Club stores are having a moment in 2024: All three major warehouse membership chains, Costco, Sam’s Club, and BJ’s, have announced plans this year to aggressively expand their footprint while pitching themselves as an affordable option for shoppers looking to stretch their dollar.

The latest expansion news comes from BJ’s, which this week said it plans to open five stores in the Southeast and Midwest. The company previously said it’s on track to open 12 new locations in 2024 and sink $500 million into capex.

“Our real estate pipeline is the strongest it’s been in 20 years, and we look forward to helping even more families save up to 25% off grocery store prices as we add clubs to both new and existing markets,” EVP Bill Werner said in a statement.

BJ’s expansion plans, combined with its appeal to cost-conscious shoppers, indicate a broader shift in the warehouse category, John Clear, director at Alvarez & Marsal Consumer Retail Group, told Retail Brew in an email.

“It shows how club stores are now traversing income brackets, showing how attractive the value proposition is for multiple consumer profiles,” he said. “This should be worrying for competitors in traditional grocery as well as the discount and dollar chains.”

Keep reading here.—AV

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March saw a flurry of CEO departures, from longtime leaders at Fossil and Brooks Running to the end of a short stint for Under Armour’s chief exec. Here are the March moves to know:

• Under Armour’s founder Kevin Plank returned as CEO after departing the role in 2019. He’ll take over from Stephanie Linnartz, who joined as chief executive just over a year ago.
• Petco CEO Ron Coughlin left the pet care retailer after holding the role since 2018. Board member and former Best Buy COO and president R. Michael Mohan will assume the spot in the interim.
• Allbirds co-founder Joey Zwillinger stepped down as CEO amid struggling sales for the shoe brand. COO Joe Vernachio has taken over the job, with Zwillinger remaining as board member and special advisor.
• After four years with the fashion house, Balmain CEO Jean-Jacques Guevel exited his role, just a week after the brand’s CMO Txampi Diz announced his departure “to pursue other interests” after assuming the role in 2017. The company has yet to name a successor for either position.

Keep reading here.—EC

Over the past two years, US consumers were much pickier when it came to purchasing discretionary goods. Now that “prioritization” is “becoming evident in some of the more essential retail food and beverage spending behavior,” Marshal Cohen, chief retail industry advisor for Circana, said in a statement.

The consumer research group’s latest data shows that in February, food and beverage revenue grew 1% YoY, though unit sales were flat, and nonedible consumer packaged goods revenue grew 2%, though unit sales fell 1%. This is still better than the 5% revenue decline and 4% drop in unit sales of discretionary general merchandise, but the US consumer appears to be more cautious across these categories.

“Consumers are settling into their new spending pattern of buying what they need as they go. They are not overextending themselves financially, but they are not going without, either,” Cohen said.

The backdrop for this shift in shopping behavior is a US consumer with slightly higher levels of debt and delinquency, according to the latest data from the Federal Reserve of New York.

Keep reading here.—AV

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