Ross Dress for Less to be among new tenants at revamped Holbrook shopping center

Off-price retailer Ross Dress for Less will be among the new tenants opening in Holbrook at The Shops at SunVet, which recently underwent a $96 million transformation from a struggling, enclosed mall to an open-air shopping center.

Ross will open in the shopping center on Oct. 10, according to the retailer’s website. A planned fall opening also was confirmed by Chelsea DuDeVoire, spokeswoman for Regency Centers Corp., in an email Tuesday.

Regency is the Jacksonville, Florida-based real estate investment trust that was the lead partner in the redevelopment.

A clothing and home goods retailer, Ross will occupy a 22,913-square-foot space beside another off-price store, Nordstrom Rack, in the shopping center, which is located at 5801 Sunrise Hwy. on an 18-acre site.

Dublin, California-based Ross Stores Inc. did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

Ross entered the Long Island market in July 2025  with a store opening in Hempstead Village Commons, followed by a store in Farmingville in October, two stores in Lake Grove and Riverhead in March, and one in West Babylon last month.

Ross Stores Inc. operates 1,952 Ross stores and 376 DD's Discounts stores.

In recent years, the company has seen strong sales growth fueled by price-sensitive consumers' increasing demand for bargains, which is one reason it is pushing a boost in its store numbers.

"We see Ross as having a more value-oriented merchandise mix with a pronounced focus on basics at accessible prices (think denim, activewear, T-shirts, socks)," Brett Husslein, an equity analyst at Morningstar Research Services LLC, a financial services firm in Chicago, said in an email.

Ross Stores's sales in the second quarter, which ended Aug. 1, increased 13% to $6.3 billion, up from $5.5 billion for the same period in 2025, , the company reported last week. Sales at stores open at least one year "rose a very strong 10% for the quarter," Ross said.

Over the last decade, the company has opened an average of about 80 stores annually.

This year, the company plans to open about 115 stores — 90 Ross Dress for Less and 25 DD's Discounts locations.

Built in 1973, the Holbrook property formerly known as Sun Vet Mall was revamped into an open-air shopping center, in a project that was primarily completed last year, to draw a more upscale mix of tenants and bring foot traffic back to the once-bustling site.

The redevelopment, which started in 2023 with demolition and a renaming of the property, reduced retail space by 40% to 169,628 square feet.

Incoming tenants will include Perspire Sauna Studio, Tony's Tacos, Riko's Pizza, Mogu Modern Chinese Kitchen, FedEx Office, M Nail Bar, IVX Health, California Closets and Middle Eastern eatery Naya.

Openings for most will be staggered between the fourth quarter of this year and the first quarter of 2027, but Mogu will open in a few weeks, DuDeVoire said.

Current tenants include Whole Foods Market, which opened in March and is the largest tenant in the shopping center; cosmetics store Sephora; fast-casual eatery Wonder; Hand & Stone Massage & Facial Spa; Teachers Federal Credit Union; Wells Fargo Bank; Starbucks; Aspen Dental; and golf shop Club Champion.

Citibank, which was the only remaining tenant in the mall when construction started in spring 2024, relocated to a new 3,800-square-foot freestanding building last year.

The shopping center is 93% leased, DuDeVoire said.

By Tory N. Parrish

tory.parrish@newsday.comToryParrish1

Tory N. Parrish covers retail and small business for Newsday. She has worked at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y.