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Sam's Club is a chain of warehouse clubs. It is owned by Sam's Club is the second-largest warehouse chain, after Costco. Sam's Club is known as Mas Club in Mexico, and it's part of Walmart de México y Centroamérica.
As of January 31, 2019, Sam's Club operates 599 membership warehouse clubs in 44 U.S. states. Alaska, Massachusetts, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington are the only states where Sam's Club does not operate, as is the case for the District of Columbia. Walmart International also operates Sam's Club stores in Mexico and China. It has 163 locations in Mexico and 23 in China. Walmart Brazil, which was de-consolidated from Walmart in August 2018, also operates Sam's Clubs in Brazil. Locations generally range in size from 94,000–161,000 sq ft (8,700–15,000 m2), with an average club size of approximately 134,000 sq ft (12,400 m2).
There were also Sam's Club locations in Canada, six located in Ontario, in which the last location closed in 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 be soon 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 Sam's Club closings and plans to that they would be converting some of its 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 its rival Amazon.
History[]
The first Sam's Club opened on April 7, 1983, in Midwest City, Oklahoma in the United States.
In 1987, Sam's Club made its first acquisition by purchasing West Monroe, Louisiana-based SuperSaver Wholesale Warehouse Club; the purchase expanded the chain by 24 locations. The stores were owned by Alton Howard and his son John.
Former Sam's Club Logo
In 1989, Sam's Club entered New Jersey with a club in Delran in a former Two Guys/Jefferson Ward store. 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. The company entered the Pennsylvania market in 1990.
In 1993, Walmart acquired PACE Membership Warehouse from Kmart and converted many (but not all) PACE locations into Sam's Clubs.
Sam's Club entered the Canadian market in Ontario in 2003.
This was the Sam's Club logo used until 2019.
The latest flagship club opening as of September 13, 2007, was in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The largest Sam's Club was located in Pineville, North Carolina with 185,000 sq ft (17,200 m2) of retail space that was formerly an Incredible Universe.
On September 24, 2006, Sam's Club received a new logo. The new logo has an updated serif font and features a green and blue diamond inside the big blue diamond found above the word 'Sam's'.
Sam's Club's previous slogan was "We Are In Business For Small Business" until 2006; the decision to remove the slogan comes as Sam's Club attempts to remove itself from serving just small businesses and open up to more individual customers.
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. As of January 2008, 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.
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. Included in this were all Sam's Club locations in Alaska. 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. 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."
Exterior Of A Sam's Club Containing The Early 90s Logo On Manchester Road In St. Louis, Missouri, Which Opened In 1991
Design[]
Sam's Club stores that opened in the 80s or 90s are remodeled. