By JALEN WADE
A Ross Dress For Less discount store opened in North College Park on Oct 12.
The 26,000-square-foot chain store is located in the College Park Marketplace Shopping Center, at the northwest corner of Baltimore Avenue and Cherry Hill Road. The location was formerly occupied by a Best Buy.
“I think it’s good,” College Park resident Kahyla Hernandez said. “It’s a refresher, considering that we’re [near] campus and there’s a bunch of college students, so I think they would appreciate having something so close.”
Hernandez said she has visited the store multiple times already for trendy decorations, and noted the store is close to her home.
With the opening of the College Park store, Ross has 13 locations in Maryland, including one in Greenway Center in Greenbelt. The chain includes 2,100 discount apparel and home fashion stores in 43 states.
College Park Councilmember Jacob Hernandez (District 1) said City Council members wanted a new vendor to meet the community’s need for a clothing store.
“If you see across the city, we don’t have any major clothing store options,” Hernandez said. “I know we have a few, but Ross provides, you know, high quality clothing and merchandise for low cost and affordable prices.”
Rally House, a sports apparel store, opened on Baltimore Avenue in October in the space once occupied by Target.
Hernandez said Ross will be a major economic driver, hiring 70 to 110 new employees.
College Park resident Mona Lynch said having a Ross in the city was “in order.” Before, Lynch said, if she wanted to go clothes shopping, she would to T.J. Maxx in Beltway Plaza or Ross in Greenway Center.
“This one is up and it’s new and it’s by a Home Depot and a food store so it brings a lot more to this little shopping plaza here,” Lynch said.
Michael Williams, College Park’s director of economic development, said Ross approached the city with a proposal to fill the vacancy left by Best Buy. Williams said the city wanted a business that would be around for a long time, and Ross signed on for 10 years with the chance of a 10-year renewal.
Williams said he hoped to fill the vacant storefront quickly to avoid “contamination,” a term for the domino effect that can occur when one business leaves an area and others follow suit. He also noted that empty buildings can dissuade potential tenants. He pointed to the Target storefront that sat empty for 16 months after the general merchandise store moved out.
“Someone would say, “Well, why is that vacancy there? You know, the Target vacancy there?” Williams explained. “And we would have to go in and explain that Target is a $75 billion corporation, and they make their decisions in a fashion that’s not very appropriate for local thinking.”
Williams said the city had gauged public interest on what to add to College Park via a survey two years ago. Aside from clothing, residents requested new restaurants that weren’t pizza shops.
He said the city is constantly in conversation with businesses that are attracted to College Park, but some don’t want to sign long-term leases.
Lynch said the city should add more discount stores.
“I think they should get a T.J. Maxx,” Lynch said. “They should get another Marshalls out here. Those are all discount stores. They should have them out here as well.”
