During its latest earnings call, BJ’s Wholesale Club’s Chairman and CEO Bob Eddy said there were more new store units in the pipeline than the retailer has had in the past 20 years.
The pipeline is about to unleash some store openings, as the Marlborough, Mass.,-based warehouse retailer announced five locations in the Southeast and Midwest that will power up in the coming weeks.
Grand openings will soon happen in Maryville, Tenn.; Myrtle Beach, S.C.; Palm Coast, Fla.; West Palm Beach, Fla.; and Carmel, Ind.
The Florida openings will expand BJ’s Wholesale Club’s footprint in the state to 39. The Maryville location will be the fourth in Tennessee, while Indiana and South Carolina will each welcome their second stores. Each store will hire about 150 workers.
BJ’s Wholesale Club plans on opening a dozen warehouses this year.
“It wasn’t long ago that we stopped opening clubs because we really did not know how to do it well,” said Eddy during the fourth quarter earnings call earlier this month. “We weren’t doing it profitably and we didn’t have enough members when we opened the club.
“I’m pushing pretty hard to go even faster than where we are today.”
