BJ's Wholesale Club

Last updated

BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc.
Company type Public company
Industry Retailing (Warehouse club)
FoundedFebruary 6, 1984;40 years ago (1984-02-06)
Headquarters,
U.S.
Number of locations
229 (150 gas stations) as of March 22, 2021
Area served
Key people
Bob Eddy (CEO) [1]
ProductsElectronics, Home, Furniture, Outdoor, Sporting Goods, Toys, Jewelry, Clothing, Health and Beauty, Grocery.
RevenueIncrease2.svg US$19.315 billion (FY 2022)
Increase2.svg US$513 million (FY 2022)
Total assets Increase2.svg US$6.349 billion (2022)
Number of employees
34,000 (Jan. 2022)
Website BJs.com
Footnotes /references
[2]

BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc., commonly referred as BJ's, is an American membership-only warehouse club chain based in Marlborough, Massachusetts, operating in the eastern United States in addition to Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and Tennessee. The company has announced plans to expand into Alabama. [2] [3] [4] [5]

Contents

History

Map of BJ's locations as of May 2022. BJ's store locations.png
Map of BJ's locations as of May 2022.

The company was started by discount department store chain Zayre in 1984, on the Medford/Malden border in Massachusetts. The company's name was derived from the initials of Beverly Jean Weich, the daughter of Mervyn Weich, the president of the new company. [6] [7] Weich announced his resignation as president in June 1987, and left on August 1. [8] He was replaced by John Levy. [9]

When Zayre Corporation sold the Zayre nameplate to rival discount chain Ames in October 1988, TJX Companies was formed. In 1989, TJX spun off their warehouse division, consisting of BJ's and now-defunct HomeClub (later known as HomeBase, then House2Home), to form Waban, Inc. In August 1997, Waban spun off BJ's to become an independent company, BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc., headquartered in Natick, Massachusetts, while Waban renamed itself to HomeBase, Inc. [10]

In 2011, BJ's was acquired by two private equity firms, Leonard Green & Partners and CVC Capital Partners. [11] It returned to being a public company in 2018. [12]

In 2019, BJ's expanded into Michigan, with a new store in Madison Heights. A second and a third Michigan location have since opened in Taylor and Chesterfield Township, respectively. BJ's now also has a location in Canton.

Today

As of winter 2024, BJ's operates 216 BJ's clubs in 17 states and employed approximately 25,000 team members (both full- and part-time). [2] Clubs are found in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Delaware, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, [13] Georgia, Florida, Ohio, and Michigan. Its major competitors are Costco Wholesale and Sam's Club.

BJ's Wholesale Club in Virginia BJs Wholesale Club VA.jpg
BJ's Wholesale Club in Virginia

BJ's offers a variety of special benefits to its members. These include "member pricing", a variety of name-brand products at discount wholesale prices, acceptance of all valid manufacturers ' coupons, and acceptance of many forms of payment (cash, check, ATM/debit cards, all major credit cards, and EBT SNAP benefits). [14]

Memberships at BJ's are required for these benefits and are available to individual consumers and businesses. BJ's memberships normally last for twelve months from the date of purchase and must be renewed yearly. As of January 2,2018, a standard Inner Circle (individual) membership at BJ's cost $55 per year. [15] In addition, BJ's also has a special "Rewards" membership that may be purchased for an additional $55, [2] [16] allowing 2% of most of a member's purchases to be "rewarded" and redeemed for use towards future BJ's purchases (with the exception of alcohol, gas, and tobacco). Business members may apply to purchase BJ's products for resale, and nonprofit organization members may apply for tax-exempt privileges (where applicable). Members with expired memberships (if they choose not to renew), as well as non-members are allowed to shop, but are assessed a 5-20% surcharge (depending on the club and the circumstances) on their total, and are not allowed to pay by check. However, if non-members keep their receipts and decide to renew their membership or open a new membership, they will be refunded the surcharge and applied towards the membership fee, within seven days. [17] To aid in convenience, most BJ's memberships can be renewed at the register during checkout. BJ's Wholesale Club has a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee on their memberships; therefore a membership can be refunded at any time during that membership period without any 90- or 30-day stipulation. [18]

Many of BJ's clubs offer special services to members, such as car rentals, gas stations, home heating oil, an optical department, propane filling, and vacation packages. These services vary from location to location. As of 2008, there were 154 clubs with optical departments.[ citation needed ]As of January 30,2010 BJ's operated 104 gasoline stations at their clubs. [2] In February 2007, BJ's closed all pharmacies in its clubs. [17]

BJ's Wholesale Club locations frequently stock different varieties of products at different locations. However, all clubs carry the items listed in the coupon book that is published on a monthly basis. However, at certain times, it is not uncommon for a certain club not to carry a new item immediately due to its higher demand.[ citation needed ]

