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From Knowmore.org

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"Exclusive membership" has never been as common as it is at BJ's Wholesale Club. The company is the nation's #3 membership warehouse club (behind leaders Costco and SAM'S CLUB) and #1 in New England, with nearly 8 million members and about 150 locations in 16 states, mostly in the Northeast. BJ's stores sell some 6,500 products, including canned, fresh, and frozen foods (food accounts for about 55% of sales). It also sells general merchandise, including apparel, housewares, office equipment, small appliances, and gas. Unlike its major rivals, BJ's targets individual retail customers -- who account for 75% of its members-- rather than small businesses. About 50% of BJ's stores now sell discounted gas to members.

[edit] Criticism

• In January 2003 two New York families sued BJ's over two girls who contracted E. coli poisoning after eating ground beef purchased from a BJ's store that had previously had an outbreak of E. coli in meat. The girls, aged 6 and 11, became sick after eating hamburgers. The six-year-old was hospitalized for a month and faces lifelong medical complications, including insulin dependent diabetes. The family is asking for $30 million in damages. Source: The Journal News, Jan. 28, 2003

• The State Employees Federal Credit Union (SEFCU) filed a lawsuit against BJ's Wholesale and its bank, seeking to recoup at least $50,000 that the credit union spent reissuing Visa cards after BJ's discovered a massive theft of credit information. SEFCU said it reissued 5,934 Visa credit and debit cards immediately after finding out about the thefts from Visa and BJ's. (See related Praise item.) Source: The Times Union , Oct 30, 2004

[edit] Praise

• In May 2002, BJ's Wholesale Club, Green Mountain Energy Company and Sun Power Electric, along with the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU), dedicated the first large solar electric facility built under the state's Clean Energy Program. President of BPU, Jeanne M. Fox, unveiled 1,330 solar electric panels and a special public education display at BJ's Wholesale Club store in Deptford, NJ. More than 60 fourth graders from BJ's "adopted" elementary school nearby, also took part in the unveiling. As part of New Jersey’s Clean Energy Program, the solar panels were displayed as an alternative to carbon monoxide-producing energy sources, which contribute to global warming. Source: PR Newswire, May 16, 2002

• In March 2004, BJ's Wholesale Club announced that it was working with credit card companies to investigate a possible compromise of its computer systems that may have resulted in credit card information theft. Deviating from common industry practice, BJ's alerted its 8 million members that a small percentage of them may have been subject to violations of their credit card information security. BJ’s also announced that it was "conducting an exhaustive review of its state-of-the-industry technology systems with a leading computer security firm." (See related Crticism item.) Source: Business Wire Inc., March 12, 2004

• BJ's Wholesale Club has a non-discrimination policy that includes sexual orientation. Source: Human Rights Campaign

• Citizens Funds, a family of socially responsible mutual funds, presented corporate citizenship awards to BJ's Wholesale Club and eleven other member companies of the Citizens Index Fund. The index consists of 300 mostly large U.S. companies, 200 of which also are included in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. BJ's was recognized for "high standards of corporate responsibility" in the area of education. Source: The Detroit News, May 8, 2000

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