the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation in 2012, and the row was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2014 as part of the broader Brooklyn Navy Yard Historic District, a designation that carries far weaker protection than individual New York City Landmark status, which these specific buildings never received. That distinction is precisely what allowed Steiner, selected through an RFP process and granted a 96-year ground lease, to begin demolishing most of the row starting in 2016, a move Commercial Observer's own earlier reporting described as having "angered neighbors and preservationists" at the time. The demolition wasn't a single completed event: as of recent reporting, nine of the original ten houses have come down, with one house and a timber shed still standing on the site today. The campus Burlington is joining has grown substantially since that contested beginning. A November 2024 refinancing arranged by Walker & Dunlop put $148.5 million against the now 696,000-square-foot Admirals Row property, which includes more than 350,000 square feet of light industrial and creative manufacturing space master-leased to the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation, alongside retail, a community facility and more than 700 parking spaces. Steiner has credited the project with bringing what he called thousands of new jobs and services to the surrounding community. It's necessary to correct a premise directly here rather than build on it. This lease has been framed in some coverage as fitting alongside a story about Burlington closing 250 stores nationally, a pairing meant to illustrate a retailer simultaneously pruning weak locations while expanding into strong ones. Independent verification does not support that premise: the 250-store closure figure actually describes Starbucks' recent North American closure announcement, not Burlington's. Burlington's own SEC filings show the opposite trajectory entirely. The company's store count grew from 1,212 as of January 31, 2026, to 1,242 by May 2, 2026. In fiscal 2025, Burlington opened 131 new stores, including 18 relocations, against just nine closures, excluding those relocations, a closure figure nowhere near the scale the pairing implies. For fiscal 2026, the company plans approximately 110 net new store openings, and in September 2026 alone it opened 20 new stores across 12 states, putting it on track to exceed 100 net new openings for the year, with a stated longer-term target of operating more than 1,500 locations by the end of 2028. What's actually happening with Burlington's real estate strategy is better described as sustained, aggressive expansion paired with a genuine format shift, rather than any kind of retreat. CEO Michael O'Sullivan has steered the company toward smaller store footprints, with newer locations typically running around 18,000 square feet, a fraction of Burlington's historical big-box format, prioritizing well-located, higher-traffic sites over sprawling standalone stores. Against that backdrop, the 31,717-square-foot Admirals Row lease runs notably larger than Burlington's current small-format norm, suggesting the Brooklyn Navy Yard's specific retail context, anchored by a major grocery draw in Wegmans, justified a bigger-than-typical footprint for this particular location rather than reflecting any broader reversion to Burlington's older format strategy. The financial backdrop supporting this expansion is genuinely strong rather than defensive. Burlington's second-quarter fiscal 2026 results, reported August 27, beat adjusted earnings-per-share expectations by roughly 35%, and Bank of America Securities reiterated a buy rating with a $375 price target, citing the company's strategy of reinvesting tariff refunds into sharper pricing to drive traffic and market share gains. That fits a broader pattern across off-price retail generally: Burlington, alongside T.J. Maxx and Ross Dress for Less, continues gaining market share as a category, according to retail analyst Deborah Weinswig of Coresight Research, even as overall store closures rose industry-wide in the prior year. Taken together, the accurate story behind Burlington's Admirals Row lease isn't one of calculated triage between closing and expanding locations. It's a retailer currently outperforming financially, growing its total store count by the hundreds annually, and choosing to deploy a larger-than-typical footprint specifically at a well-anchored Brooklyn Navy Yard site where a major grocery draw and strong surrounding foot traffic made the bigger format worth the investment, all while refining its standard new-store format smaller elsewhere across its national pipeline. Join the Discussion EDITOR'S PICKS

New unique beauty shop opens in Ceres and other openings around town. Updated September 29, 2026 11:05 AM Gift Article Ceres residents have a handful of new shopping options, all opened in the last month. Most notable is a unique new beauty store with sought-after brand names and products. Leaning into Korean beauty and skincare, this store is the only one of its kind in the region. Luxa Beauty & Cosmetics opened Sept. 19 at 1420 E. Hatch Road. "Ceres is a beautiful town, and it doesn't have anything like this. This is a growing town with good people, and we wanted to offer something locally so that customers wouldn't have to go all the way to Modesto to shop," owner Bashar Mohsen said. With popular Korean beauty brands including Medicube, Biodance, Mixsoon, Abib and many others, the store also stocks cosmetics, fragrances, beauty tools and accessories. Mohsen said Luxa carries many brands not offered at big-box beauty stores like Sephora and Ulta. He said some standout products that have been popular are the TIRTIR cushion foundations, the Dr. Althea 345 Relief Cream, makeup from Rhode and fragrances from Match. Mohsen has a background in the beauty supply business and decided to open the store with a deep knowledge of popular brands and trending products. "Korean skincare is a trend, but it is popular because the products are very good and people love them," he said. He is often at the store, and he and his staff are very hands-on when making recommendations and listening to customer requests. Luxa Beauty & Cosmetics is open daily from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Just a few doors down, Burlington has opened at 1450 E. Hatch Road. Formerly known as Burlington Coat Factory, the store has pivoted from mostly outerwear to offer clothing, home decor, shoes, accessories and beauty products. The store opened Sept. 25 in the space formerly occupied by the 99 Cents Only store, which had been vacant since April 2024 after the chain filed for bankruptcy. This is the fifth Burlington store in Stanislaus County, joining two in Modesto and one each in Riverbank and Turlock. This is the first location in Ceres, and it is open 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until midnight on Friday and Saturday. On Sept. 12, Bath & Body Works opened at 1633 E. Hatch Road in the shopping center anchored by Crunch Fitness, Grocery Outlet and Ross Dress For Less. Offering candles, body care, home fragrances, makeup and even laundry care, this is Ceres' first location of the national chain. This is now the fourth location in Stanislaus County, with other stores at Vintage Faire Mall in Modesto, Crossroads Shopping Center in Riverbank and Monte Vista Crossings in Turlock. The store is open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. If a full day of shopping happens to build an appetite, El Pollo Loco is now open in the space formerly occupied by KFC and A&W at 1467 Mitchell Road. Serving flame-grilled chicken, this is the first El Pollo Loco in Ceres and the fifth in Stanislaus County, with other locations in Turlock, Riverbank, and two in Modesto. The restaurant is open daily from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. This story was originally published September 29, 2026 at 10:22 AM. The Modesto Bee Reporter Maria Luisa Figueroa covers the local economy, including trends in retail, employment and local spending. She is a Modesto native and attended San Francisco State University.

Burlington taking over shuttered Houston big box location. Burlington, which recently announced expansion plans, rounded up a prime retail real estate spot left vacant by recent corporate bankruptcies. The popular off-price department store is bringing a new location to Southwest Houston, taking over a Conn's HomeStore. The company is aiming for 115 new openings by 2028. Burlington has committed to a commercial renovation project located at 8201 S Gessner Drive at the Gessner Center. The 39,774-square-foot project involves the interior remodel of a massive retail box to convert the space into a new Burlington store. The project will bring the brand's signature treasure-hunt shopping experience, offering discounted apparel, home goods, and accessories, to the dense retail corridor near the Southwest Freeway. Construction on the new Houston Burlington store is scheduled to begin on February 1, 2027, with completion targeted for late summer, by August 6, 2027. * | Development