For BJ”™s Wholesale Club based in Marlborough, Massachusetts, the opening of its new store in Greenburgh is one more in a series of steps being taken to expand its brick-and-mortar presence even in the face of increased internet shopping by consumers. BJ”™s began in New England in 1984.
“This has been a huge opportunity because we”™ve been looking to get into this area for awhile,” Peter Frangle, BJ”™s vice president for corporate communications told the Business Journals. “We now have 232 clubs in the chain and we”™re looking to open three more before the end of the calendar year. We will have opened 10 this year. We”™re looking to do the same next year.”
The new Greenburgh store is at 399 Tarrytown Road in the Crossroads Shopping Center. BJ”™s occupies the same approximately 90,000-square-feet footprint as had been used previously by Kmart and Caldor. The store brings 150 new jobs to Greenburgh.
“We”™re offering more than what those stores offered when they were here,” Frangle said. “This is a great footprint, a great area. We were able to stay within the space that was offered to us. We understand that there are hardworking families here and we”™re excited to serve them.”
Frangle said that BJ”™s house brand, Berkley Jensen in general offers products that are 25% to 30% less expensive than comparable national brand products. BJ”™s has another house brand, Wellsley Farms, used for food items, including organic products.
Frangle said that there”™s a place for both brick and mortar and online in the wholesale club field. He said that BJ”™s is pushing into the Midwest with physical clubs now operating in Ohio and Michigan and one that opened in Indiana a few weeks ago.
In addition to operating club stores BJ”™s sells gasoline at 160 BJ”™s Gas locations. They currently are trying to arrange for gasoline sales in Greenburgh, which likely would have to take place at a different location from the main store.
“We”™re now in 18 states and we”™re really excited at the opportunity to find communities like this Greenburgh community where we can offer our value proposition,” Frangle said. “As we move west we”™re educating those communities in what we can offer them. We”™ve upped our game in the digital space. We have our online offerings with BJ”™s apps. In the stores, people can scan with their phones, use our express bay, checkout without even having to touch a register. We do have curb pickup. We also have delivery. We understand that the game has changed and we want to be able to serve our members with convenience and shop the way that they want to shop.”
Frangle said that they have been finding that people who have a good experience shopping with BJ”™s online will want to come into the club for in-person shopping.
“Our members are seeing value in what we have to offer,” Frangle said. “They”™re excited about it. We offer a lot more in selection than our competitors do. Serving our members is our mission and we want to make it more than just a shopping experience for them. We want to be part of this community, Greenburgh.”
BJ”™s second quarter financials showed 22.2% growth of the company”™s total revenues for the second quarter of this year compared with the second quarter last year, a change from $4.1 billion to $5.1 billion. Third quarter results were due to be released later in November. Net income was up 27% from $110.9 million in the second quarter of 2021 to $141 million in the second quarter of 2022.
In its last annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in May of this year, BJ”™s reported having more than six million members each paying $55 or $110 as an annual membership fee, depending on the level of features the customer wants. Membership fees totaled $360.9 million in fiscal year 2021. BJ”™s reported that its two private label brands brought in more than $3 billion in annual sales.
Total revenues for Fiscal Year 2021 were $16.7 billion compared with $15.4 billion the year before. Net income was $426.6 million in Fiscal Year 2021 compared with $4221 million in Fiscal Year 2020.
