BJ's is the underdog outperforming Costco this year in the "Warehouse Wars"

Day #182 of no free samples... Sigh. Wholesale clubs are able to offer cheap prices by cutting out the retail middleman, charging yearly membership fees, and selling in industrial-sized bulks. When you think of warehouse clubs, you're probably thinking Costco, Sam's Club, and 30-pound packs of bacon. But smaller East-Coast-based BJ's is outperforming both:

• +24%: BJ's sales growth last quarter, compared to 3% growth over the past two years. BJ's grew faster than Costco and Walmart-owned Sam's Club.
• 500K: The "unprecedented" number of new members BJ's has added so far this year. They're shelling out $55/year to be part of BJ's Club.
• +82%: How much BJ's stock has surged this year — it's outperforming Costco, Walmart, and even Amazon (insert Bezos eye-roll).

BJ's is basically a wholesale grocery... Excellent thing to be during a pandemic/economic crisis. 72% of BJ's sales come from groceries — that's more than Costco and Sam's can say. BJ's stores are smaller, and it has only 200 locations compared to Costco's ~800. But it carries more than double the amount of items thanks to its food-focus (think: 10 varieties of choco milk compared to Costco's Kirkland).