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BJ's Wholesale Club opens massive new store in Alabama with $40 membership deal. September 24, 2026 BJ's Wholesale Club is pushing deeper into the Southeast with a 106,370-square-foot warehouse and gas station in Foley, Alabama, complete with a limited-time $40 annual membership that undercuts its bigger rivals on price. The warehouse club chain announced the opening for September 25 at 3275 Palm Beach Way in Foley, a growing city along Alabama's Gulf Coast. The new location will carry the full BJ's lineup, groceries, produce, meat, dairy, stationery, TVs, tires, alongside a fuel station for members looking to save at the pump. For shoppers weighing the warehouse club math, the introductory numbers are straightforward: $40 gets a full year of membership, and during the first 90 days after opening, members earn $10 back for every $100 spent in the store. That cash-back offer alone could pay for the membership several times over for families stocking up on bulk essentials. Foley fits a broader push into discount retail territory. The Foley warehouse is the latest move in BJ's effort to grow its footprint beyond its traditional Northeast base. The chain has been scouting locations across the South and Midwest, including a planned 104,000-square-foot warehouse in Grove City, Ohio, signaling that BJ's sees room to compete in markets Costco and Sam's Club have long dominated. Ali Maria, the club manager for the new Foley store, framed the opening around value for local families: "We're excited to bring unbeatable value and convenience to the families of Foley and are honored to be part of the community." BJ's is betting that convenience will matter as much as price. The Foley location will offer curbside pickup, in-club pickup, same-day delivery, and a mobile app that lets members skip the checkout line, features that mirror the digital investments warehouse rivals like Sam's Club and Costco have been racing to improve. Warehouse clubs keep expanding while other retailers pull back. BJ's Alabama push comes as the broader warehouse and discount retail sector continues to defy predictions of a brick-and-mortar slowdown. Discount retailers have been expanding by the hundreds across the country, opening new locations in small and mid-sized cities where consumers feel the squeeze of inflation most acutely. Costco, BJ's biggest competitor, has pursued its own aggressive growth strategy. The Kirkland-brand giant opened seven new warehouses across six states in a single month last year, and it has expanded into delivery partnerships to reach customers who prefer not to navigate a 150,000-square-foot store in person. BJ's pitch in Foley is simple: a slightly smaller box, a lower membership fee, and the same bulk-buying logic that has made warehouse clubs a staple for budget-conscious families. Whether BJ's can take meaningful share from Costco and Sam's Club in the Deep South remains an open question, but the company is clearly willing to spend on real estate to find out. Food bank partnership adds a local dimension. Alongside the retail play, BJ's announced a partnership with Feeding the Gulf Coast, a regional food bank, at the Foley location. The store will provide regular donations of produce, meat, dairy, and other products to the organization. Michael Ledger, president and CEO of Feeding the Gulf Coast, said the partnership builds on an existing relationship with BJ's in the region: "We're thrilled to partner with BJ's Wholesale Club in Foley and continue our meaningful partnership in the region. Their support and contributions are instrumental in helping create access to nutritious food and resources for those in need." Feeding the Gulf Coast operates as part of the Feeding America network. BJ's says it has provided 165 million meals through its work with Feeding America, though the company did not specify whether that figure represents a cumulative total or covers a defined time period. Costco has similarly expanded its community and logistics footprint, recently partnering with DoorDash and Uber Eats for nationwide bulk delivery, a sign that warehouse clubs are competing not just on price and selection but on how quickly they can get products to the door. For families in Foley and along the Gulf Coast, the arrival of a warehouse club with a $40 entry point and a gas station is a straightforward win. Competition among retailers is one of the few forces that reliably works in the consumer's favor, and the more of it, the better. Capital digest. Receive information on new articles posted, important topics and tips. Capital Digest won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time.

BJ's is opening a new Alabama store. Here's where and when. Montgomery Advertiser Aug. 31, 2026, 9:29 a.m. CT If your love language is buying groceries in bulk, a new shopping option is coming to Alabama. BJ's Wholesale Club is expanding into a new part of the state, with a new warehouse club expected to open this fall. The company is already offering a limited-time membership deal for shoppers who want to sign up before the doors open. When is BJ's Wholesale Club opening in Alabama? The new BJ's Wholesale Club is scheduled to open in fall 2026 in Foley, Alabama. The club will be located at 2601 S. McKenzie St., Suite 116, near Tanger Outlets. The planned 106,370-square-foot store will sit on about 14 acres along the South Juniper Street Extension and will include a gas station. The project has been in the works for about three years, according to city officials. What does BJ's Wholesale Club sell? BJ's is a warehouse retailer similar to Costco and Sam's Club, offering groceries and other products in larger quantities. Shoppers can expect fresh food, produce, bakery and deli items, household supplies, electronics and other merchandise. The new location will also offer tires and automotive services, as well as fuel. Members will have access to options such as curbside pickup and delivery. How much is a BJ's membership? New members can take advantage of a limited-time introductory offer through Sept. 24, 2026. BJ's Club+: $80 for one year, regularly $120. BJ's Club: $40 for one year, regularly $60. The offer is available at the Foley membership center and online. The Club+ membership includes 2% back in rewards on most eligible BJ's purchases. Members can use those rewards toward future qualifying purchases. BJ's also offers fuel savings, special promotions and additional membership benefits, including curbside pickup and delivery options. New members who sign up for the Foley club can also earn rewards during the first 90 days after the store opens. Club+ members can earn $15 for each qualifying purchase of $ 100 or more, while standard Club members can earn $10. Where will new BJ's Wholesale Club locations open in 2026? The Alabama store is one of several BJ's locations planned for 2026. The company lists upcoming clubs in the following locations in addition to Foley: * Ocala, Florida * Port St. Lucie, Florida * Mesquite, Texas * Portage, Indiana * Frankfort, Kentucky BJ's currently operates hundreds of clubs and gas stations across the country and continues to expand its footprint. The new store will be BJ's second Alabama location, joining the existing club in Madison. Jennifer Lindahl is a Breaking and Trending Reporter in Alabama for USA TODAY's Deep South Connect Team. Connect with her on X @jenn_lindahl and email [email protected].

