BJ's Wholesale Club Is Opening 5 New Locations in 2023

BJ's Wholesale Club hasn't quite achieved the reach of its two larger warehouse club rivals: Costco and Sam's Club. But with a handful of new location openings now on the horizon, it is certainly working to ramp up the competition.

The retailer announced this week that it is opening five additional new clubs in 2023, including its first-ever location in Alabama. With the addition of the new Madison, Ala., location, BJ's footprint in the United States will grow to 20 states. The other four new locations will be located in Mt. Juliet, Tenn.; Johnson City, N.Y.; Lewis Center, Ohio; and North Jacksonville, Fla.

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This announcement that BJ's will be expanding into Alabama for the very first time came only a month after the retailer revealed that it will open its first-ever warehouse in Tennessee. The La Vergne, Tenn., warehouse is slated to open this summer and will be located about 20 miles southeast of downtown Nashville.

So far in 2023, BJ's has already opened new locations in Davenport, Fla., and McDonough, Ga.

"We are always striving to bring our BJ's membership model to new markets and even more smart-saving families," Bill Werner, the company's executive vice president of strategy and development, said in a statement. "We have seen tremendous success with our newest openings. Our expansion into Tennessee and Alabama shortly thereafter is a great example of our efforts to meet the demand for the value, convenience, and assortment that BJ's has to offer its growing member base."

For locals who live near the upcoming BJ's warehouses, there's more good news. All five of the new locations will include BJ's gas stations, so members who are still feeling the pain of elevated gas prices can use their membership perks to purchase fuel at lower costs.

Even when these five new locations are up and running, BJ's will still have a long way to go before reaching the heights of Costco and Sam's Club. Costco had 848 locations worldwide on its roster as of January this year, while Sam's Club operates nearly 600 locations across the United States and Puerto Rico.

BJ's website states that the chain operates more than 215 Clubs in 16 states, though the data company ScrapeHero reports that the number is now closer to 250. BJ's is currently mostly concentrated in the eastern and southern regions of the United States, but consumers in parts of the country that lack a BJ's can hope that the chain looks farther west with any more expansions in the future.