AP/LM Otero
- Costco and BJ’s Wholesale are two very similar members-only warehouse stores.
- I’m a member at both stores, which is generally worth the extra price.
- However, there are some ways where one wholesale club clearly excels over the other.
- From location count to return policy, there are at least eight ways in which Costco trumps BJ’s.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Costco and BJ’s Wholesale are two of the most popular warehouse stores in the US.
The two competitors operate on a very similar basis: both stores charge a set annual membership fee — $60 at Costco, $55 at BJ’s — in exchange for bulk goods at compelling prices. Both stores have a special premium membership that costs about double the usual amount.
There are a few reasons I shop at both: location, availability and pricing on certain items, plus my local Costco is almost always much busier and more crowded than BJ’s.
Despite all of that and the slightly higher membership fee at Costco I, a devoted wholesale shopper and card-carrying member of both, am convinced that the extra $5 a year at Costco is well worth the money for eight particular reasons.
Number of locations
Mohammad Khursheed/REUTERS
While the particular location relative to your home and workplace can — and should — impact whether you opt to be a member of one wholesale club over the other, statistically speaking, you’re more likely to be near a Costco. After all, there’s way more of them.
As of the company’s most recent earnings report, Costco operates a total of 535 warehouses across the US and Puerto Rico. BJ’s has only 216 clubs in 16 states, it reported in its own most recent earnings.
Kirkland brand products
AP/Charles Dharapak
What is there even to say about the wonder that is Costco’s Kirkland brand?
Offering everything from toilet paper to decently high-quality wine, the low-cost brand is one of Costco’s biggest assets. Per a report from earlier this year, it accounts for almost a third of the wholesale club’s sales.
BJ’s equivalent exclusive brands — Wellsley Farms and Berkley Jensen — are generally of decent quality for many offered items. But they have nowhere near the cult following that Kirkland does.
Larger warehouse size
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
While store sizes aren’t standardized, depending on the availability of space in a particular location, Costco stores are, on average, larger than BJ’s stores.
The average Costco store is about 145,000 square feet, according to the company’s 2018 annual report, while BJ’s layouts are much more compact, ranging from 70,000 to 130,000 square feet, BJ’s president and CEO Chris Baldwin told Retail Leader.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
See Also:
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SEE ALSO: Costco workers reveal 31 things they’d love to tell shoppers, but can’t
Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Caralynn Lippo)