Lecanto is building on two roads at once, and the county picked a favorite. August 27, 2026 Why does a grocery store get turned down for a bigger sign while a home improvement store two miles away gets its own turn lane? That's the question sitting underneath everything happening in Lecanto right now. Drive the CR 491 and CR 486 intersection on any weekday and you'll hit brake lights for LongHorn Steakhouse, for Sprouts Farmers Market, for the new Metro Diner that just started serving breakfast this month. Drive State Road 44 out toward South Kensington Avenue and you'll pass steel framing going up around a Home Depot the size of a small airport hangar, with county crews already widening the road in front of it. Same town, same year, two completely different kinds of growth. One corridor is filling in fast and getting told to keep it quiet. The other is getting rebuilt from the pavement up before the first customer walks in. If you live here, you've probably only noticed one of these. Here's the rest of the picture. The corner that's already full. Summit View at Corta Commons sits along West Norvell Bryant Highway, about a half-mile west of where CR 491 meets CR 486, right next to the Target-anchored Shoppes at Black Diamond. Over the past several months it's turned into the busiest stretch of new retail in the county. Metro Diner opened there this month at 3351 W. Norvell Bryant Highway, in a 3,710-square-foot space that seats 134 people inside and another 24 on the patio. Managing partner Melissa Deskins is running the location, and for now it's open daily from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., with plans to stretch hours to 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. once dinner service comes online. It's the chain's first Citrus County location among more than 60 spread across the eastern half of the country. LongHorn Steakhouse and Sprouts Farmers Market both landed at the same development this year. They landed there with enough confidence in the location that both chains went to the county's Planning and Development Commission asking to exceed the standard sign size limits, matching the branding they use at other stores, including Sprouts' Ocala location and LongHorn's restaurant in Brooksville. Commissioners voted 3-1 to deny the request. The businesses are open. The signs stay standard size. A few hundred yards south on CR 491, the Florida Credit Union opened a new branch at 1586 County Road 491, just past the Tidal Wave car wash. And BJ's Wholesale Club broke ground near the Shoppes at Black Diamond, with a spokeswoman confirming a tentative winter 2026 opening and 100 to 150 new jobs. The warehouse club will include its own gas station. Here's where that corridor stands as of this month: | Business | Location | Status | | Metro Diner | Summit View at Corta Commons | Open, limited hours (7 a.m.-3 p.m.) | | LongHorn Steakhouse | Summit View at Corta Commons | Open | | Sprouts Farmers Market | Summit View at Corta Commons | Open | | Florida Credit Union | 1586 CR 491 | Open | | BJ's Wholesale Club | Near Shoppes at Black Diamond | Tentative winter 2026 | That's five businesses opening or breaking ground within a stretch of road you could walk in twenty minutes, and the only public friction any of them generated was a fight over sign height. The corner getting rebuilt before it's finished. Head the other direction, out to where State Road 44 meets South Kensington Avenue, and the story flips. There's only one store going up there so far: a 136,980-square-foot Home Depot, tentatively on track for a fall opening this year. But the county isn't waiting to see if the corner gets busy before it acts. It's already widening South Kensington Avenue and setting aside county-owned land as permanent right-of-way, specifically to add turn lanes for the traffic this one store is expected to bring. A developer even asked the county to fold in a small piece of land near the Kensington Fire Station to make the road design work. Home Depot bought the 16-acre site in 2024 and spent most of 2023 and 2024 working through zoning approval before crews started clearing trees at the site in October 2025. Two outparcels on the same property are already slated for future development, which means whatever comes next out there will have a rebuilt road waiting for it before the first tenant sign goes up. Compare that to Summit View at Corta Commons, where five businesses have opened or are opening this year on existing infrastructure, and the only conversation the county's had publicly is about how big a sign is allowed to be. Why the difference matters if you live here. This isn't really a story about signage rules or road engineering for its own sake. It's a story about what kind of growth Lecanto is actually built for right now, and it explains something a lot of residents have probably felt without being able to name: the CR 491/486 corner feels like it's bursting at the seams because it is. New tenants keep dropping into an already-dense footprint, and the traffic conversation hasn't caught up to the retail one. Meanwhile the Kensington Avenue corridor is quiet today, but the infrastructure going in there now is built for a lot more than one hardware store. Practically, that means your errand routine is probably about to split along the same lines the county has already drawn. Groceries, dinner out, the credit union, bulk shopping at BJ's once it opens this winter: that's the CR 491/486 loop, and it's not getting any less crowded soon. Home improvement runs, and eventually whatever fills those two remaining outparcels near Home Depot, that's a separate trip on a road the county is actively re-engineering to handle more than what's there today. None of this happened by accident. Corta Development's Corey Presnick told county commissioners the company was excited to bring these brands to the community, and the pace backs that up. Whether the SR 44 corridor grows the same way, filling in outparcel by outparcel the way Corta Commons has, or whether Home Depot ends up standing alone out there for a while, comes down to whoever develops those two remaining parcels next. Given how fast the other side of town filled in, it's worth keeping an eye on that corner over the next year. If you're weighing what any of this means for a specific street or a specific home in Lecanto, that's the kind of local detail that doesn't show up on a portal listing. The Katie Spires Team tracks these corridors block by block because Katie Spires Team work them every week. Let's make your move together.