Laura Sen

BJ’s Wholesale Club named Laura Sen chief executive officer just this February, but she’s no stranger to the company.

In fact, Sen has spent most of her career there, beginning in 1989 when the club store chain had only 20-some stores. Running the company since January 2008 as president and chief operating officer, she was appointed CEO when her mentor Herb Zarkin stepped down from that post.

Sen told SN that offering high-quality food plays a key role at BJ’s, based in Natick, Mass. “Food represents more than 60% of our sales, and sales of perishables have been outpacing other departments. We’re always introducing exciting new items to the mix.”

Emphasizing that BJ’s members are looking for top quality as well as value, Sen is quick to emphasize that they are not trade-down customers. “We carry a number of restaurant brands — Panera Bread, Legal Seafood, Cheesecake Factory, Todd English, Boston Market — and we carry all-natural meats, including our rotisserie chickens. In produce, we work directly with growers to ensure we get the best-quality produce.”

She said it is quality at a value price, plus an exciting product mix, that keeps sales positive.

“Laura Sen has been able to balance the commercial [sales] along with the consumer, better than BJ’s competitors have,” said consultant Burt P. Flickinger III, managing director at Strategic Resource Group in New York. “Earlier, consumers shopped at BJ’s once a month and stocked up. Laura has been able to get them in once a week, aiming to make BJ’s primary and supermarkets secondary.”

Sen said there’s also opportunity for more store growth within BJ’s current market area. “We plan to open six to eight new clubs this year, and we are building a pipeline for the future. Our long-range plan is to increase square footage by 5%-6% a year.”

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BJ's Sen Wins Stevie Award
Nov 21, 2011, Supermarket News
NEW YORK Laura Sen, chief executive officer, BJ's Wholesale Club, was presented with a Steve Award for Women in Business at an event here this month. Sen, who was named CEO of the warehouse-club retailer in 2008 and took over in that position in early 2009, was named the winner in the Best Executive category for service businesses employing more than 2,500 workers. She began her career with the company

Uphill Battle
Nov 21, 2011, Supermarket News, By MARK HAMSTRA
At a Network of Executive Women meeting in California this summer, Michelle Gloecker, the NEW board's chain and senior vice president of home goods at Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores, summed up the state of the retail industry when it comes to hiring and promoting women. We have made a lot of progress on gender diversity, she told the audience, but there is much work left to be done. Women

November 21, 2011
Nov 21, 2011, Supermarket News - Subscribers Only

Consumers Not 'Bored by Shopping,' PLMA Told
Nov 15, 2011, Supermarket News, By CAROL ANGRISANI
CHICAGO — Most food shoppers aren’t in a huge hurry to get in and out of the store. Instead, they will stay and browse. “Consumers aren’t bored or put off by the shopping process,” former Harris Teeter President Ned Dunn said in a presentation at the Private Label Manufacturers Association's annual trade show here, which kicked off Sunday and runs through today.

PLMA Show Has Ethnic Flair
Nov 14, 2011, Supermarket News, By CAROL ANGRISANI
CHICAGO — Ethnic foods have a strong presence at the Private Label Manufacturers Associations annual show here.

BJ's Sen Wins Stevie Award
Nov 14, 2011, Supermarket News, By SN STAFF
NEW YORK – Laura Sen, chief executive officer, BJ's Wholesale Club, was presented with a Steve Award for Women in Business at an event here on Friday.

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