Burlington Stores Inc

Item 1. Business Overview

We are a nationally recognized off-price retailer of high-quality, branded merchandise at everyday low prices. We opened our first store in Burlington, New Jersey in 1972, selling primarily coats and outerwear. Since then, we have expanded our store base to 1007 stores as of February 3, 2024, in 46 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico. We have diversified our product categories by offering an extensive selection of in-season, fashion-focused merchandise at up to 60% off other retailers’ prices, including: women’s ready-to-wear apparel, menswear, youth apparel, baby, beauty, footwear, accessories, home, toys, gifts and coats. We sell a broad selection of desirable, first-quality, current-brand, labeled merchandise acquired directly from nationally recognized manufacturers and other suppliers.

We continue to focus on a number of ongoing initiatives aimed at increasing our overall profitability by driving comparable store sales growth, expanding and enhancing our retail store base, and enhancing operating margins. These initiatives include, but are not limited to, those discussed under “Ongoing Initiatives for Fiscal 2024” in Item 7, Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

As used in this Annual Report, the terms “Company,” “we,” “us,” or “our” refer to Burlington Stores, Inc. and all of its subsidiaries.

Fiscal Year End

We define our fiscal year as the 52- or 53-week period ending on the Saturday closest to January 31. This Annual Report covers the 53-week fiscal year ended February 3, 2024 (Fiscal 2023) and the 52-week fiscal years ended January 28, 2023 (Fiscal 2022) and January 29, 2022 (Fiscal 2021). The fiscal year ending February 1, 2025 (“Fiscal 2024”) will have 52 weeks.

Our Stores

Over 99% of our net sales are derived from stores we operate as Burlington Stores. We believe that our customers are attracted to our stores principally by the availability of a large assortment of first-quality, current, brand-name merchandise at everyday low prices.

Burlington Stores offer customers a complete line of merchandise, including: women’s ready-to-wear apparel, menswear, youth apparel, baby, beauty, footwear, accessories, home, toys, gifts and coats. Our broad selection provides a wide range of apparel, accessories and furnishings for all ages. Our strategy to chase the sales trend allows us the flexibility to purchase less pre-season merchandise with the balance purchased in-season and opportunistically. It also provides us with the flexibility to shift purchases between suppliers and categories. This enables us to obtain better terms with our suppliers, which we expect to help offset any rising costs of goods. Furthermore, we believe the “treasure hunt” nature of the off-price buying experience drives frequent visits to our stores.

Our store base is geographically diversified with stores located in 46 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico as set forth below:

Store Expansion and Real Estate Strategy

We continue to explore expansion opportunities both within our current market areas and in other regions. We believe that our ability to find satisfactory locations for our stores is essential for the continued growth of our business. The opening of stores generally is contingent upon a number of factors, including the availability of desirable locations with suitable structures and the negotiation of acceptable lease terms.

We have a proven track record of new store expansion. Our store base has grown from 13 stores in 1980 to 1007 stores as of February 3, 2024. Based on our smaller store prototype, as well as the ongoing opportunity presented by accelerating retail disruption and industry wide store closures, our long-term store target remains at 2,000 stores. If we identify appropriate locations, including locations that fit our smaller store prototype, we believe that we will be able to execute our growth strategy without significantly impacting our current stores. The table below shows our store openings and closings each of the last three fiscal years.

(a)

Exclusive of relocations.

(b)

Stores opened during Fiscal 2023, Fiscal 2022 and Fiscal 2021 had an average size of approximately 27,000, 28,000 and 31,000 square feet, respectively.

The total gross square footage of all stores as of the end of Fiscal 2023, Fiscal 2022, and Fiscal 2021 were 51.5 million, 50.7 million, and 49.6 million, respectively. Of this total square footage, the area that represents the total selling square footage for all stores as of the end of Fiscal 2023, Fiscal 2022, and Fiscal 2021 were 31.5 million, 31.0 million, and 30.0 million respectively.

Distribution and Warehousing

We have five distribution centers that shipped more than 99% of merchandise units to our stores in Fiscal 2023. The remaining merchandise units are drop shipped by our vendors directly to our stores. Our two east coast distribution centers are located in Edgewater Park, New Jersey and Burlington, New Jersey. Our three west coast distribution centers are located in San Bernardino,

California, Redlands, California, and Riverside, California. These five distribution centers occupy an aggregate of 4,106,000 square feet, and each includes processing, shipping and storage capabilities. In addition, we entered into a lease during Fiscal 2021 for an additional distribution center in Logan, New Jersey occupying approximately 1,029,000 square feet. This building was used for storage and basic manual processing during Fiscal 2023, and is expected to be fully operational during Fiscal 2024. Lastly, we entered into a lease with a purchase option during Fiscal 2023 for an additional distribution center in Ellabell, Georgia occupying approximately 2,057,000 square feet. This building is expected to be fully operational during Fiscal 2026.

We also operate warehousing facilities to support our distribution centers. The east coast has two supporting warehouses located in Burlington, New Jersey. The west coast has three supporting warehouses located in Redlands, California, Riverside, California, and San Bernardino, California. These five warehousing facilities occupy an aggregate of 2,383,000 square feet and primarily serve as storage facilities. We previously operated a third warehousing facility in Burlington, New Jersey, which was closed during Fiscal 2023.

