Press Release

BJ's Wholesale Club to Pilot NCR FastLane; Self-Checkout Solution Features Takeaway Belt for Multiple-Sized Orders, Wide Variety of Merchandise

April 29, 2002 at 10:32 AM EDT
FRANKLIN, Mass., Apr 29, 2002 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc. (NYSE:BJ), a leading wholesale club chain operating in the eastern United States, today announced it will answer the growing consumer demand for self-checkout by installing NCR FastLane(TM) in its Franklin, Mass. store.

The four NCR FastLane units, designed with input from BJ's, enable members to scan and pay for their own merchandise. The units, available to BJ's members beginning today, will feature a takeaway belt to handle larger orders and items of various sizes found in the wholesale club environment. BJ's will evaluate the success of this pilot location to determine if the program will be expanded to additional BJ's Wholesale Clubs.

"We want to offer our members the added convenience of self-checkout, but need a solution that addresses the unique wholesale shopping experience," said BJ's Executive Vice President of Store Operations, Michael Wedge. "NCR's retail knowledge and modular FastLane solution enabled BJ's to design a system that can handle our varied assortment of products quickly and efficiently."

NCR Corporation (NYSE: NCR) led the industry in units shipped last year. Introduced at the MarkeTechnics show this year, the NCR FastLane solution is an enhanced, modular system that can adapt to the demands of multiple store formats, including wholesale clubs, drug stores, mass merchandisers and home improvement stores.

"NCR has been a BJ's partner for many years," said BJ's Chief Information Officer, Roland Laferriere. "As the retail technology paradigm shifts more toward self-service, we are impressed by NCR's self-service expertise and ability to provide the solutions and support necessary for us to best serve our customers."

BJ's has also engaged NCR's Human Factors Engineering group for ergonomics and store-operations consulting, and has deployed the NCR RealPrice electronic shelf-label system throughout its Connecticut stores to more efficiently and cost-effectively comply with item pricing legislation.

    About BJ's
BJ's introduced the wholesale club concept to New England in 1984, and has since expanded to become a leading warehouse chain in the eastern United States. The Company currently operates 131 clubs and 55 gas stations compared with 118 clubs and 34 gas stations one year ago. BJ's press releases and filings with the SEC are available on the Internet at http://www.bjs.com. BJ's Common Stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "BJ".

    About NCR Corporation
NCR Corporation (NYSE: NCR) is a leader in providing Relationship Technology(TM) solutions to customers worldwide in the retail, financial, communications, manufacturing, travel and transportation, and insurance markets. NCR's Relationship Technology solutions include privacy-enabled Teradata(R) warehouses and customer relationship management (CRM) applications, store automation and automated teller machines (ATMs). The company's business solutions are built on the foundation of its long-established industry knowledge and consulting expertise, value-adding software, global customer support services, a complete line of consumable and media products, and leading edge hardware technology. NCR employs 30,300 in more than 100 countries, and is a component stock of the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. More information about NCR and its solutions may be found at http://www.ncr.com.

NCR, NCR RealPOS, NCR RealPrice, NCR RealScan, NCR EasyPoint, NCR FastLane and Teradata are trademarks or registered trademarks of NCR Corporation in the United States and other countries.

CONTACT:          NCR Corporation, Dayton, Ohio
                  Caroline Leigh, 770/623-7608
                  caroline.leigh@ncr.com

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