"We're the smallest and least productive." When Calvin Chung, EVP of Property Development at Burlington, shared what the CEO told him, the RetailSpaces audience waited for the punchline. It came immediately: "Hey, that means we have a lot to do, a lot to improve, a lot to grow. And guess what, when we do that, we're gonna be really good."
That's not spin. That's math. And Burlington is betting hundreds of millions on it.
Burlington Coat Factory—remember them? The massive department store in the back of the mall, 100,000 square feet of everything from coats to home goods. That's what most people still picture.
That's not what Burlington is anymore.
"This is who we are right now," Chung said, showing images of clean, organized 25,000 square foot stores with exposed polished concrete and open ceilings. "Burlington, new Burlington with tagline: deals, brands, and wow."
The transformation isn't cosmetic. It's existential. Burlington opened 147 stores last year—their largest expansion ever. This year: 130+. By 2028: 1,500 stores. Eventually: 2,000.
And they're doing it by getting smaller.
Here's the stat that should make every retailer rethink their square footage strategy: when Burlington downsizes stores from 80,000-100,000 square feet to 25,000 square feet, sales go up.
Not down. Up.
"When we do the conversion and downsize, our sales go up actually," Chung explained. "Our productivity goes up."
The numbers back it up: 19% growth over the last three years, compared to competitors Ross and TJ Maxx. Eight percent compounded growth over the last decade. Currently at 1,200 stores with plans to hit $16 billion in sales by 2028.
Burlington's Growth in the Retail Sector
Unlike Target or Walmart where Chung previously worked ("we had prototypes and we just built new"), Burlington builds different. "All new stores are snowflakes," he said. "We take second gen space and then we convert them to Burlington."
It's harder than building new. Much harder. Every location requires as-built surveys. Every retrofit is unique. Every permit is a negotiation. "That's what we need with our partners to really help us accelerate," Chung emphasized.
The vendor relationships aren't transactional anymore. "We can't just do a one-off with vendors based on cost alone. We do need good partners to help us do this better, faster, and cheaper."
His pitch to partners was direct: "As we win, our partners win. We are going to do 130 or so gross projects each year racing to 2,000 stores. As our department wins, our partners win because you get more projects."
The aggressive downsizing program is where things get interesting. Five stores downsized last year. Twenty this year. More coming.
"Downsizing is like putting up a demise wall, splitting powers," Chung explained. "Sometimes a landlord is willing to do it. Sometimes they're not interested. It's very complex stuff."
But Burlington cracked it. The vacated space? They bring in other national tenants. "There are very few opportunities for retailers to open stores in the 18,000 to 25,000 square foot range, especially if they're growing really big. That's where we can offer."
It's not just about Burlington winning. "We can co-anchor these centers and we draw a lot of traffic. With the right partnership, we can make these centers a lot more profitable by bringing more people."
When asked about customer reaction to smaller stores, Chung was emphatic: "Customer expectation is great. When we do that, our sales go up."
The challenge isn't customers. "The biggest challenge is always working with a landlord. Being able to put up a demise wall and split the power and all the stuff, also the second entry for the other tenants."
Burlington isn't just shrinking stores—they're fundamentally changing what those stores do. The old Burlington Coat Factory was department store thinking: "I need a coat and I'll go there."
The new Burlington is off-price retail: treasure hunt shopping where discovery drives traffic. It's why Ross and TJ Maxx have thrived at 20,000-30,000 square feet. "That's what's really needed to be good at off-price modeling and retailing," Chung said.
Off-price is booming. By 2026: a $92 billion industry. Burlington's growth rate is faster than almost everyone.
Chung's team includes real estate, legal, asset management, design, construction, facilities, and fixtures. They're not just building stores—they're educating municipalities about off-price retail, negotiating complex landlord deals, and establishing preferred partner networks.
"We're sharing our experience with other retailers so we can do it better," he said. "There are a lot of locations where we can bring other retailers to the centers that we're at."
The flexibility matters. Some projects are landlord-funded. Some are Burlington-funded. Some are co-development deals. "We can work with timelines that's flexible."
Burlington's transformation from 100,000 square foot department stores to 25,000 square foot off-price powerhouses isn't about doing less with less. It's about doing more with less.
Smaller stores. Higher productivity. Better sales. Faster growth.
From 1,200 stores today to 2,000 stores eventually, all while increasing per-square-foot performance and creating opportunities for co-tenants in the vacated space.
Burlington spent decades building big boxes in the backs of malls. Now they're building something better: a network of right-sized stores that perform better, cost less, and scale faster than anything they've done before.
Watch his full talk below...
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