More Buyout Rumors for BJ's Wholesale Club

What's going to happen to this company when it eventually gets bought out???

Shares of BJ's Wholesale Club Inc. rose Wednesday after a report that two private-equity investors are preparing a joint bid to buy the company.

Representatives for BJ's and Leonard Green did not return calls seeking comment. A spokeswoman for CVC declined to comment on the report.

Shares of BJ's rose $1, or 2 percent, to $48.70 in afternoon trading.

The New York Post also wrote about this rumor: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/bj_is_seeking_more_3kjfOFYrLKwKZTodp7I8TK


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BJ's Wholesale Club toys with a different store structure of 85,000 sqft

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Last Wednesday BJ's CEO Laura Sen had a lot to mention regarding the 85,000 sqft prototype store in Pennsylvania. The store plans on serving a "less dense market", and allows the company to expand into area's which they wouldn't explore before. The city of Syracuse was listening to this closey, from Friday's Post Standard: 'With new size in mind BJ's could expand to Syracuse area'

Whether or not BJ's expands to Syracuse the fact is that BJ's is thinking, and thinking wisely we should add. As a 'big box' store, and a typical 100,000+ sqft operator they have seen the fruits of holding such an immense retail space, though they have also been held back on expanding to certain areas who craved a store like BJ's, but did not have the sufficient space for them.

In 2008, Wal-Mart also toyed with the idea of a smaller format in order to take on neighborhood stores they wouldn't usually compete with their usual supercenters. The 'Marketside' test hasn't worked out the way Wal-Mart planned, as the Wal-Mart hierarchy has put a halt on expansion citing the struggling economy. We'll see if BJ's will take the same turn, downsizing to comply to an area they aren't accustom to serving.

The question on our mind though is what the new 'prototype' stores will do for jobs at BJ's?, both current and future. Will there be an infrastructure change? Will there be a different benefit package? Will there be different job descriptions? Will there be more controversial promotions?

Only time will tell, but we'd like to know what you think now...

BJ's Briefs...an inked deal in Flushing, a lawsuit, and more...

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Here's some recent press BJ's has gotten in the past week:

BJ's Wholesale Club inks another lease in the NYC Metro area.

BJ's to take 170,000 sqft in Canarsie, Brooklyn.

An 89 year old widow is suing BJ's Wholesale Club in an age biased firing.

BJ's eyes are still on Pittsburgh.

An interview with the new CEO, A new member to the board of directors....

Image by Road Fun via FlickrHere's an interview with the new CEO of BJ's Wholesale Club, Laura Sen.

BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc. has elected Picis president and c.e.o. Christine Cournoyer, to its board of directors. The Wakefield, Mass.-based company is a worldwide provider of software solutions for automating resource-intensive hospital documentation and business practices...

It's been said throughout this blog that the company needs change.

Anonymous 12/17/2008: "...All we can hope for is CHANGE"

Anonymous 12/17/2008: "But when January comes they'll forget all about how many hours we worked and will think nothing of cutting all of our hours. Apparently we all need the money and we still need it in January..."

Anonymous 12/10/2008: "The ONLY thing your GM is interested in is keeping his job with the salary and bonus. He knows in todays market, new jobs are tough to find."

With all these new appointments and hires, where's the change for the real people who run the company? We'll have a monthly wrap up of the comments next week...until then, Happy Holidays!

A new CEO for BJ's Wholesale Club

BJ's Wholesale Club on Thursday named its president, Laura Sen, to serve as chief executive officer, succeeding Herb Zarkin in a widely expected management change...

Previous reports of Herb Zarkin's retirement were denounced, as he will continue to serve as chairman and will stand for re-election to the board when his term expires in May of 2010.

Read more here at Business Week.

BJ's announces new store opening in Florida...

Image by Ditch the Kitsch!! via Flickr
The hard economic times do not seem to be on retailers like BJ's & Wal-Mart, who are taking advantage of the struggling economy by offering lower prices than competitors, question is though are their employees seeing any of these benefits?

CLERMONT - A BJ's Wholesale Club is scheduled to open next spring, showing that commercial growth in Clermont is not about to stop, even with a slowdown in the construction of new homes.

Read the entire article here [Orlando Sentinel]

Has BJ's cited tough economic times to regarding to your wages?

Tough Economy??? Not for BJ's, reports say sales continue to rise..

mage by Getty Images via Daylife
BJ's Wholesale Club continues to gain.

Here's a link to their press release reporting strong sales.

Wal-Mart sales also were up. Both retailers continue to make money in this economy

Forecasts are up for BJ's

Once again, investing websites are predicting sunny skies for BJ's Wholesale Club:

The company’s efforts to improve its merchandise and increase store traffic continue to drive its sales. The difficult macro-economic conditions are also pushing customers into discount stores and wholesale clubs, which offer a better value compared to supermarkets. We maintain our Hold rating, and our target price of $38.

Retailers like BJ's Wholesale Club & Wal-Mart are set to thrive in tough economic times.

Here's another investment blog saying BJ's will benefit in this economy.

BJ's sales up

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BJ's said Thursday that its October sales at stores open at least one year rose 10.2%, with a contribution from gasoline sales of 3.6%. Analysts, on average, had expected same-store sales to rise 6.3%, according to Thomson Reuters. Total sales for the four weeks ended November 1 rose 11.6% to $738.8 million.

BJ's Store Closings...

From the State, South Carolina

From staff reports

South Carolina's only BJ’s Wholesale Club will close today in Greenville.
The Massachusetts-based chain announced last week that it will close the store on Woodruff Road for failing to meet sales expectations, company spokeswoman Maria Fruci told The Greenville News.
BJ's operates 178 wholesale clubs in 16 states. The Greenville store opened in 2000 and employs about 60.
Fruci told the Greenville paper the company has no plans to close any additional clubs.
BJ's members in the Greenville area will receive pro-rated membership fee refunds

 What are your thoughts?  We've gotten a few email's asking if we've heard any rumors that would affect the NY/NJ area, we'll keep everyone posted.  But what's the feeling around the clubs?

Here's an article regarding the development that will overtake once BJ's vacates.