Discount retailer Burlington set to open 2 new stores in NJ

Kimberly Redmond//March 3, 2023//

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Burlington Stores Inc. is getting ready to launch two new stores in New Jersey.

The South Jersey-headquartered off-price retailer, formerly known as Burlington Coat Factory, is set to open in Morristown (191 E. Hanover Ave.) on March 3 and in Rio Grande (1500 Route 47 S.) on April 14.

Within New Jersey, the company has locations in Brick, Burlington, Cherry Hill, Cinnaminson, Clifton, Deptford, East Brunswick, East Hanover, East Windsor, Edgewater, Elizabeth, Flemington, Freehold, Garfield, Hazlet, Howell, Lawrenceville, Ledgewood, Linden, Marlton, Mays Landing, Mount Laurel, North Bergen, North Brunswick, Ocean Township, Paramus, Passaic, Paterson, Pine Brook, Princeton, Raritan, Secaucus, South Plainfield, Toms River, Turnersville, Union, Wayne, West Berlin, West Orange and Woodbridge.

Burlington, which sells branded apparel, footwear, accessories and home goods at discounted prices, has more than 800 stores throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

Burlington at Mill Creek at Harmon Meadow in Secaucus. – LEVIN MANAGEMENT CORP.

And the openings in Morristown and Rio Grande aren’t the only ones planned for this year.

During the company’s March 2 earnings call, Chief Executive Officer Michael O’Sullivan said Burlington expects to grow its retail footprint by 70 to 80 net new stores in fiscal 2023.

The announcement came as Burlington reported fourth quarter results that topped Wall Street’s expectations.

For the three-month period ending Jan. 28, 2023, the company saw net income of $185 million, up from $122 million the same quarter a year ago. Revenue also rose from $2.6 billion in fiscal 2021 Q4 to $2.7 billion in fiscal 2022 Q4.

For the full year, net income declined from $408 million to $230 million, while revenue moved from $8.7 billion to $9.3 billion.

Analysts believe the quarterly results are most likely a result of the company’s efforts to improve the off-price model through marketing, merchandising and store prototypes to drive overall growth.

In addition to strengthening vendor counts and investing in technology, Burlington has been in the process of boosting assortment and merchandising capabilities.

O’Sullivan told shareholders he was “pleased with the improvement” in the company’s sales trend during the fourth quarter.

“We saw monthly comps accelerate as we moved through the quarter, and this stronger trend has continued through February,” he reported. “The acceleration in our trend was partly driven by improved conversion and basket size, which we attribute to more compelling value in our assortment, but was also driven by improved traffic, which we interpret as a sign that the headwinds that we saw through most of 2022 are beginning to moderate.”

“Our merchandising and operating plans for 2023 are based on 3% to 5% comp sales growth. The underlying strategy behind these plans is to drive sales by taking advantage of the terrific off-price buying environment for branded merchandise and passing along these compelling values to our shoppers,” O’Sullivan said.

He added, “Beyond 2023, we are excited about our longer-term prospects. We believe that the next few years could present significant opportunities to drive improved results. We are pushing ahead with the transformation of Burlington into a stronger off-price retailer, so we can take advantage of these opportunities.”