Plymouth BJ's: Amazon In Talks To Buy Wholesale Club

PLYMOUTH, MA — Cyber giant Amazon is reportedly interested in buying BJ's Wholesale Club, including its Plymouth location. BJ's, which has 214 clubs in 15 East Coast states, is based in Westborough. BJ's has 28 Massachusetts grocery stores. (Subscribe to Plymouth Patch news alerts for breaking Plymouth news and updates. iPhone/iPad users: download the new Patch app.)

Last week, Amazon was reportedly interested in buying Whole Foods; this week, the target is now BJ's, which was purchased in 2011 for $2.8 billion by private investors, according to Fortune. It is expected that BJ's could sell for as much as $4 billion, investors told the New York Post.

BJ's has more than 25,000 employees in clubs, gas stations, call centers, distribution centers and home office locations.

Amazon's recent experimentation with brick and mortar stores, including Amazon Go and bookstores, has made the rumors of the possible BJ's acquisition not particularly surprising. As Fortune reports, Amazon also operates Amazon Fresh, an online grocery delivery and ordering service similar to PeaPod.

Charlene Arsenault (Patch Staff) contributed to this report

Photo credit: Mike Mozart/Flickr