Archive: Business & Technology

The Ithaca BJ's Wholesale Club's long-awaited grand opening is Saturday morning.  The new store will start its tenure next to The Shops At Ithaca Mall with an event that will offer food and beverage tastings, a special price on membership, and face painting and a clown for the kids.  The store will officially partner with Lansing's R.C. Buckley Elementary School, donating $500 to the school Saturday morning. General Manager Steve Pane he has enjoyed getting the store ready and getting to know the community.

"I've loved meeting the people and the employees here, and people in the community," he says.  "In October and November I had a chance to drive around and meet people, and see a lot of the community.  The culture down here is different as well.  Everybody's been really great, and the shoppers have been great."

The store actually opened last Saturday, a 'soft opening' leading up to the grand opening tomorrow.  Even without a lot of hoopla the word got out, and the parking lot was filling impressively this week.  A line was steady at the membership counter, and customers got a preview of the store.  The Ithaca store is one of three mid-sized BJs to open this week.  The others, in Deer Park on Long Island, and Gainesville, Virginia are on the same schedule, and the company has already changed some of the layout and product offerings as they tweak the stores before their official openings.


The store brings 97 jobs to Ithaca.  Pane and his assistant manager are the only two that came from other locations.  The other 95 were hired locally.  Pane comes from Victor, New York where he was General Manager at the BJ's there.  Before that he was General Manager of the Geneva BJ's.  His assistant manager comes from the Syracuse BJ's.

The new store is a mid-sized BJ's.  At 85,000 it is larger than 'small box' stores (65,000 sf) and the more typical 'large box' stores that are around 120,000 square feet.  Pane says that means his store doesn't have room for clothing, sporting goods, automotive, and tools.  But it does feature an expanded perishables section and a wide variety of other products.    Meat cutting is also done on-site.  There is also an electronics section that offers TVs, printers, laptops, desktop computers, Kindles, and other popular high-tech gadgets.

"We have a pretty wide variety of general merchandise that we think is at the best price.," Pane says.


The store has its own in-house bakery, a full-service deli, and a large selection of Harvestland Natural Products meats that are natural and organic.

"I had never tried them before until we got them in," Pane says.  "They demonstrated the meat, and I tried it.  It's excellent.  Since then I've been buying the product as well.  Our meat department is phenomenal.  Our beef is actually a grade above Tops and Wegmans.

Pane and his crew started working on the Ithaca BJ's in mid-October.  They opened a storefront inside the mall where they held a hiring open house in November and conducted interviews.  By the end of December they were able to move into the store to prepare for last Saturday's soft opening.

This Saturday the grand opening will begin with a ceremony about an hour before the store opens.  Instead of a ribbon cutting BJ's typically has a 'bread-breaking' ceremony.  This will be followed by the presentation of checks to four local entities that the Ithaca BJ's has selected.


Pane says that it is a BJ's tradition to participate in the communities it locates in, and he isn't wasting any time in getting involved.  He and staff from the home office in Westborough, Massachusetts have already visited local organizations and schools to help decide where initial donations would go.  Those will be awarded at the bread-breaking ceremony Saturday morning.

The store has partnered with the R.C. Buckley Elementary School as part of BJ’s Adopt-a-School program.  Principal Chris Pettagrasso says she has been meeting with BJ's regularly to talk about how the company can help the school.  The school will receive a $500 donation to enhance educational programs and curriculum objectives and a shopping cart full of school supplies.   Lansing 4^th graders are scheduled to sing at the store Saturday as well.

The Lansing Food Pantry will receive bi-weekly bread donations from the club, as well as $500 worth of food at the Grand Opening.   Three other groups will receive $1000 each.  The YMCA of Ithaca and Tompkins County will use the donation to help provide access for families in the greater Ithaca area who cannot afford it.  Family Reading Partnership will use their money to help support early literacy, and the Women’s Opportunity Center will put their donation toward employment and training services.  Pane will present representatives from the organizations oversized Ed McMahon-style checks.


Pane says a special on membership for $40 for 15 months will be good through Saturday.  That's a ten dollar savings with an extra month tacked on.  Leading up to the opening BJ's marketing team has been visiting local businesses, and some mailings have gone out to the general public.

The store is expected to draw members from a 25 mile radius around Ithaca.  Some of those will be existing members, while the rest will be new customers.

“BJ’s is excited to open in Ithaca, and we look forward to serving this community” says Pane general manager of BJ’s Wholesale Club in Ithaca. “Not only will area residents now have an even more convenient location to satisfy all their shopping needs, but we are eager to establish a strong relationship with the community."

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