Club & Warehouse

Christopher Baldwin has been named president and COO at BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc., putting the former Hess Retail CEO in position to succeed Laura Sen as CEO of the 208 unit warehouse club chain.

Mooresville, N.C. – Lowe’s Companies Inc. is making a big purchase that will enable it to build a big store on one of Hawaii’s biggest islands.

The retailer is purchasing an 11-acre property in Kahului, Hawaii for $18.7 million from A&B Properties Inc., a subsidiary of Alexander & Baldwin.

Lowe’s plans to build a 167,000-sq.-ft. store on the site, located on the island of Maui. The new store will be 16% larger than Lowe’s current store in Kahului, which it leases from a third party.

Bentonville, Ark. — Sam’s Club is “socializing” with small business owners in a new social media marketing campaign. The warehouse club division of Wal-Mart is launching #SmallBizHelp, an interactive social campaign that offers expert advice on starting and running a business.

New York -- As Costco Wholesale inches closer to opening its first location in France, the retailer may not find the country such an easy target by any measure, reported the Seattle Times.

In France, Costco will find itself on the doorstep of hypermarket giants Carrefour, Auchan and Casino, which run huge stores selling a dizzying assortment of food and other products, according to the report.

For the full story, click here.

Lost jobs, ugly architecture, picky consumers and stiff competition are among the reasons why Costco may have a tough time achieving success in France, according to a Seattle Times report.

The newspaper says the Washington-based retailer is building its first warehouse in France and envisions opening as many as 15 stores in that nation over the next 10 years. But whether Costco will succeed in attracting the French consumer is an important question.

Read more by clicking here.

Things really aren't as bad as they seemed a few weeks ago for Costco, which just reported a sizable increase in same store sales for July.

New York -- American Express Co and Costco Wholesale Corp. are at it again.

A lawsuit has been filed accusing American Express of misleading investors about the loss of its contract with Costco after having failed to reveal how significant that business had become to the credit-card company, Reuters reported.

New York -- The big spenders are at Costco.

People spent 149% more at Costco than at other retailers, according to mobile-location firm Placed, which linked store spending to tracked locations. Best Buy BJs, Sam's Club and Ikea also ranked high, Advertising Age reported.