(a)

Inclusive of corporate offices.

(b)

We entered into a lease with a purchase option during Fiscal 2023 for an additional distribution center in Ellabell, Georgia. This building is expected to be fully operational during Fiscal 2026.

In addition to the distribution centers that we operate, we have arrangements with third parties for the use of pool point facilities, which we believe streamline and optimize our distribution network.

Customer Service

We are committed to providing our customers with an enjoyable shopping experience in stores that are clean, neat and easy to shop. In training our associates, our goal is to emphasize knowledgeable, friendly customer service and a sense of professional pride.

We have empowered our store teams to provide an outstanding customer experience for every customer in every store, every day. We have and continue to streamline processes and strive to create opportunities for fast and friendly customer interactions. Our goal is to facilitate a “treasure-hunt” experience for our customers with clean, organized merchandise presentations that highlight the brands, value and diversity of selection within our frequently refreshed assortments.

Our Off-Price Sourcing and Merchandising Model

We believe that our ability to chase sales within the off-price model enables us to provide our customers with products that are nationally branded, fashionable, high quality and priced right. We have an experienced team of General Merchandise Managers, Divisional Merchandise Managers and buyers that are continually focused on improving comparable store inventory turnover, inventory age and freshness of merchandise.

We continue to improve the quality of our brand portfolio, driven by the growth of our merchandising team, wide breadth of our product categories, and a vendor community increasingly committed to grow with Burlington. We carry many different brands, none of which accounted for more than 6% of our net purchases during Fiscal 2023, Fiscal 2022 or Fiscal 2021. We have no long-term purchase commitments or arrangements with any of our suppliers, and believe that we are not dependent on any one supplier. We continue to have good working relationships with our suppliers.

We have designed our merchant organization so that buyers focus primarily on buying, planners focus primarily on planning, and information systems help inform data-driven decisions for both groups. Buyers are in the market each week and focus on purchasing great products for great value. We seek to purchase a majority of our merchandise in-season. Buyers spend time interacting face-to-face with new and existing vendors and continuously evaluating trends in the market to which we believe our customers would respond positively. Our buyers use a merchant scorecard that rates products across four key attributes—fashion, quality, brand and price—to help formalize a framework for buying decisions.

Our merchandising model allows us to provide our customers with a wide breadth of product categories. Sales percentage by major product category over the last three fiscal years was as follows:

Human Capital Resources

Attracting, developing and retaining top talent is key to our growth, and our success depends on cultivating an engaged and motivated workforce. Our goal is to create a welcoming, diverse and inclusive environment where our associates can build a career for life.

Oversight and Management

Our Human Resources department is tasked with managing associate-related matters, including recruiting and hiring, compensation and benefits, performance management, and learning and development. In addition, our management and cross-functional teams also work closely to evaluate human capital management issues such as associate retention and workplace safety, as well as to implement measures to mitigate these risks. This process is informed by the results of our annual associate survey, which is discussed in further detail below.

Our Board of Directors and Board committees provide oversight on certain human capital matters. For example, our Compensation Committee is responsible for, among other things, developing and reviewing executive management succession plans and reviewing our compensation policies for executives and associates generally to assess (i) whether the compensation structure establishes appropriate incentives and (ii) the risks associated with such policies and practices. In addition, our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee reviews environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) trends, issues and concerns, including legislative and regulatory developments, that could significantly affect our public affairs. Our Audit Committee receives periodic reports from, and discusses related controls and procedures with, management regarding ESG reporting and disclosures. Our Board of Directors provides oversight of ESG matters.

Associates

As of February 3, 2024, we employed 71,049 associates, of which 76% were part-time or seasonal associates. Of our associates, 88% worked in our stores, 8% worked in our distribution centers and 4% worked in our corporate organization. As of February 3, 2024, 73% of our associates are female, and 78% of our associates have a racial or ethnic minority background.

Our staffing requirements fluctuate during the year as a result of the seasonality of our business. We hire additional associates and increase the hours of part-time associates during seasonal peak selling periods. As of February 3, 2024, associates at one of our stores were subject to a collective bargaining agreement.

Corporate Culture

We recognize the critical importance of talent and culture to our success. Our value proposition, “Our Burlington,” which defines who we are as an employer and what is important to us as a team, is based on five tenets:

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We Are an Off-Price Retailer: We deliver great values to our customers every day.

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We Live by Our Core Values: Drive Results. Trust & Respect Each Other. Build Teams & Partnerships.

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We Believe Everyone Matters: We listen to the individual viewpoints of our diverse workforce through open and honest communication.

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We Win Together: We recognize those who make a difference. Great performance leads to exciting career opportunities.

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We Are a Caring Company: We have a caring work environment, and the generosity of our associates and customers helps to improve the communities we live and work in and beyond.

