BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc. reported that sales for May increased by 8.2% to $711 million from $657.4 million in May 2006. On a comparable club basis, sales increased by 4.1%, including a contribution from sales of gasoline of 1% and a negative impact of 0.4% from the absence of pharmacy sales versus last year.
For the month of May last year, the company reported a comparable club sales increase of 4.2%, including a contribution from sales of gasoline of 2.2%.
In the seventeen weeks, sales grew 7% to $2.72 billion from $2.54 billion. Comparable stores rose 2.8%.
The company provided the following additional information regarding comparable club sales for May 2007:
- Sales increased in all four weeks with the highest increase in week two.
- Sales increased in all geographic regions except the Southeast, which is experiencing a higher level of competition and cannibalization than other BJ's regions. The strongest sales gains were in the Metro New York and the Mid-Atlantic regions.
- Excluding sales of gasoline, the average transaction amount for the month of May rose by approximately 2% and traffic increased by approximately 1%.
- Sales of food increased by approximately 5% and sales of general merchandise increased by approximately 1%.
- Departments with strong sales increases compared to last year included milk and dairy, frozen fish & meat, juices, major appliances, lawn and garden, meat, soda & water, snacks, summer seasonal and televisions. Weaker categories versus last year included chemicals, coffee & tea, film & battery, furniture, generators, health & beauty, jewelry, paper products and toys.
BJ's operates 174 BJ's clubs in 16 eastern states.
