BJ’s Wholesale returns to Columbus market with New Albany-area store
BJ’s Wholesale Club, which left the Columbus market nearly two decades ago, is returning.
The Massachusetts-based retailer is building a 100,000-square-foot store in the Hamilton Quarter development, next to the new Sheetz location at North Hamilton Road and East Dublin-Granville Road on the Northeast Side.
It will be the chain’s first store in Greater Columbus since closing its two local locations in 2002, at 6060 E. Main St. on the Far East Side and and at 6825 Dublin Center in Dublin.
The New Albany-area location would be the seventh Ohio site for BJ’s, which operates six stores in the Cleveland-Akron-Canton area. The chain, founded in 1984, opened its 224th store Friday.
Heavily concentrated in New England and on the East Coast, BJ’s has been expanding west. Last year, it announced that it was building six new clubs, including in new markets of Pittsburgh and Lansing, Michigan. Most new stores include BJ’s Gas stations.
Company representatives did not respond to a Dispatch email seeking details on the new Columbus store, but in a November conference call, BJ’s President and CEO Bob Eddy said the company planned to open up to 10 new stores this year.
“We’re excited about our expansion, and our confidence is underpinned by the strong performance we are seeing in our new clubs,” said Eddy, who did not identify the locations of the new stores.
According to the company, each new store employs about 150 workers.
Although much smaller by store count, BJ’s operates similarly to Costco and Sam’s Club. Customers pay an annual membership fee and merchandise is sold in bulk. With a basic membership of $55, BJ’s splits the difference between Costco and Sam’s Club.
The publicly traded company posted revenue of $11.5 billion for the first nine months of 2021, a 7.2% bump over the previous year.
@JimWeiker
Read More: BJ’s Wholesale returns to Columbus market with New Albany-area store