Visits to Wholesale Club Gas Stations are Up

Warehouse clubs, such as Costco, Sam’s Club and BJ’s Wholesale Club, continue to “sustain meaningful visit growth even amid macro uncertainty,” foot traffic research firm Placer.ai said in a recent report.

Recent visit data for BJ’s, Costco and Sam’s Club highlighted that the warehouse club model continues to resonate with consumers, with all three chains sustaining year-over-year (YoY) visit growth over the past six months.

Placer.ai also pointed to the warehouse clubs’ growing footprints as a reason for the growth in visits. Costco added 15 domestic warehouses in fiscal 2025 and is on a similar pace for fiscal 2026, while BJ's opened seven clubs in fiscal 2025 and is signaling a more “aggressive” expansion. Sam's Club added only one new location in its fiscal 2026 (ended January 2026) while completing 14 remodels.

The company noted that higher gas prices could be driving increased visits to wholesale club gas stations. “Beyond the traffic inside wholesale clubs, an equally notable story is unfolding at their gas stations. … visits to BJ’s Gas, Costco Gas and Sam’s Club Fuel accelerated in early March 2026, aligning with a sharp rise in fuel prices amid the Iran War. Perhaps expectedly, this demonstrates that competitively priced fuel is a meaningful traffic driver during periods of elevated gas prices—reinforcing the value proposition of warehouse club memberships. If fuel prices remain high, members may be more inclined to consolidate shopping trips around fuel fill-ups, potentially boosting both gas station traffic and in-club spending,” Placer.ai wrote.

According to the research, across all three wholesale gas chains, the share of visitors who visited at least twice rose in both March and April 2026 compared to 2025.

In 2025, Costco announced that it would expand the hours of its members-only fuel centers from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m., past the typical 6 p.m. closing time of the store, which led to the retailer seeing record breaking fuel sales.