We conduct an annual associate survey to measure associate engagement. The survey results help us understand the associate experience, evaluate our performance, identify our strengths and pinpoint opportunities for improvement.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

As Burlington continues to grow, innovate, and thrive, we are integrating diversity, equity, and inclusion ("DEI") best practices across the entire spectrum of business functions. Our DEI strategy consists of five pillars that support all areas of the business:

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Leadership & Workforce Diversity

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Inclusive & Equitable Environments for Associates and Customers

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Enhanced Education & Awareness

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Product, Vendor & Supplier Diversity

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Community Advocacy

Burlington has a DEI team that is further supported by an enhanced governance structure consisting of additional DEI councils to support corporate, merchandising, distribution centers, and field/store operations, along with expanded Associate Resource Groups, which gives associates more ways to participate in DEI efforts as members of an associate-led community.

Learning and Development

We support our associates’ career growth by offering a blended learning approach that includes online education, on-the-job training, coaching and career development. All associates, including full- and part-time, in our stores, distribution centers and corporate offices, are offered training and development opportunities. Our learning and development programs are integral to the development of our associates and enable them to take on new and expanded roles across our organization.

Compensation and Benefits

As part of our commitment to offer competitive wages, Burlington works to ensure that our pay structure aligns with industry standards. In addition to being merit based, Burlington reviews compensation for all associates at every level of the business based on market analysis, seeking to ensure associates are fairly and appropriately compensated. Through this process, we have increased the wages of our hourly associates every year since 2010. We also offer a wide array of benefits for our associates and their families, including health and wellness and retirement benefits.

Customer Demographic

Our core customer is 25-49 years old, has an average annual household income of $25,000-$100,000, and is more ethnically diverse than the general population. The core customer is educated, resides in mid- to large-sized metropolitan areas and shops for themselves, their family, and their home. We appeal to value seeking and brand conscious customers who understand the off-price model and love the thrill of the hunt.

Marketing and Advertising

We use a mix of broad-based and targeted marketing strategies to efficiently deliver the right message to our audience at the right time. Broad-based strategies include television and radio, while our digital and streaming audio strategies allow for more personalized and targeted messaging. Email reaches our best customers, while social marketing, including relationships with influencers, allows for authentic consumer engagement. Burlington.com highlights our great merchandise values, while encouraging customers to visit our stores to discover fantastic deals on the brands and products they love - from stylish apparel to everything they need and want for their entire family and home.

Competition

The U.S. retail apparel and home furnishings markets are highly fragmented and competitive. We compete on the basis of a combination of factors, including, among others, price, breadth, quality and style of merchandise offered, in-store experience, level of customer service, ability to identify and respond to new and emerging fashion trends, brand image and scalability. We compete for business with department stores, off-price retailers, specialty stores, online retailers, discount stores, wholesale clubs, and outlet stores, as well as with certain traditional, full-price retail chains that have developed off-price concepts. At various times throughout the year, traditional full-price department store chains and specialty shops offer brand-name merchandise at substantial markdowns, which can result in prices approximating those offered by us at our stores.

Seasonality

Our business, like that of most retailers, is subject to seasonal influences. In the second half of the year, which includes the back-to-school and holiday seasons, we generally realize a higher level of sales and net income. Weather is also a contributing factor to the sale of our merchandise. Generally, our sales are higher if the weather is cold during the Fall and warm during the early Spring. Sales of cold weather clothing are increased by early cold weather during the Fall, while sales of warm weather clothing are improved by early warm weather conditions in the Spring. Although we have diversified our product offerings, we believe traffic to our stores is still driven, in part, by weather patterns.

Trademarks

We are the owner of certain registered and common law trademarks, service marks and tradenames (collectively referred to as the Marks) that we use in connection with our business. Our Marks include, but are not limited to, “Burlington Stores,” “BCF,” “Burlington,” “Burlington Coat Factory,” “Cohoes,” “B” and “Baby Depot.” We consider these Marks and the accompanying name recognition to be valuable to our business. We believe that our rights to these properties are adequately protected. Our rights in these Marks endure for as long as they are used.

Available Information

We are subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act. Therefore, we file reports, proxy statements and other information with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC maintains a website (www.sec.gov) that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC, including us.

You can access financial and other information about us on the Investor Relations page of our website atwww.burlingtoninvestors.com. We make available through our website, free of charge, copies of our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports filed with or furnished to the SEC under Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act as soon as reasonably practicable after electronically filing or furnishing such material to the SEC.

Investors and others should note that we currently announce material information using SEC filings, press releases, public conference calls and webcasts. In the future, we will continue to use these channels to distribute material information about the Company, and may also utilize our website and/or various social media sites to communicate important information about the Company, key personnel, new brands and services, trends, new marketing campaigns, corporate initiatives and other matters. Information that we post on our website or on social media channels could be deemed material; therefore, we encourage investors, the media, our customers, business partners and others interested in the Company to review the information posted on our website, as well as the following social media channels: Facebook (www.facebook.com/BurlingtonStores) and X (formerly Twitter) (www.twitter.com/burlington). Any updates to the list of social media channels we may use to communicate material information will be posted on the Investor Relations page of our website atwww.burlingtoninvestors.com.

The information contained on, or accessible through, our website and these social media channels is not part of this Annual Report and is therefore not incorporated by reference. The references to our website and these social media channels are intended to be inactive textual references only.