Shoppers strolling Orlando's International Drive Value Center will soon find something unusual: two Ross Dress for Less stores operating inside the same shopping plaza. Ross Stores Inc. plans to open a second location in the center, joining its existing Ross store, a dd's Discounts, and a newly announced RH Outlet, in a lineup that leasing agents say is built to catch the corridor's relentless tourist foot traffic.
The new Ross Dress for Less will occupy Unit 130 and add 28,054 square feet to the plaza, according to the Orlando Sentinel. The existing Ross Dress for Less, in Unit 145, already occupies 28,220 square feet and ranks among the best-performing Ross stores in the nation, per the same report. Together with the plaza's dd's Discounts, located in Unit 100 and owned and operated by Ross Stores Inc., the three off-price banners will encompass more than 81,000 square feet of retail space in a single center.
Doubling up on an identical store banner in one plaza is rare in conventional suburban retail, but the Sentinel's reporting points to international tourist shopping habits as the driving force behind the decision. Foreign nationals reportedly shop at the existing Ross location and fill luggage with merchandise before flying home, according to the outlet's report, with some travelers even buying the luggage itself on site to carry the discounted goods back to their home countries.
Executives Say the Numbers Justify a Second Store
Jorge Rodriguez, executive managing director of retail services at Colliers, the leasing agent for the shopping plaza, said the three nearby discount stores should offer a unique draw for shoppers seeking deals, per the Sentinel's report. Of the existing Ross location's performance, Rodriguez put it bluntly: “They crush it,” he told the paper.
Alex Evans, senior managing director at Colliers, said people enjoy the treasure-hunt shopping experience that off-price retail offers, according to the same report. That psychology has long been part of Ross's pitch to shoppers, and it's playing out at a plaza where existing store footprints reportedly can't keep up with demand on their own.
The expansion fits into a broader national push. Ross Stores announced plans in March 2026 to open approximately 110 new locations nationwide during fiscal 2026, about 85 Ross Dress for Less stores and 25 dd's Discounts stores, as part of a long-term target to reach 2,900 Ross and 700 dd's Discounts locations, according to a release from the company, which is based in Dublin, California. Ross Stores operated more than 2,270 total stores across 44 states and U.S. territories entering the year, per the same release.
Sales Numbers Back Up the Bet
The company's momentum shows up in its financials. Ross Stores reported a 21% surge in first-quarter fiscal 2026 total sales to $6.0 billion and a 17% increase in comparable-store sales, with executives noting the company outpaced major off-price competitors in market share growth over four consecutive quarters, according to Retail TouchPoints. Off-price retailers nationwide have seen accelerating foot traffic as budget-conscious consumers trade down amid inflation, the outlet reports, a trend that helps explain why chains like Ross keep absorbing vacant big-box real estate rather than shrinking.
That national trend, driven partly by off-price chains stepping into space left behind by downsizing department stores, is projected to keep growing at a compound annual rate of 7.9%, according to Market.us. Hoodline has tracked similar expansion elsewhere, including Ross Dress for Less eyeing a third Austin store with an $850,000 buildout in the Sunbelt.
Burlington Stores said in its Form 10-K that it continues to explore expansion opportunities and competes for business with department stores and off-price retailers.
A Luxury Outlet Joins the Discount Lineup
The plaza's newest addition won't be discount apparel at all. Restoration Hardware, the luxury home furnishings brand, plans to open an RH Outlet in the former U.S. Foods supermarket space, occupying 27,854 square feet directly adjacent to Ulta Beauty, per the Sentinel's reporting. It will be Restoration Hardware's first outlet in Central Florida, joining existing outlets in Vero Beach, Jacksonville, and Clearwater.
The RH Outlet will sell new and returned items at heavy discounts, offering lighting, carpets, outdoor furniture, and bedding, with merchandise that Rodriguez said changes daily, according to the same report. Remaining vacancy at the shopping center is expected to attract new retail interest quickly, the Sentinel notes, citing Colliers' outlook on the property.
Why International Drive Draws This Kind of Bet
The economics behind stacking three off-price stores in one plaza trace back to the sheer scale of Orlando's tourism engine. The metro area welcomed a record 76.7 million visitors in 2025, a 1.8% increase over 2024 that surpassed the region's pre-pandemic high of 75.8 million set in 2019, according to Deep Arrival. Domestic visitors accounted for 70.3 million of that total, while top international feeder markets included Canada, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia, per Visit Orlando.
Orange County Government's 2023-24 budget book put the proposed Tourist Development Tax revenue estimate for fiscal year 2024 at $330 million.
The plaza itself sits along a corridor carrying more than 26,892 vehicles daily on International Drive and 188,500 vehicles daily on nearby Interstate 4, surrounded by more than 15,000 hotel rooms within a 1.5-mile radius, according to data from Archon Commercial Advisors. The nearby Orange County Convention Center, which generates an estimated $3.9 billion to $4.6 billion in annual economic impact and draws roughly 1.5 million attendees a year, adds a steady stream of business travelers to the mix. Universal's 750-acre Epic Universe theme park, which opened about 1.5 miles south of the plaza in May 2025, has further fueled hotel stays and retail traffic along the northern stretch of International Drive.
Orange County Government says its proposed International Drive pedestrian bridge would span over 400 feet from the ground level of the Hyatt Regency Hotel to the West Building of the Orange County Convention Center. Orange County Government's fiscal year 2023-24 budget book says the plan includes $55 million for roadway lighting, sidewalks, transportation and public safety, plus $45 million for transit improvements.
It's a pattern Hoodline has seen play out elsewhere on the same tourist corridor. Value retailer Primark opened its second Orlando-area store at Vineland Premium Outlets in August, just over two years after its first Orlando location debuted at The Florida Mall in 2024, showing that value-focused chains are increasingly comfortable clustering multiple stores within the same tourism submarket rather than spreading thin across the metro.
