BJ’s Wholesale Club is expanding to Texas, becoming the Marlborough-based retailer’s 21st state.
The company’s first store in Texas is slated to open April 24 in Forney, a city of about 23,500 people roughly 20 miles east of Dallas. The Forney club will be BJ’s 264th in the U.S. and is will be joined by three additional Texas-based stores in the coming weeks, BJ’s announced Friday.
The company is planning additional clubs in Fort Worth; Waxahachie, a city of about 41,000 roughly 30 miles south of Dallas; and Grand Prairie, a city of about 196,000 on Dallas’ western border.
The move sees BJ’s Wholesale enter territory already claimed by two of its biggest wholesale competitors: Costco Wholesale and Sam’s Club. Washington-based Costco has at least 10 stores in the greater Dallas area, while Arkansas-based Sam’s Club has more than 25.
BJ’s Wholesale’s expansion into Texas comes as Costco is working toward opening a new location in Southborough, about five miles away from BJ’s Wholesale’s headquarters in Marlborough.
The Texas expansion comes in the same month BJ’s Wholesale hired a former Walmart executive as its chief merchandising officer.
Eric Casey is the managing editor at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the real estate and banking & finance industries.
