Burlington plans 2 new stores and a relocation on Long Island this year

Burlington is expanding its footprint on Long Island, where the off-price retailer plans to open two new stores and relocate one this year. 

The retailer plans to open stores in Bay Shore and Islandia and relocate its store in a Massapequa shopping center to a smaller space.

The plans are occurring as the retailer pushes fast growth nationwide, taking advantage of inflation-weary consumers seeking bargains on clothes and home goods. It has been scooping up some spaces from leases acquired through other retailers' bankruptcies.

Of Burlington's 15 stores on Long Island, six have opened since November 2023. 

“We are thrilled to bring a new store to the Bay Shore ... community, offering residents our everyday low prices on a wide assortment of brand name merchandise for the entire family and home,” Burlington spokeswoman Julia DePillis said in email, adding the Bay Shore store will open this fall.

The store will open in the Market at Bay Shore shopping center, where it will occupy a 43,123-square-foot space at 1851 Sunrise Hwy. that was vacated last year by discounter Big Lots, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September.

In Islandia, an approximately 30,000-square-foot Burlington and 40,000-square-foot Tractor Supply Co. store will split space at 1730 Veterans Memorial Hwy. that a Stop & Shop supermarket vacated in 2022, Newsday reported in January. 

Newsday reported that the Burlington store would open this spring, but DePillis said Thursday it will open in July. She declined to disclose the reason for the delay.

The Islandia and Bay Shore stores each will employ 65 to 75 people, she said.

A Burlington in Massapequa, at 5500 Sunrise Hwy. in the Philips at Sunrise shopping center, will be downsizing to a smaller space next door.

The current space is about 63,000 square feet split between two floors. The smaller unit, which is about 45,000 square feet on one floor, used to be occupied by National Wholesale Liquidators, starting in 2019, after being a Toys R Us.

DePillis told Newsday in December that the store would open this spring. She declined to say whether the opening will be delayed.

Retailer's growth plans

Burlington has been on a big growth push.

New store openings, particularly in smaller spaces to boost efficiency, and increasing sales at stores open at least one year are part of the expansion strategy, the Burlington, New Jersey-based retailer has said.

Burlington plans to open 500 net new stores over the five-year period ending in fiscal year 2028, with the long-term goal of eventually having 2,000 stores.

In fiscal year 2024, which ended Feb. 1, 2025, the retailer opened 147 new stores, including 31 relocations, and closed 15 stores that were mostly older or less productive, bringing its store count in February to 1,108, Burlington CEO Michael O'Sullivan told analysts during an earnings call in March.

In announcing its long-range financial goals in November 2023, Burlington said that by 2028, it planned to grow total sales to about $16 billion and increase its operating profit to about $1.6 billion.

In fiscal 2024, Burlington’s revenue was $10.6 billion, up 9% from the previous year, and its net income was $503.6 million, an increase of 48% from the previous year.

One issue that could create some uncertainty in retail is newly enacted U.S. tariffs and their potential to impact supply chains as merchandise ordered months earlier starts to arrive and is hit with tariffs, O'Sullivan told analysts in March.

“And that disruption, I would say, is likely to create a buying opportunity for off-price. So, off-price availability is good right now and I think the chances are it's going to get better in the months ahead,” he said.

Among the tariffs that President Donald Trump has imposed in the past few months are a 10% minimum tariff on imports of goods from nearly all countries and a 145% tariff on Chinese imports.

The off-price retail industry in general, which has been doing well for years and continues to take market share from regular-price department stores, stands to gain even more of an advantage now, said Simeon Siegel, managing director of equity research in the Manhattan office of BMO Capital Markets, a Toronto-based financial services provider.

“In an inflation-, tariff- and recession-concerning environment, they take even more share,” Siegel said.

If consumers cut back on shopping, off-price retailers can buy more excess products from manufacturers at discounted prices, he said.

By Tory N. Parrish

tory.parrish@newsday.comToryParrish1

Tory N. Parrish covers retail and small business for Newsday. She has worked at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y.