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As malls and department stores fade, California’s Ross and other discounters are booming

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As malls and department stores fade, California’s Ross and other discounters are booming

As big malls and department stores close, bargain chains like Ross Dress for Less are rolling out new stores.

Economic anxiety and inflation are leading shoppers to spend less and search for savings. In this bombed-out retail landscape, some chains are thriving and opening new outlets.

At a new Ross in Alhambra, Liz Lopez was shopping for a designer purse. She is a big fan of the Dublin-based chain and thrilled to now have one just 10 blocks from her home.

People check out after shopping at a newly opened Ross store.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

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“I come on Tuesdays for the senior discounts,” Lopez said, showing off her new black Dolce & Gabbana purse. “I always find good deals.”

The new store on East Valley Boulevard opened this month. One of its sister shops — dd’s Discounts, which is owned by the same parent company — opened in North Hollywood.

This year, the parent company, Ross Stores Inc., plans to open 110 new outlets across the country, after 90 last year.

Ross Chief Executive Jim Conroy said Ross is capturing market share by attracting customers away from other retail chains.

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“The share shift is more from mainstream retail, department stores and other places like that,” he told analysts after announcing strong growth early this month.

Other discount outlets, including T.J. Maxx, Dollar General, Nordstrom Rack and Five Below, are also expanding to capitalize on tough times.

Retail data show shoppers are visiting a broader spectrum of destinations to find lower prices, said Placer.ai, which tracks people’s movements based on cellphone usage.

“Consumers have become increasingly selective and price-sensitive, actively pivoting away from traditional mid-market chains in favor of discount retailers and value-oriented brands,” Placer.ai said in a report this month. “Because affordability remains a core focus, average households are spreading their visits across a wider number of non-discretionary stores to hunt for deals.”

Discount retailers have been popular for decades, but a combination of factors is now driving accelerated growth for some, experts said.

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Dollar stores and the first off-price retailers rose to popularity in the 1990s, but really took off around 2010 following the recession, according to Dylan Carden, a specialty retail analyst at William Blair.

Since then, the stigma surrounding bargain stores has lessened for both customers and brands.

“They’re phenomenal at what they do,” Carden said of the major off-price retailers, including Ross and TJX, which owns T.J. Maxx, Marshalls and Home Goods.

In the last year or so, well-established retailers that were already grappling with intense competition from online retailers have been hit as their customers cut back on discretionary spending amid inflation, tariffs and global conflict.

A sign at Ross reads "20-60% off other retailers' prices."

Savings signs on the walls at a newly opened Ross store in Alhambra.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

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For stores such as Ross, this dip in demand at department stores means a larger supply of discounted products, as they often buy unsold merchandise from struggling high-end outlets and manufacturers.

“These companies offer a tremendous value to shoppers, but they perhaps offer an even greater value to the brands,” said Simeon Siegel, a senior managing director at Guggenheim Partners. “They’ve solidified their role in the retail ecosystem.”

Five Below, the Pennsylvania-based discount outlet aimed at teens and tweens, opened 150 new stores in 2025 and has plans to open more this year. Its same-store sales rose 15% in the fourth quarter last year.

Ross sells everything from neckties to shower curtains. Its fourth-quarter profits last year rose 10% from the year prior. Ross reported record sales for 2025 of $22.8 billion, up 8% from the year prior. Its net income was $2.1 billion, similar to 2024, while comparable store sales grew 5%.

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Investors have been happy with its outperformance.

Ross shares surged around 70% over the past year. TJX shares rose around 30%.

A shopper leaves a Ross store with a paper bag.

A man exits after shopping at a newly opened Ross store.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

TJX has also seen year-over-year increases in sales and net income, according to its most recent earnings release. It plans to open 146 new stores this year.

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“The revenues, the stores, the businesses are doing excellent,” Siegel said. “They are absolutely in their stride.”

In contrast, some department stores are struggling.

Macy’s closed two California locations earlier this year as part of its plan to reduce its footprint by 30% by 2027. Twelve more closures are planned in the coming months across the U.S.

Saks Global, which owns Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January, citing overwhelming debt.

“The department store pressure and the off-price success are not coincidental,” Siegel said. “They are clearly linked. Off-price has effectively become the new department store.”

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In addition to opening new stores, Ross is working to streamline the shopping process by better organizing its stores and adding self-checkout at more branches.

The new Ross in Alhambra has several self-checkout lanes and well-stocked aisles organized into categories such as apparel, technology and cosmetics.

Lopez, a regular at Ross Dress for Less, put a pack of clothing hangers in her cart along with her new purse before checking out.

“I always seem to find what I need,” she said.

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Devin Nunes Departs Trump Media After 4 Years as C.E.O.

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Devin Nunes Departs Trump Media After 4 Years as C.E.O.

President Trump’s social media company, which has consistently lost money and struggled with a flagging share price, announced Tuesday that it was replacing Devin Nunes as its chief executive officer.

The announcement offered no reason for the sudden departure of Mr. Nunes, a former Republican congressman from California. Mr. Trump had tapped him to run the company, Trump Media & Technology, in late 2021.

