BJ's Wholesale Club
 |
|
| Private | |
| Industry | Retailing (Warehouse club) |
| Founded | 1984 |
| Headquarters | Westborough, MA, United States |
|
Number of locations
|
213; Gas stations = 131 |
|
Area served
|
East Coast of the United States and Ohio |
|
Key people
|
Chris Baldwin, CEO |
| Products | Electronics, Home, Furniture, Outdoor, Sporting Goods, Toys, Jewelry, Clothing, Health and Beauty, Grocery. |
| Owner | Leonard Green & Partners |
|
Number of employees
|
 25,500 (FY 2009) |
| Website | BJs.com |
BJ's Wholesale Club Inc., commonly referred to simply as BJ's, is an American membership-only warehouse club chain operating on the United States East Coast, as well as in the state of Ohio.
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. Weich announced his resignation as president in June 1987, and left on August 1. He was replaced by John Levy.
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.
In 2011, BJ's was acquired by two private equity firms, Leonard Green & Partners and CVC Capital Partners. In 2014 BJ's was fully bought by Leonard Green & Partners.
As of November 6, 2013[update], BJ's operated 200 BJ's clubs in fifteen states and employed approximately 25,000 team members (both full- and part-time). Clubs are found in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Delaware, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida and Ohio. Its major competitors are Costco Wholesale and Walmart's version of a warehouse club concept, Sam's Club.
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Wikipedia