BJ vs ACI Comparison

BJ's Wholesale serves as one of the few warehouse club chains in the United States. Its 250 warehouses are primarily located along the East Coast, most prominently in the New England area. Similar to its warehouse club peers, BJ's charges annual membership fees and keeps costs down by operating a "no-frills" store environment. The company limits the use of distribution centers where possible and stores inventory on pallets directly on the sales floor, often in bulk quantities. The company also offers a limited assortment of 7,000 stock-keeping units at its warehouses to achieve greater procurement scale on select items. About 80% of BJ's net sales come from grocery items and general merchandise, with the remaining 20% stemming from gasoline and other ancillary services.

Albertsons is the second-largest supermarket operator in the United States with about 2,300 stores across a variety of banners. Around 80% of the firm's sales comes from nonperishable and fresh food, of which 25% comes from its portfolio of private brands. The company operates fuel centers at about 20% of its store locations and pharmacies at 75%. Albertsons went public in 2020 following years of ownership under private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, which still owns about a fourth of the outstanding shares.