The announcement was made in a news release by the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., who is a company board member and oversees a trust that controls his father’s 115-million-share stake in Trump Media. President Trump is not an officer or director of the company.

Mr. Nunes said in a statement on Truth Social, which is Trump Media’s flagship product, that it was an “appropriate time” for a new leader with experience in media and mergers to “steer Trump Media through its current transition phase.”

Trump Media has incurred hundreds of millions in losses, and its shares have performed poorly since the company went public by completing a merger with a cash-rich special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, in March 2024. The stock, which ended its first day of trading around $58 a share, closed Tuesday at $9.82.

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Shares of Trump Media trade under the symbol DJT, which are President Trump’s initials. Truth Social has emerged as the main social media platform for Mr. Trump to communicate his policy decisions and opinions to the world.

Last year, Trump Media took in $3.7 million in revenue and recorded a $712 million net loss.

In December, Trump Media announced a plan to merge with TAE Technologies, a fusion power company. The all-stock deal, which was valued at $6 billion at the time, would create one of the first publicly traded nuclear fusion companies.

Trump Media said in February that it was considering spinning off its Truth Social platform in a merger with another cash-rich SPAC, Texas Ventures Acquisition III Corp.

Mr. Nunes is being replaced on an interim basis by Kevin McGurn, who has been an adviser to Trump Media since the end of 2024. Mr. McGurn, a former executive at Hulu, the streaming service, was listed in a recent regulatory filing as the chief executive of Texas Ventures.

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The Trump Media release announcing the management change provided no update on the merger with TAE Technologies or the proposed SPAC deal for Truth Social.

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Netflix plans to buy historic Radford Studio Center

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Netflix plans to buy historic Radford Studio Center

Streaming entertainment giant Netflix is in negotiations to buy the historic Radford Studio Center lot in Studio City.

Netflix plans to purchase the Los Angeles studio that has been home to generations of landmark television shows, including “Gunsmoke” and “Seinfeld,” according to two people with knowledge of the pending deal who were not authorized to speak about it publicly.

The studio’s previous operator, Hackman Capital Partners, defaulted on a $1.1-billion mortgage in January. Investment bank Goldman Sachs took over the property and is in talks with Netflix to sell it for between $330 million and $400 million.

Representatives for Hackman and Netflix declined to comment on the planned sale.

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Culver City-based Hackman Capital Partners and Square Mile Capital Management teamed up to buy the Radford Avenue property from ViacomCBS in 2021 with a winning bid of $1.85 billion, after a competitive battle for the 55-acre studio beloved by the television industry.

At the time, the staggering price tag underscored the value — and scarcity — of TV soundstages in Los Angeles as content producers scrambled for space to shoot TV shows and movies to stock their streaming services. It was one of the largest-ever real estate transactions for a TV studio complex in Los Angeles.

Since then, production has substantially declined in Southern California. L.A. continues to battle the loss of production to other states and countries, as well as the lingering effects on the industry of the pandemic and the 2023 dual writers’ and actors’ strikes. Cutbacks in spending at the major studios after a surge in streaming-fueled TV production have further damped film activity in the region.

Founded by silent film comedy legend Mack Sennett in 1928, the lot became known as “Hit City” in the decades after World War II as popular TV shows such as “Leave It to Beaver,” “Gilligan’s Island,” “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “The Bob Newhart Show” and “Will & Grace” were made there. The storied lot gave the Studio City neighborhood its name,

Netflix, which has a market cap of about $455 billion — more than double that of Walt Disney Co. — has maintained its dominance in the global streaming business with more than 325 million subscribers.

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The Los Gatos-based company has production offices worldwide, including facilities in Albuquerque, Brooklyn, London, Madrid and Toronto.

Netflix had secured an $82.7-billion deal to buy Warner Bros. studios and streaming services in December, but withdrew from the bidding war in late February after Paramount Skydance offered $31 a share. As part of the switch, Netflix was paid a $2.8-billion termination fee.

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Kevin Warsh, Trump’s Pick to Lead Fed, Faces Senate at Tricky Moment

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Kevin Warsh, Trump’s Pick to Lead Fed, Faces Senate at Tricky Moment

Kevin M. Warsh, President Trump’s pick to lead the Federal Reserve, has spent years refining his pitch for why he should get one of the most powerful economic jobs in the world.

At his confirmation hearing on Tuesday, he will have to convince Senate lawmakers that he is ready to step into the role, which has become politically explosive amid Mr. Trump’s relentless attacks on the institution and its current chair, Jerome H. Powell.

Mr. Warsh, who is scheduled to testify before the Banking Committee at 10 a.m., plans to commit to being “strictly independent” on decisions related to interest rates, according to his prepared remarks. He also plans to tell lawmakers that he is unbothered by Mr. Trump’s incessant calls for substantially lower borrowing costs. And he will use his opening statement to underscore his focus on disrupting the “status quo” at an institution he said just last year was in need of “regime change.”

