BJ’s Wholesale Club is taking another run at simplifying its merchandise assortment, with plans to eliminate as many as 1,500 SKUs from its legacy clubs as it looks to improve inventory productivity without sacrificing sales.
BJ’s Wholesale Club, a leading membership warehouse club operator headquartered in Marlborough, Mass., provides groceries, fresh foods, household essentials and general merchandise to value-focused members. As of August 2026, BJ’s operates 267 clubs and 206 BJ’s Gas locations across 22 states — serviced by a sophisticated network of dry and perishable distribution centers (DCs).
SKU rationalization is becoming a notable trend across food retail and consumer goods, as companies reconsider whether more assortment necessarily translates into more sales.
Rather than simply cutting products, retailers are increasingly eliminating duplicative, slow-moving or low-margin SKUs and concentrating volume behind stronger performers, while preserving room for innovation and emerging categories. The strategy can reduce inventory investment, improve turns and in-stock availability, simplify distribution-center and store operations, and lower overall supply-chain complexity.
BJ’s Wholesale Club, for example, plans to reduce its assortment by roughly 20% over the next several years, while Dollar General has eliminated more than 1,500 SKUs and continues to target further reductions in 2026. Food manufacturers are following a similar path, increasingly favoring fewer SKUs supported by more focused investment rather than maintaining sprawling product portfolios.
The strategy is already underway. BJ’s identified an initial group of categories for SKU reductions during the second quarter and saw encouraging results, Eddy told analysts. Another round of assortment changes is planned for this month, followed by additional reductions around year-end.
BJ’s has attempted SKU rationalization before, but Eddy acknowledged the company’s previous approach was too simplistic.
“We just cut SKUs, which cut sales, and then we added some SKUs back,” he said.
This time, BJ’s is taking a more strategic approach aimed at eliminating what Eddy characterized as “unnecessary choice” while simultaneously identifying opportunities for new products and underserved categories.
Body wash provides one example. Rather than carrying numerous scents of essentially the same product, BJ’s could eliminate lower-performing varieties and concentrate sales volume among the remaining options. Beverages represent another category where the company sees opportunities to remove duplicative products.
At the same time, BJ’s plans to introduce new products and expand into what it considers “white space” categories. The combination is intended to help the retailer determine which existing SKUs can be removed while still increasing sales and margin dollars.
The effort reflects a broader retail focus on inventory productivity, carrying enough product to maintain availability while reducing duplication, slow-moving merchandise and excess working capital. In addition, the company is attempting to create a more productive assortment — reducing unnecessary complexity while directing inventory toward products and categories capable of generating stronger sales and margins. For BJ's, the challenge will be finding the right balance.
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