(RTTNews) -  BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc. (BJ: News ) reported Thursday a 6.8% decline in same store sales for the month of May, hurt chiefly by lower gasoline prices and volume.

BJ's said that sales for May dipped by 4.7% to $783.4 million from $822 million a year ago.

Comparable club sales for the month declined 6.8%, which included a negative impact of 10.8% from a year-over-year reduction in gasoline prices and volume. Excluding the adverse impact, merchandise comparable club sales increased by 4%.

Laura Sen, BJ's chief executive attributed the growth in merchandise comparable club sales to continued strength in food and consumables, televisions and computer equipment, in part offset by current softness in discretionary departments, namely apparel, jewelry and sporting goods, and a mild impact from price deflation in certain categories of perishable foods.
For the 17 weeks ended May 30, 2009, sales decreased 1.1% to $3.04 billion from $3.08 billion. Comparable club sales were down 2.9%, while merchandise comparable club sales increased year-over-year 6.6% from last year.

The company, which operates 182 clubs in 15 states, noted that excluding sales of gasoline, traffic increased by about 5% over the past year. Sales of food increased by about 6% and of general merchandise inched up by 1%.

BJ is currently trading at $33.53, down $1.59 or 4.53%, on the NYSE.

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by RTT Staff Writer

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