“In a time that will rank among the most consequential in our nation’s history, I believe a reform-oriented Federal Reserve can make a real difference to the American people,” he plans to tell lawmakers, adding: “The stakes could scarcely be higher.”

Mr. Warsh, 56, faces significant hurdles to winning confirmation. He has broad support among Republicans, who control the Senate and can confirm him along party lines. Yet his candidacy has stalled because of an ongoing investigation by the Justice Department into Mr. Powell and his handling of the Fed’s headquarters renovations.

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Mr. Powell’s term as chair ends May 15, but Mr. Warsh looks increasingly unlikely to be in place by then. That’s because Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina — a Republican on the Banking Committee who has expressed support for Mr. Warsh — has vowed to block any attempt to confirm a new Fed chair until the legal threats into Mr. Powell are resolved. For Mr. Tillis, the investigation is a blatant attempt to coerce Mr. Powell into lowering rates, undermining the Fed’s independence and confirming the politicization of the Justice Department.

“I’m not going to condone bad decision-making and bad behavior,” Mr. Tillis told reporters on Monday in reference to the Justice Department’s lack of evidence of any wrongdoing.

The department has vowed to continue its investigation, despite numerous legal setbacks.

“I think ultimately, he will be confirmed,” Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana, another Republican on the committee, told reporters on Monday. “I just don’t know what decade.”

Mr. Warsh’s ascent would mark a homecoming for the Wall Street financier, who served as a Fed governor from 2006-11.

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Since leaving the Fed, he has amassed assets worth well in excess of $100 million, according to financial disclosures submitted before his hearing. Those have drawn scrutiny because Mr. Warsh repeatedly invoked “pre-existing confidentiality agreements” to avoid disclosing the details behind several of his investments. He has said he would divest a substantial amount of his assets before taking the job.

The global financial crisis dominated Mr. Warsh’s first tenure at the Fed, thrusting him into the middle of discussions about how the central bank should respond to the threat of bank failures, turmoil in financial markets and a painful recession that followed. Mr. Warsh, then the youngest-ever member of the Board of Governors, was initially supportive of the Fed’s efforts to shore up financial markets by buying enormous quantities of government bonds and expanding its balance sheet to ease strains in financial markets and support growth by keeping market-based rates low.

But he soon soured on subsequent efforts to buy more bonds and resigned in protest. That experience has stuck with Mr. Warsh, who has made a smaller balance sheet a pillar of his plans if he takes over as chair.

Mr. Warsh would also be likely to usher in changes to how the Fed communicates its policy views, having expressed misgivings about its strategy of providing so-called forward guidance, or hints about how interest rates may change in the future to guide expectations. He has also suggested that policymakers across the Fed system should speak far less. Mr. Powell held a news conference after each rate decision, or eight a year, and delivered speeches with regularity. Mr. Trump’s pick to join the Fed last year, Stephen I. Miran, often speaks multiple times a week.

“Once policymakers reveal their economic forecast, they can become prisoners of their own words,” Mr. Warsh said in a speech last year. “Fed leaders would be well served to skip opportunities to share their latest musings. The swivel-chair problem, rhetorically waxing and waning with the latest data release, is common and counterproductive.”

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What is far less clear is how much Mr. Warsh would heed the president’s demands for lower interest rates. Mr. Trump said he would not pick someone for chair who did not support lower borrowing costs.

Mr. Warsh sought in his opening statement to downplay the costs of a president’s voicing his opinions about rates, saying central bankers must be “strong enough to listen to a diversity of views from all corners, humble enough to be open-minded to new ideas and new economic developments, wise enough to translate imperfect data into meaningful insight and dedicated enough to make judgments faithfully and wisely.”

Earlier this year, many officials at the Fed saw a path to gradually lower rates as the impact of Mr. Trump’s tariffs faded and inflation restarted its slide back toward 2 percent after almost of year of stalling out. The war in Iran — and the energy shock it has unleashed — has upended those forecasts, however, prompting officials to turn wary about lowering rates.

Mr. Warsh will face questions on Tuesday about the economic impact of the war and how it has changed his thinking around the Fed’s ability to lower rates. While at the Fed, he was known as an inflation hawk who often argued against providing policy relief for fear that it could stoke price pressures. He also said the Fed should aspire to engage in rule-based policymaking that stems from formulas that prescribe how officials should set rates based on levels of inflation and employment.

While campaigning to be chair, Mr. Warsh embraced the need for rate cuts, arguing that there was a path for lower borrowing costs because of his plans to shrink the balance sheet, which would lift longer-term rates that then could be offset by lowering short-term ones. He also argued that higher productivity from the boom in artificial intelligence could unleash higher growth without stoking inflation, which could give the Fed more space to lower rates than otherwise would be the case.

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In his opening statement, Mr. Warsh made clear, however, that a failure to bring down inflation, which has been stuck above the Fed’s 2 percent target for roughly five years, would strictly be the Fed’s fault, suggesting that he would shoulder the blame if he did not bring it back down during his tenure.

“Inflation is a choice, and the Fed must take responsibility for it,” he will tell lawmakers.

Megan Mineiro contributed reporting.

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