Ross Stores, Inc.

Discount clothing seller Ross Stores Inc. continued to benefit from the down economy: its sales rose 6 percent in the five weeks ended Oct. 2. Same store sales, an important retail measurement that compares performance only at stores open a full year, rose 2 percent. Last year they rose 8 percent in the same period. Pleasanton-based Ross (NASDAQ: ROST) had sales of $666 million in the five weeks ended Oct. 2. A year ago it had sales of $629 million in the equivalent five weeks. Ross guesses its same store sales will be flat or down 1 percent in