Sam's Club

Sam's West, Inc. (doing business as Sam's Club) is an American chain of membership-only warehouse club retail stores owned and operated by Walmart Inc., founded in 1983 and named after Walmart founder Sam Walton as Sam's Wholesale Club. , Sam's Club ranks second in sales volume among warehouse clubs with $84.3 billion in sales (in fiscal year 2023), behind its main rival Costco Wholesale.

, Sam's Club operates 599 membership warehouse clubs in the United States across 45 states and Puerto Rico, with no locations in Washington, Oregon, Alaska, and Rhode Island. Sam's Club offers car wash services at gas stations in 41 locations.

Sam's Club also operates 168 locations in Mexico and 45 locations in China. Grupo Big, formerly Walmart Brazil, which was de-consolidated from Walmart in August 2018, also operates Sam's Club locations in Brazil. Locations generally range in size from 32000 - 168000 sqft, with an average club size of approximately 134000 sqft. Sam's Club formerly had six locations in Canada from 2006 to 2009.

On January 11, 2018, Sam's Club announced the permanent closure of select stores. In a number of cases, employees showed up to work and found the doors locked and a notice saying that the store would soon be liquidated. Walmart eventually told Business Insider that 63 Sam's Club stores would begin liquidating across the country, including in Alaska, Arizona, California, Illinois, New York, Ohio, and Texas.

According to Business Insider, the closure of Sam's Club locations and plans to convert some stores into e-commerce fulfillment centers as announced in January 2018 are part of Walmart's growing commitment to online retailing that will allow it to better compete with rival Amazon.

History


Sam Walton opened the first Sam's Wholesale Club on April 7, 1983, in Midwest City, Oklahoma, 21 years after he founded Walmart.

In 1987, Wal-Mart Stores purchased West Monroe, Louisiana-based SuperSaver Wholesale Warehouse Club; the purchase expanded the Sam's Wholesale Club chain by 24 locations. Prior to the acquisition, the stores were owned by Alton Hardy Howard and his son John.

In 1989, Sam's Wholesale Club opened its first club in New Jersey in a former Two Guys/Jefferson Ward store located in Delran. This was Walmart's first expansion into the Northeast. The first Walmart discount store (now expanded into a Supercenter) in New Jersey opened in 1991 in Turnersville.

In 1990, Sam's Wholesale Club was renamed Sam's Club, dropping off "Wholesale". The same year, the first Sam's Club opened in Pennsylvania.

In 1993, Walmart acquired PACE Membership Warehouse from K-mart and converted a majority of PACE locations into Sam's Club stores.

Sam's Club entered the Canadian market in Southern Ontario (all but one in the Greater Toronto Area/Golden Horseshoe) in 2003.

The latest flagship club opening, was in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The largest Sam's Club store is located in Pineville, North Carolina, with 185000 sqft of retail space that was formerly an Incredible Universe.

On September 24, 2006, Sam's Club unveiled a new logo with an updated serif font.

In December 2007, Sam's Club launched a new slogan, "Enjoy the Possibilities". Since then it became an official advertising slogan, mentioned in television and radio advertisements, but it is not mentioned on its website. , the "Enjoy the Possibilities" slogan was no longer in use. Sam's Club launched their latest slogan "Savings Made Simple" in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Starting in April 2007, there was speculation of a possible sale or spinoff of Sam's Club from parent company Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. At Walmart's 2007 annual shareholder's meeting in June, management said that Sam's Club is not for sale, although they did not say they are not considering a spinoff.

On February 26, 2009, Walmart Canada announced that it would be closing all six of its Canadian Sam's Club locations. This was part of Walmart Canada's decision to shift focus towards supercentres, but some industry observers suggested that the operation was struggling in competition with Costco and the non-membership The Real Canadian Superstore (known as Maxi & Cie in Quebec), that had a well-established history in the country. Sam's Club also rebranded the two as yet unopened locations as new Walmart Supercentres. In January 2010, it was announced that ten clubs would be closing, including four in California. At the same time, Sam's opened six new clubs at various locations in the United States.

