Nov 18, 2005 9:11 AM, from staff and wire reports

A rendering of the future site of BJ’s distribution center in Uxbridge MA.

BJ’s Wholesale Club Inc has broken ground on a 618,000-square-foot distribution center in Uxbridge MA. The new facility at 689 Quaker Highway is scheduled to open in July 2006 and will replace a smaller distribution center in Franklin MA. The facility will have 128 employees and is expected to generate more than 60 new jobs over the next four years.

This center in Uxbridge will be one of three facilities supporting 159 clubs in the eastern United States. When it opens, the facility will service 61 clubs in Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New York and will be able to support up to 86 clubs. It can accept and distribute more than 500 truckloads of product each day at its 239 loading dock doors and will have 560 tractor-trailer parking spaces.

The center will have digital systems for security and payroll, and employees will communicate with different areas of the business using wireless systems.