The tumult in the retail sector may become more dramatic with a report that a leading e-commerce site is allegedly evaluating the purchase of a Northeastern retail chain.
According to a New York Post article that cited an unidentified source, Amazon was considering the possibility of buying BJ”™s Wholesale Club, which operates 213 stores and 130 gas stations in 15 states ”“ including three locations in Fairfield County, two in Westchester County and one in Rockland County. However, it is not certain whether Amazon is still interested in the transaction or if it will bid on a potential sale.
BJ”™s is owned by the private equity firms CVC Capital Partners and Leonard Green & Partners, who took the company private for $2.8 billion six years ago. A possible sale could attract between $4 billion and $4.5 billion, according to the unnamed source cited by the newspaper.
One entity that will probably not be interested in buying BJ”™s is Walmart, which made an unsuccessful bid in 2011. Instead, the Recode news site is reporting that Walmart is in talks to purchase the e-commerce men”™s fashion retailer Bonobos. If this transaction is successful, this would continue Walmart’s recent buying spree of online retailers ”“ since last summer, Walmart already acquired the general merchandise shopping site Jet.com, the women”™s online retailer ModCloth, the outdoor gear seller MooseJaw and the online shoe site ShoeBuy.