In March 2010, BJ's announced they would move their corporate headquarters from Natick to Westborough, Massachusetts in 2011. [2] [19] On January 5, 2011, BJ's announced it would close five underperforming stores in the Southeast, eliminate approximately 100 headquarters jobs by the end of the month, and restructure its home office and some field operations. Its restructuring moves would result in savings of 78 to 82 cents per share for its fiscal fourth quarter. [20] [21]

On December 19, 2019, BJ's named Lee Delaney as its next CEO starting February 2, 2020. Delaney had been an executive vice president and chief growth officer of the company since 2016. Then CEO Chris Baldwin became executive chairman. [22] Following Delaney's death on April 8, 2021, BJ's financial chief Bob Eddy took over as interim CEO. [1] On April 20, 2021, Bob Eddy’s interim status was removed and he was given the permanent CEO position. [23]

In November 2021, BJ’s announced plans for its first store in Tennessee, to be located in La Vergne, a suburb of Nashville. [24] The store opened on June 14, 2023. The company has announced plans for at least two additional stores in the Nashville market, with confirmed locations being added in Goodlettsville [25] and Mt. Juliet. [26]

Brands

House brands

BJ's Wholesale Club regularly markets numerous products under its own private labels—including products by Richelieu Foods. [27]

Other brands

Additionally, BJ's carries many organic and natural food brands such as Kerrygold, Amy's Kitchen, Kashi, Newman's Own and American Flatbread.

Distribution centers

BJ's utilizes three cross-dock distribution centers along with third-party warehouse space when extra storage is needed. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Costco</span> American multinational membership-only warehouse club chain

Costco Wholesale Corporation is an American multinational corporation which operates a chain of membership-only big-box warehouse club retail stores. As of 2023, Costco is the third-largest retailer in the world and is the world's largest retailer of choice and prime beef, organic foods, rotisserie chicken, and wine as of 2016. Costco is ranked #11 on the Fortune 500 rankings of the largest United States corporations by total revenue. Costco uses a club warehouse wholesale retailer channel of distribution while also selling their private label brand directly to consumers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam's Club</span> American membership-only warehouse club chain

Sam's West, Inc. is an American chain of membership-only warehouse club retail stores owned and operated by Walmart Inc., founded in 1983 and named after Walmart founder Sam Walton as Sam's Wholesale Club. As of January 31, 2019, Sam's Club ranks second in sales volume among warehouse clubs with $84.3 billion in sales, behind its main rival Costco Wholesale.

A discount store or discounter offers a retail format in which products are sold at prices that are in principle lower than an actual or supposed "full retail price". Discounters rely on bulk purchasing and efficient distribution to keep down costs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warehouse club</span> Retail store offering merchandise at wholesale prices

A warehouse club is a retail store, usually selling a wide variety of merchandise, in which customers may buy large, wholesale quantities of the store's products, which makes these clubs attractive to both bargain hunters and small business owners. The clubs are able to keep prices low due to the no-frills format of the stores. They are distinguished from traditional cash-and-carry wholesale businesses in that their warehouses are substantially larger in size, and they do not cater purely to businesses but also allow some or all types of consumers to obtain memberships. They are also distinguished from warehouse stores in that they usually charge annual membership fees, and require presentation of proof of membership at the warehouse entrance and again at the point of sale.

SuperValu, Inc., was an American wholesaler and retailer of grocery products. The company, formerly headquartered in the Minneapolis suburb of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, had been in business since 1926. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of United Natural Foods (UNFI).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zayre</span> Defunct discount retailer in the United States

Zayre was a chain of discount stores that operated in the eastern half of the United States from 1956 to 1990. The company's headquarters was in Framingham, Massachusetts. In October 1988, Zayre's parent company, Zayre Corp., sold the stores to the competing Ames Department Stores, Inc. chain. In June 1989, Zayre Corp. merged with one of its subsidiaries, The TJX Companies, parent company of T.J. Maxx, which still exists today. A number of stores retained the Zayre name until 1990, by which time all stores were either closed or converted into Ames stores.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TJX Companies</span> American multinational discount department store corporation

The TJX Companies, Inc. is an American multinational off-price department store corporation, headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts. It was formed as a subsidiary of Zayre Corp. in 1987, and became the legal successor to Zayre Corp. following a company reorganization in 1989.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">TJ Maxx</span> American discount department store chain owned by TJX Companies

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AJWright was a chain of about 129 American retail/outlet stores established in 1998 and owned by TJX Companies. Like its sister company T.J. Maxx, AJWright sold clothing, domestics, giftware, footwear, accessories, and fragrances at prices between twenty and seventy percent below regular prices. AJWright differed from other TJX chains by refreshing its merchandise on a regular basis. For most stores, new shipments arrived every weekday. In early 2011, TJX closed the chain's remaining stores and converted some stores to other TJX brands.

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References

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