Burlington Stores Inc.
Burlington Stores, Inc. (BURL)
Overview
Burlington Stores, Inc. is a large off-price apparel and home-goods retailer headquartered in Burlington, New Jersey, trading on the New York Stock Exchange under BURL. Operating under the Burlington banner (the former "Burlington Coat Factory"), the company is one of the largest off-price retailers in the United States, generating $11.5 billion in net sales in fiscal 2025 (ended January 31, 2026), up 9% year over year, with net income of $610 million, up 21% from the prior year. As of fiscal year-end, Burlington operated 1,212 stores across 46 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, employing roughly 83,300 associates, and has stated a long-term goal of growing to 2,000 stores.
What They Do & How They Make Money
Burlington buys excess, close-out, and in-season branded merchandise opportunistically from vendors — often at a fraction of typical wholesale cost — and resells it to price-conscious shoppers at up to 60% off department- and specialty-store prices. Unlike traditional retailers that plan assortments far in advance, Burlington buys "close to need," giving it flexibility to chase whatever brands and categories are available at attractive prices at any given time; this creates a "treasure hunt" shopping experience meant to drive frequent, repeat store visits, since the mix changes constantly and quantities of any given item are limited. Over 99% of net sales come from company-operated stores rather than e-commerce. Profitability depends on buying discipline (securing deep discounts from vendors), inventory turnover (moving goods quickly rather than marking them down further), real-estate strategy (opening stores in strong micro-locations on favorable lease terms), and tight expense control, since off-price retailing runs on thin markups compensated by high volume and fast inventory velocity.
Business Segments
Burlington operates as a single reportable segment — off-price retail — and does not break out financial results by product category or geography beyond store count. Merchandise sold in fiscal 2025 spanned several major categories: accessories and shoes (28% of sales), ladies apparel (20%), home goods (20%), men's apparel (17%), kids apparel/baby (12%), and outerwear (3%).
Competitors
TJX Companies (T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods) and Ross Stores are Burlington's two closest off-price peers, both larger by revenue and store count. Department stores (Macy's, Kohl's, Nordstrom Rack) and discount/general merchandise retailers (Walmart, Target) compete for the same value-seeking shopper, as do online marketplaces such as Amazon and, increasingly, direct-to-consumer brand outlet sites and online resale/discount platforms.
Competitive Position
Burlington is the third-largest player in U.S. off-price retail behind TJX and Ross Stores, both significantly larger and generally viewed as more efficient, consistent operators; Ross in particular has been characterized in recent retail coverage as gaining share ("Ross is the new boss"). Burlington's advantages include a real-estate footprint still well short of its stated 2,000-store target, giving it a longer runway for new-unit growth than its larger, more mature peers, and a multi-year operational turnaround under CEO Michael O'Sullivan that has driven consistent comparable-sales growth and margin expansion. Key risks include continued competitive intensity from TJX and Ross, which enjoy greater buying scale and can secure the best vendor closeouts first; exposure to import tariffs (management explicitly flagged tariff headwinds introduced in 2025 and took pricing and sourcing actions to offset the margin impact); dependence on a steady supply of attractively priced excess inventory from vendors, which could tighten if traditional retailers manage their own inventories more precisely; and the general macro sensitivity of its lower-to-middle-income core customer base. Burlington's growth algorithm of new store openings plus comparable-sales growth plus margin recovery has worked well recently, but it remains the smallest of the "big three" off-price retailers competing for the same vendor closeouts and the same value-conscious consumer.