Ross Dress for Less reopened its doors on Sunday and the lines to get in were crazy long. Pent up demand and Corona safety measure all contributed to the queues to dress for less.
I’ll be passing for a while. Though there may be good deals with assumed back inventory, I just don’t want to wait in them lines…
For most of the year, my reselling experience has focused on affordable sourcing from Ross aka #rossfinds. But for the month of December, with the crowds and long lines at Ross, I went in a different direction. I experimented with higher end commodities like items from Supreme and costly kicks. And you know what? Lots of reselling lessons learned are the same, just in a different context.
Shopping for deals or for exclusives still takes time, either in-store or online. There’s just no way around it. However purchasing time online is measured in seconds (or even faster). A few seconds late and the exclusives are gone. Sold out – bought by bots or those with faster fingers (or better luck).
There’s also prepping for online launches. Creating accounts on various shopping sites and ensuring autofill is ready to go for each browser user all rob you of time. And if you want, you need to spend time reading up and learning about releases. Of course, none of this preparation guarantees success when buying exclusives, but without this preparation, you essentially have no chance.
Time for #rossfinds is in the realm of hours, days, and perhaps even months. Sourcing is primarily done in-person, going through the racks of Ross and other discount stores. Then listing and eventually selling an item can go for days to months.
So the obvious takeaway is that reselling takes time (and commitment). If you’re not willing to invest the time, then you need to look elsewhere.
Uncle Clay’s House of Pure Aloha (HOPA) is well known in the islands for serving up some ono shave ice and just as much aloha. So much so that you may want to join the #HOPAlove movement by representing with your own HOPA shirt.
Luckily Ross shares your love, and you might be lucky enough to find a HOPA shirt on their racks. Now the shirt may not have a security tag nor a price tag… hey wait a minute, Santa sees you HOPA fan who likely “traded” shirts. Talk about dressing for less…
Update: Recently read about recent thefts from HOPA. 🙁
Are you ready? Hawaii’s latest Ross location in Hawaii opens in Windward Mall on Friday, October 12, 2018 according to the Ross store locator.
Now I don’t know what time the store actually opens since I doubt the grand opening would actually occur at 7:30am. I mean the Ala Moana grand opening didn’t occur at 7:30am.
Anyways, the Windward Mall location is shaping up, but there’s still work to be done, mainly with inventory. The exterior entry way was full of Matson containers unloading the goods and dumpsters full of now-empty boxes. Sorry no pictures of this.
On the interior of the mall, you can get a glimpse of the familiar Ross design.
The racks are filling up, but the men’s shoe section looks woefully empty for now. But as evident by all these emptied boxes, there’s more stocking to be done.
Are you going to check out Ross Windward Mall on opening day?
The forthcoming Ross location in Windward Mall, Kaneohe is seemingly almost ready to go. The signage is up, and the receiving area in the back is ready.
Once open, this location will complete the Thanos-like collection of Infinity Gems aka Ross Stores in the major Oahu shopping venues of:
PearlridgePersonally, I think the Nike Thea line for women look great, especially the Ultra Flyknit versions. I love the silhouette and the interwoven colors of the Flyknit add another dimension. But this doesn’t translate to sales on eBay. And at around $55 at Ross, the Air Max Thea Ultra Flyknit costs more than average.
Not sure why these just don’t sell when the going cost is $150 (or $127 on sale). I don’t see them out and about either. Maybe they don’t fit well? I do know that the weave of the Flyknit is very porous. You can definitely see your sock color coming through since the spacing in the knit is very giving.
So if you ever find a cool pair of Theas at Ross, just know that you may have a challenge moving them.
You never know what you’ll find at Ross, and although not a big find, I did have to look twice when I saw these socks cast to the side. The Nike label didn’t look typical, and it isn’t.
These socks are from the NikeLab, and the style code of SX7234-524 say these are Nike Gyakusou NikeGrip Unisex Quarter Socks. Originally priced at $28, these socks were $6 from Ross. Personally, I wouldn’t pay $28 for a pair of quarter socks, but I’d do $6 even in a Purple Dynasty/Olive Khaki colorway. They do look cool…
I’m not quite sure how extensive it’ll be, but the only Ross in Kaneohe (for now) is being remodeled. The store is still open for business but the interior is changing around. Sections have moved and are crammed together while other areas have been cleared out.
My shopping flow has been thrown off by all the movement, especially in the shoe section that’s gotten very tall and narrow. It’s super difficult to scan the shoe racks at close range. Hoping the layout gets spaced out as the remodeling proceeds.
In general, the store layout now feels like the Ala Moana location, and rumor is this Kaneohe location had to refresh since the new Ross location is opening down the street in Windward Mall.
It’s been awhile, but I just got denied entrance to yet another store while walking in with a drink. For this instance, the store was Ross at Ala Moana, and I was enjoying my half done Starbucks iced caramel macchiato.
The greeter pointed out the no food or beverage sign on the door.
I asked if there was a holding area for drinks, and she said the trash. Of course, I wasn’t about to trash a $7 drink full of body-infusing caffeine. I faux-ly and incredulously asked if she was serious about no drinks since pretty much every store has that no food or beverage sign but does not enforce it. She replied no drinks… for safety.
Now mind you we’re in the front of the store next to the cash registers which are next to all food and drink items at Ross. But I knew it was a losing battle, so I did leave. But I took a pic of my drink in the store.
It’s now official though it seems Ross employees already knew, but a new Ross location is indeed opening at Windward Mall.
Is the Dress for Less Store headed to Windward Mall? If so, the last of the OG malls would have a Ross location. First was Pearlridge then Kahala. The Ala Moana location was a recent addition, and 2018 could welcome the former Sports Authority space in Windward Mall.
Short story. I missed the grand opening of the new Ross at Ala Moana.
Downstairs by Old Navy, I got to the store at 7:30 hoping it would be open according to the posted store hours. But grand openings being grand openings, this event’s timeline superceded regular store hours. So although patrons were waiting for the store to open at 7:30, the Ross management informed us that the store would open around 9am after the opening celebration.
Not wanting to wait 90 minutes to return items, I left the now-open-but-not-yet-opened Ross.
