Five Below Tops 2,000 Stores, Raises Its Outlook, and Adds a 47th State

Five Below is having the kind of year most retailers plan around. The Philadelphia-based value chain reported second-quarter results on September 2 showing net sales up 22.9% to $1.26 billion and comparable sales up 14.1%, according to the company's earnings release. Five Below ended the quarter on August 1 with 2,022 stores in 46 states, after opening 52 net new stores in the quarter and 101 through the first half — ahead of the 87 it had opened at this point last year. The company reaffirmed plans for approximately 150 net new stores in fiscal 2026, with about 40 more expected in the third quarter.

The quarter also carried a milestone. Five Below opened its 2,000th store in LaGrange, Georgia in mid-July, a footprint that now puts it in the same neighborhood as Target's roughly 1,995 U.S. locations, as The Philadelphia Inquirer noted. The chain opened its first store in Wayne, Pennsylvania in 2002 and stood at about 1,350 stores as recently as 2023 — meaning it has added roughly 650 locations in three years while working toward a stated long-term potential of 3,500-plus stores in the U.S.

The white space keeps getting smaller. Five Below entered Idaho in August, its 47th state, and executives said on the earnings call that the company plans to enter Puerto Rico in the second half of 2027 with an initial handful of stores, calling it a "highly attractive opportunity," per the call transcript published by Benzinga. Management also pointed to a continuing fill-in push across the Pacific Northwest, a region it entered less than a year ago.

Notably, this is not growth at any cost. CFO Dan Sullivan credited a site-selection overhaul put in place about 18 months ago — "much more discipline up front, really engaging from site selection all the way through to grand opening" — and said the 2025 and 2026 store vintages are outperforming, with new-store productivity running strong across both white-space and fill-in deals.

The confidence shows up in the guidance. Five Below raised its full-year comparable sales outlook to a range of 10% to 12%, up from the 6% to 8% it guided just last quarter, and lifted capital spending to $250 million to $260 million — about 4.5% of sales — to support the pipeline. Through 26 weeks, net sales are up 27.5% to $2.55 billion on an 18.3% comp. The roughly 150 net new stores planned this year work out to unit growth of just under 8% on the chain's start-of-year base.

"We have a long runway to bring Five Below to more customers and more communities," CEO Winnie Park told analysts on the call.

For landlords, Five Below remains one of the most reliable junior-box tenants in the market: 150 new deals a year, a compact prototype that slots into power and value centers, and a credit story that just got stronger with a double-digit comp. The discipline narrative matters as much as the volume. A retailer publicly touting tighter site selection and better lease terms is a retailer that can afford to be choosy — expect them to press that advantage in negotiations, particularly on fill-in deals in markets where they already have brand awareness.

The geography is the other tell. With Idaho on the board, only Alaska, Hawaii, and Montana remain unclaimed, so the next leg of growth comes from densifying existing markets and from off-mainland moves like Puerto Rico — a market that has rewarded value retailers before. At current pace, Five Below reaches its 3,500-store potential sometime in the early 2030s. The centers that win those deals over the next few years will mostly be the ones that already fit the profile: strong value co-tenancy, family trade areas, and space in the right size range when the tour comes through.