A retail space built for Amazon Fresh but never used for groceries at all is about to get a very different tenant: Ross Dress for Less plans to open a new store at 250 Grossman Drive in Braintree sometime in 2027. The more than 37,000-square-foot location sits inside Marketplace at Braintree, and city building permits issued last month cover both interior fit-out and exterior work, including repainting the storefront in neutral cream and white tones.
The Braintree plans were first reported by WhatNow, which cited a report from the Connecticut Scoop saying the South Shore location is expected to debut sometime in 2027, though Ross has not announced an official grand opening date. The planned Amazon Fresh store never opened, part of Amazon's aborted grocery ambitions in Massachusetts. Before Amazon's plans, the site was home to a Saks Off 5th outlet, according to Patch.
A Grocery Store That Never Opened
Amazon won approval from the Braintree Planning Board in late 2021 to convert the Grossman Drive storefront into an Amazon Fresh supermarket featuring automated checkout technology, but the company paused its nationwide grocery rollout before the store ever welcomed a single customer, as reported by WHDH. Braintree was not an isolated case. Amazon's original 2021 Massachusetts expansion also included a planned second store at a former Big Y site in Saugus, which stalled for the same reason, per Commercial Construction & Renovation.
Part of a Broader Massachusetts Push
Braintree is just one stop on a busy Massachusetts expansion calendar for the off-price chain. Ross is expected to open a store at Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers later this year, with a Wareham location on track for next spring. A West Springfield store is slated to open October 10, and a Chicopee location is planned for March 2027.
Ross Stores announced plans to open roughly 110 new locations nationwide in 2026 — 85 Ross Dress for Less stores and 25 dd's DISCOUNTS stores — according to a company release carried by PR Newswire. Company leadership has pointed to a long-term growth ceiling of up to 2,900 Ross Dress for Less stores and 700 dd's DISCOUNTS locations nationwide, a combined footprint of 3,600 stores, as reported by FOX Business.
Strong Sales Numbers Fuel the Expansion
Ross posted a 10% year-over-year increase in second-quarter 2026 comparable store sales, a gain the company attributed mainly to increased customer foot traffic as value-focused shoppers sought out discount apparel and home goods, per Supply Chain Dive. To keep pace with new stores, the company announced a $500 million investment in September to build a 1.75 million-square-foot processing and distribution center in Bakersfield, California, set to break ground in 2027 as the chain's tenth distribution facility.
Founded in 1950 and converted to its current off-price format in 1982, Ross now operates nearly 2,000 stores across 44 states, Washington, D.C., Guam, and Puerto Rico, making it the largest off-price retail chain in the country. The chain sells brand-name and designer apparel, accessories, footwear, toys, and home goods for 20% to 60% less than comparable department and specialty store prices. As part of its standard rollout process for new stores, Ross also makes charitable donations to local youth development organizations, such as Boys & Girls Clubs or First Book literacy partners, in the communities where it opens.
