BJs Wholesale Club, Inc. reported net sales for fiscal January increased 0.9% to $656.7 million from $651.0 million last year. On a comparable club basis, January sales decreased by 0.7%, including a negative impact from sales of gasoline of approximately 8.3%. Excluding gasoline sales, merchandise comparable club sales increased by 7.6% in January.
For the month of January 2008, the Company reported a comparable club sales increase of 7.8%, including a contribution from sales of gasoline of 2.6% and a negative impact from pharmacy closures of 0.3%.
For the fourth quarter of 2008, total sales increased by 3.2% to $2.5 billion, and comparable club sales increased by 1.7%, including a negative impact from sales of gasoline of 4.7%.
For the year ended January 31, 2009, total sales rose by 11.5% to $9.8 billion and comparable club sales increased by 9.4%, including a contribution from sales of gasoline of 3.0%.
| Four Weeks Ended January 31, 2009 | Q-4 Ended January 31, 2009 | Fifty-two Weeks Ended January 31, 2009 | ||||
| Merchandise comparable club sales | 7.6% | 6.4% | 6.4% | |||
| Impact of gasoline sales | (8.3%) | (4.7%) | 3.0% | |||
| Comparable club sales | (0.7%) | 1.7% | 9.4% |
Sales Results for January 2009 | ||||||
| ($ in thousands) | ||||||
Four Weeks Ended | % Change | |||||
January 31, | February 2, | Net | Comp. | |||
| $ 656,703 | $ 650,984 | 0.9% | (0.7%) | |||
Fifty-two Weeks Ended | % Change | |||||
January 31, | February 2, | Net | Comp. | |||
| $ 9,802,067 | $ 8,791,617 | 11.5% | 9.4% | |||
The company provided the following additional information regarding January 2009 comparable club sales:
By week, sales increased in week one, decreased in weeks two and three, and increased slightly in week four. Merchandise comparable club sales, excluding the impact of gasoline, increased in all four weeks, with the largest increase in week one and the smallest increase in week two. Week two sales were negatively affected by snow storms.
By region, sales increased in Metro New York and decreased in all other regions. Merchandise comparable club sales, excluding the impact of gasoline, increased in all regions.
Excluding sales of gasoline, traffic increased by approximately 6% and the average transaction amount increased by approximately 2%.
Sales of food increased by approximately 11% and general merchandise sales increased by approximately 2%.
Merchandise departments with the strongest sales increases compared to last year included breakfast foods, candy, coffee, computers, dairy, frozen, health and beauty aids, household chemicals, meat, paper products, pet foods, prepared foods, produce, small appliances, snacks and winter seasonal, including ice melt, shovels and snow throwers. Weaker departments versus last year included apparel, domestics, jewelry, pre-recorded video, sporting goods, residential furniture, televisions and water.
