Ross Stores, Inc., operating under the brand name Ross Dress for Less, is an American chain of

discount department store Discount stores offer a retail format in which products are sold at prices that are in principle lower than an actual or supposed "full retail price". Discounters rely on bulk purchasing and efficient distribution to keep down costs. Types (Unit ...

s headquartered in

Dublin, California Dublin is a suburban city of the East Bay in California, United States. It is located within the Amador Valley of Alameda County, California, Alameda County's Tri-Valley region. It is located along the north side of Interstate 580 (California), ...

. It is the largest

off-price Off-price is a trading format based on Discounts and allowances, discount pricing. Off-price retailers are independent of manufacturers and buy large volumes of branded goods directly from them. The off-price retail model relies on the purchase of ...

retailer in the U.S.; as of July 2024, Ross operates 1,795 stores in 43

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

and

Guam Guam ( ; ) is an island that is an Territories of the United States, organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. Guam's capital is Hagåtña, Guam, Hagåtña, and the most ...

, covering much of the country, but with no presence in

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

and

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

. The company also operates DD's Discounts, a discount department store chain with over 353 locations across the United States, most of which are located in

Sun Belt The Sun Belt is a region of the United States generally considered stretching across the Southeast and Southwest. Another rough definition of the region is the area south of the Parallel 36°30′ north. Several climates can be found in the re ...

states.

History

Ross Department Store was first opened in

San Bruno, California San Bruno () is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States, incorporated in 1914. The population was 43,908 at the 2020 United States census. The city is between South San Francisco, California, South San Francisco and Millbrae, Cali ...

, in 1950 by Morris "Morrie" Ross. Morris would work 85 hours a week doing all of the buying and bookkeeping for his department store. In 1958 Ross sold his store to William Isackson to become a residential and commercial real estate developer. Isackson built the company to six stores in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

, located in San Bruno, Pacifica, Novato,

Vacaville Vacaville is a city located in Solano County, California, United States. It is located from Sacramento, California, Sacramento and from San Francisco, it is on the edge of the Sacramento Valley in Northern California. The city was founded in ...

Redwood City Redwood City is a city on the San Francisco Peninsula in the Bay Area of Northern California, approximately south of San Francisco and northwest of San Jose. The city's population was 84,292 according to the 2020 census. The Port of Redwo ...

, and

Castro Valley Castro Valley is a census-designated place (CDP) in Alameda County, California, United States. At the 2020 census, it was the fourth most populous unincorporated area in California. The population was 66,441 at the 2020 census. Castro Valley is ...

. In 1982 a group of investors, including Mervin Morris, founder of the

Mervyn's Mervyn's was an American middle-scale department store chain based in Hayward, California, and founded by Mervin G. Morris (1920–2021). It carried national brands of clothing, footwear, bedding, bath products, furniture, jewelry, beauty product ...

chain of department stores, purchased the six Ross Department Stores, changed the format to

retail units, and within three years rapidly expanded the chain to 107 stores under Stuart Moldaw and Don Rowlett. On August 8, 1985, Ross Stores, Inc. became a public company via an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

, at an initial price of $17.00 per share. Ross Stores trades on Nasdaq's large-cap Global Select Market under the symbol "ROST", and is a component of the

Nasdaq-100 The Nasdaq-100 (NDX) is a stock market index made up of equity securities issued by 100 of the largest non-financial companies listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange. It is a modified capitalization-weighted index. The stocks' weights in the inde ...

and

S&P 500 The Standard and Poor's 500, or simply the S&P 500, is a stock market index tracking the stock performance of 500 leading companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. It is one of the most commonly followed equity indices and in ...

indices. By the end of 1995, the chain reached an annual sales of $1.4 billion with 292 stores in 18 states. By 2012, Ross reached $9.7 billion for the fiscal year with 1,091 stores in 33 states with an additional 108 for DD's Discounts in 8 states. Ross moved its headquarters from

Newark, California Newark ( ) is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. It was incorporated as a city in September 1955. Newark is an enclave, surrounded by the city of Fremont. The three cities of Newark, Fremont, and Union City make up the Tri-C ...

, to

Pleasanton, California Pleasanton is a city in Alameda County, California, United States. Located in the Amador Valley, it is an upscale suburb in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 79,871 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 cens ...

, in the Tri-Valley area, in 2003.

Barbara Rentler Barbara Rentler (born between 1947 and 1948) is a businesswoman, and the current CEO of Fortune 500 company Ross Stores Inc. Career Rentler joined Ross Stores in February 1986. She held a variety of merchandising Merchandising is any pra ...

took the place of CEO Michael Balmuth on June 1, 2014; she was the 25th female CEO of a ''Fortune'' 500 company. Ross moved its headquarters from Pleasanton to neighboring

, in 2014. On October 28, 2024, the company's board of directors appointed James Conroy as the new CEO, succeeding Barbara Rentler effective February 2, 2025. Conroy previously was CEO of Boot Barn. In 2025, Ross Dress for Less expanded into

References

External links

Official website
{{NASDAQ-100 Clothing retailers of the United States American companies established in 1950 Retail companies established in 1950 Department stores of the United States Discount stores of the United States Companies based in Alameda County, California Dublin, California Companies listed on the Nasdaq 1950 establishments in California

History

See also

References

External links