On January 24, 2010, it was announced that approximately 11,200 Sam's Club employees would be laid off. The layoffs resulted from the decision to outsource product sampling duties to an outside company (Rogers, Arkansas-based Shopper Events, which already performs in-store product demonstrations for Walmart) and to eliminate New Business Membership Representative positions throughout the chain. Most of the laid-off employees were part-time and represented about 10% of the total Sam's Club workforce.

Rosalind Brewer was named as the new CEO for Sam's Club, a change that came into effect on February 1, 2012.

On January 24, 2014, it was announced that Walmart will cut 2,300 jobs at the underperforming Sam's Club locations.

In 2016, Sam's Club rolled out a mobile application that allows users to scan items while they shop and pay for them, skipping the checkout line. By December 2016, the app could be used at all locations in the United States. In 2019, the dedicated scanning app was deprecated, and its features were incorporated into the main Sam's Club app.

On February 1, 2017, John Furner replaced Brewer as CEO of Sam's Club.

On January 11, 2018, Walmart announced that 63 Sam's Club locations in cities including Memphis, Houston, Seattle, and others would be closing. Some of the stores had already liquidated, without notifying employees, some employees learned by a company-wide email delivered January 11. All of the 63 stores were gone from the Sam's Club website as of the morning of January 11, 2018. Walmart said that ten of the stores will become e-commerce distribution centers and employees can reapply to work at those locations. Business Insider magazine calculated that over 11,000 workers will be affected. On the same day, Walmart announced that as a result of the new tax law, it would be raising Walmart starting wages, distributing bonuses, expanding its leave policies and contributing toward the cost of employees' adoptions. Doug McMillon, Walmart's CEO, said, "We are early in the stages of assessing the opportunities tax reform creates for us to invest in our customers and associates and to further strengthen our business, all of which should benefit our shareholders."

On November 15, 2019, Kathryn McLay succeeded Furner as CEO of Sam's Club. McClay announced plans in 2023 for the company to build 30 stores. She became CEO of Walmart International in 2023 and was succeeded as Sam's Club CEO by Christopher Nicholas.

As of January 2024, Sam's Club used an artificial intelligence-based receipt-checking technology at 10 stores that required customers to move through a portal to verify purchases. The company announced plans to put the technology in all of its stores by the end of 2024.

Design
Like other warehouse clubs, Sam's Club sells most of its merchandise in bulk and directly off pallets. The clubs are arranged like warehouses, with merchandise stocked in steel bins. Products sold include jewelry, designer goods, sunglasses, crystal, and collectibles, electronics, floral, apparel, food, and meats. Most locations have Pharmacy, Tire and Battery, Photo (as of late 2019, photo was cut from most clubs), Bakery, Optical, Café, and Floral departments.

Sam's Club consolidated its private labels under the Member's Mark brand in 2017. Sam's Club does not sell the Sam's Choice or Great Value brands that are available in Walmart stores.

Sam's Business Center
Sam's Club opened their first Business Center in Houston, Texas, in August 2008. Converted from an existing Sam's location, the Business Center is similar in concept to Costco's Business Centers.

In January 2010, the company announced it would be closing its Business Center, along with nine other clubs across the United States.

Other retail formats
In Houston, Sam's Club opened Más Club in August 2009, a club geared towards the Hispanic population. Membership in Más Club was separate from membership in Sam's Club. The store eventually began a liquidation sale in December 2013, and was closed in February 2014.

In October 2018, Sam's Club opened Sam's Club Now, a "mobile-first" retail store where customers use the Sam's Club Now mobile app to scan and pay for merchandise. Customers can also order items ahead of time with same-day curbside pickup at the store. The Sam's Club Now store is located in Dallas, TX.

Controversy / Incidents
In March 2020, a Sam's Club store in Midland, Texas was the site of a violent stabbing that wounded three Asian family members, including two young children. The suspect, a 19-year-old, allegedly believed the Chinese were responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2021, Sam's Club faced a boycott from some Chinese consumers due to taking Xinjiang-produced goods off the shelves. A number of Chinese consumers cancelled or suspended their membership cards.