Ross Stores and Burlington Struggle Through COVID-19

Ross Stores (NASDAQ: ROST) and Burlington Stores (NYSE: BURL) have achieved phenomenal success in recent years by breaking the perceived rules of modern retail. While most brick-and-mortar chains have invested aggressively in e-commerce, Ross Stores has never operated an online business. Burlington had a small e-commerce business but decided in early 2020 to shut it down for good.

The No. 2 and No. 3 U.S. off-price retailers could afford this old-fashioned approach because they were able to drive strong traffic to their stores with deep discounts and rapid inventory turnover. As a result, during a five-year period ending in late February, Ross Stores stock more than doubled and Burlington stock more than quadrupled, smoking the S&P 500's return.