What is Ross Stores?
Off-price apparel and home retailer operating Ross Dress for Less and dd's DISCOUNTS stores across value-oriented U.S. markets.
- Category
- Off-price retail
- Headquarters
- Dublin, CA
- Founded
- 1982
- Employees
- About 108,000
- Total funding
- Public company; no current VC funding
- Status
- Nasdaq: ROST
What is Ross Stores?
Ross Stores is a public off-price retail company headquartered in Dublin, CA. Off-price apparel and home retailer operating Ross Dress for Less and dd's DISCOUNTS stores across value-oriented U.S. markets.
Ross Stores operates at enterprise scale, with About $22B fiscal 2025 sales, About 108,000 employees, and a public-market profile of Nasdaq: ROST. Its operating model is built around Ross Dress for Less, dd's DISCOUNTS, Apparel, Home goods, and adjacent growth areas such as Beauty and accessories, Footwear, Store expansion, Distribution centers.
The company is important for sellers because it has national or global buying power, formal procurement, mature security and finance review, and large operational teams. The best entry points usually map to revenue growth, customer experience, labor productivity, supply-chain resilience, data, digital conversion, or cost reduction.
As of June 2026, the profile should be read as a current public-company account dossier rather than a startup funding page. Current leadership, recent revenue, public status, headquarters, office footprint, and technology signals are drawn from investor materials, official leadership pages, career pages, and public filings.
What does Ross Stores offer?
Ross Stores offers Ross Dress for Less, dd's DISCOUNTS, Apparel, Home goods, Beauty and accessories, and related services or platforms.
- Ross Dress for Less· Retail
- dd's DISCOUNTS· Retail
- Apparel· Merchandise
- Home goods· Merchandise
- Beauty and accessories· Merchandise
- Footwear· Merchandise
- Store expansion· Growth
- Distribution centers· Supply chain
How does Ross Stores make money?
Ross makes money from merchandise margin on off-price apparel, home, accessories, and seasonal products bought opportunistically and sold through simple, high-productivity stores.
Ross makes money from merchandise margin on off-price apparel, home, accessories, and seasonal products bought opportunistically and sold through simple, high-productivity stores. The economic model is recurring or repeat-purchase in the areas where customers come back frequently, and project, event, campaign, or merchandise-margin driven in the areas where spending is more episodic.
Ross prices opportunistically by item and category, with off-price discounts against comparable retail rather than fixed subscription or service tiers. Public filings and investor releases therefore describe revenue by segment, banner, product family, geography, or service type rather than a simple SaaS-style price sheet.
Growth depends on execution at scale: pricing, retention, traffic, digital conversion, supply, network or store productivity, vendor terms, brand strength, and capital allocation. For vendors, the strongest business case ties directly to measurable lift in revenue, margin, labor efficiency, asset utilization, customer satisfaction, compliance, or risk reduction.
Who leads Ross Stores?
Ross Stores is led by James G. Conroy with senior executives responsible for finance, technology, operations, commercial strategy, and category or segment performance.
- James G. ConroyChief Executive OfficerCEO since February 2025Former Boot Barn CEO leading Ross's next growth phase.
- Michael J. HartshornGroup President and Chief Operating OfficerSenior executiveLeads operations and execution.
- Karen FlemingPresident and Chief Merchandising Officer, Ross Dress for LessMerchandising leaderOwns core Ross merchandising.
- Stephen BrinkleyPresident, OperationsOperations leaderLeads store and operational execution.
How do you contact Ross Stores's leadership?
Ross Stores publishes official investor, media, or corporate contact routes, but this profile does not treat guessed personal executive addresses as verified. Use the public channel below or route through the relevant procurement, investor, media, or partner page.
connie.kao@ros.com is a public investor/media contact; personal executive email format not verifiedHow much funding has Ross Stores raised?
Ross Stores is a mature public company, not a current venture-backed private company: Nasdaq: ROST.
Ross Stores's capital profile is best understood through public-market status, operating cash flow, debt capacity, dividends or repurchases where applicable, acquisitions and divestitures, and ongoing investment in the operating platform. The current status is Nasdaq: ROST, with About $22B fiscal 2025 sales providing the scale context.
Unlike startup profiles, there is no meaningful current VC round table to enumerate. The relevant capital milestones are public listings, major mergers or acquisitions, portfolio changes, buybacks, dividends, debt financing, and strategic reinvestment.
Seller signal: Ross Stores can fund large programs when the business case is tied to current executive priorities. Expect mature procurement, legal, privacy, information security, finance, and business-unit review, and be ready to quantify impact on growth, retention, cost, productivity, customer experience, or risk.
How did Ross Stores get here?
Ross Stores reached its current scale through founding-era expansion, public-market access, operational execution, and major strategic milestones.
- 1982Ross off-price format launchesRoss shifts into the off-price model.
- 1985IPORoss Stores becomes publicly traded.
- 2004dd's DISCOUNTS launchesRoss adds a deeper-discount banner.
- 2025Jim Conroy becomes CEOConroy succeeds Barbara Rentler as CEO.
- 20252,267 storesRoss ends the year with Ross and dd's DISCOUNTS store expansion.
- 2026Store growth planRoss plans continued new-store growth and distribution investment.
Who are Ross Stores's competitors?
Ross Stores competes with large public and private companies across its core category, adjacent channels, and digital or platform substitutes.
- TJX CompaniesLargest off-price competitor with T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods, and international banners.
- BurlingtonOff-price apparel and home competitor focused on value traffic.
- TargetMass retailer competing in apparel, home, beauty, and value-oriented discretionary categories.
- WalmartMass merchant competing on price, basics, and household categories.
- Macy'sDepartment-store competitor for branded apparel and home products.
Ross Stores — frequently asked questions
