Ross Stores Posts The Best Same-store Sales Quarter In Company History | Fast Five Shorts

Ross stores, I think crush it might be an understatement.

Crushed its first quarter fiscal 2026 expectations and raised its full year outlook, reporting a 21% jump in total sales to $6 billion and a record 17% comparable store sales increase, the highest same store growth in the company's history according to the Wall Street Journal and company earnings releases.

CEO James Conroy said strong customer traffic was broad across income groups, age brackets and demographics, pointing to the continued tailwind Ross is seeing as inflation and economic uncertainty push shoppers toward off price retail.

Ross now plans to open approximately 110 new stores in fiscal 2026.

And the company raised its full year EPS guidance and lifted its same store sales growth expectations to 6% to 7% for the full year.

Laura Ross's a 17 and a half sales comp or 17% sales comp is almost too ridiculous to say out loud and kudos to them for that.

So more importantly, what does it tell us about the consumer right now?

And will off price retail be the great unsung winner of this macroeconomic moment?

Yeah, I mean the comp is crazy but equally crazy to me is the idea of 110 new stores in a fiscal year in, in 2026.

You know, this isn't 2010 or you know, even earlier than that.

And you know, the truth is, and this gets to my overall point is that this is not just 2026.

They opened 90 stores last year according to retail dive, you know, acquired some old Rite Aids I think in the west Coast.

And so you know, I think it's easy to point to the economic environment is fueling this and you know, maybe the indicator of what's really going on that it's seems to be hard to find otherwise.

And to that end I really we're calling it unsung.

I think 17.

It's not unsung at all.

It's, it's well heard.

But I think what, what I do is my immediate question is well so what, what about its, its competitors or it's you know, near, near competitors or adjacent companies and it's, it's market and TJX in Burlington, which I think are generally in that same bucket are also, you know, announcing solid results.

Of course TGX has been doing great forever.

So this tells me that it's maybe it's not just this macroeconomic environment and tells me more about, I mean yes, it's probably boosting it to that, you know, kind of obscene level.

But there's I think the underlying and the fact that they're opening stores.

The underlying, you know, parts of their business are what is driving it.

And, you know, if I'm a retailer brand, it's.

I'm trying to figure out what this tells me, what the consumer is looking for.

And so, you know, you think about a TJX experience or, you know, it seems like at raw stores, in person experience, you treasure hunt, discovery, rotating assortment.

You know, I, I don't think Ross is expanding, expanding its store footprint blindly.

So I think that we should, you know, trust in that.

And so, you know, you have to wonder what is my version of that if I'm a retailer or, or a brand of, of creating that treasure hunt.

It's clear that this is the broad base.

It's not just macroeconomic.

So that becomes something that's a preference versus just, you know, I need to shop off price.

To me.

What do you think?

Yeah, I mean, I think what you're hitting at.

There's something in the water at Ross because, you know, while the, while the entire segment is working, they're gaining significant share in off price.

And the numbers, these aren't easy comps, Laura, either.

I looked it up because I always, whenever I see a high comp, I'm always like, what are they anniversarying?

Because there's a retailer that announced last week where I was like, yeah, I'm not buying those results.

They had the easiest comp in a long time.

I'd like there to be.

They had a positive 3 in 2024 and a flat comp in 2025.

So, like, you know, you know, 17% growth.

I mean, that's what they did this year.

Yeah.

And so, like, and not surprisingly, they're doing what great retailers do.

They know they're doing something right, and so they are going after it.

When lightning happens, you got to catch it in a bottle.

If you're a retailer, that's like one axiom of retail.

And I can only imagine, Laura, how freaking fast and everyone is working at Ross right now to capitalize on this trend because it only comes around once in a lifetime.

And when you get it, you go for it.

So.

And the other points I'd make, I think there is another.

There is going to be another unsung hero out of this macroeconomic condition.

It's a little bit of a pivot, but I think, yes, off price is going to win, but the other part of this is resale.

Resale is going to win.

And I think the, the Venn diagram of all these conditions that we're seeing in the off price segment is that my prediction is that very soon we're going to see a national branded retailer that makes its name in resale with stores throughout the country because the macroeconomic conditions are perfect for it to happen.

It hasn't happened yet.

And I'm not talking about your grandmother's goodwill, which we all know.

I'm talking about something new, something inviting, something, well, merchandise, something compelling, something that is omnichannel in nature.

Perhaps that just does resell in a different way because that is where the next economic rung will go.

Right.

There's off price, but resell is even more advantageous economically than off price if you can do it right and find what you want.

So that's my prediction.

Here especially we talk about, you know, the future doesn't happen.

You know, the future never happens as quickly as we think it will.

But I think when we look back 10 years from now, this will be the moment we said up.

Yep, that national resale brand, that is where it all started.

Yeah, I mean, I think resale, resale has proven to be an interesting space to watch and I think your point about a national chain and thinking about the in store experience matters a lot.

I feel like a lot of the digital solutions for resale maybe haven't caught on quite like we thought they would.

I don't think anybody's in bad shape, but it's maybe a little slower.

There's interesting, I think, demographic trends in terms of a younger generation of shoppers that's, that's interested in vintage shopping and all of the sort of social implications of why resale is, is great.

Same generation is the reason we have Shein.

So, you know, take that with a grain of salt.

But I think it, that it will be an interesting space to watch and I've certainly seen a lot of innovation in the, in the IRL resale experience and a lot of enthusiasm for it.

So, and that one to me is the prototypical.

It's, it's probably always going to have a base that is, you know, economically based, economically, you know, oriented, but has a really broad appeal across income groups.

Yeah.

And there are some interesting franchises starting to pop up to your point.

If you can make the model work now, you should only be able to make it work even better in the future and you should actually able to be printing money from it too.

So.

Yeah, that's my other kind of tangential takeaway that I get from this headline, which I think is interesting.