BJ's Wholesale same-store sales rise in August

BJ's Wholesale Club Inc. of Natick said today that same-store sales rose 15.4 percent in August, boosted by gas and grocery sales.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had expected a 14.1 percent rise.

Same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least a year, are a key measure of retailer performance, because they measure growth at existing stores rather than from newly opened ones.

For the four-week period ended Aug. 30, total sales rose 17 percent to $774.4 million.

Year-to-date, same-store sales rose 13 percent and total sales rose nearly 16 percent to $5.68 billion.

The Southwest and upstate New York were the strongest regions, while the metro New York region was the weakest.

Sales of food rose 11 percent, boosted by perishables, and computers and health and beauty products also sold well.

Weaker categories included air conditioners, cigarettes, jewelry, storage, summer seasonal merchandise, televisions and prerecorded video.

Traffic was up about 5 percent from last year, excluding sales of gas. (AP)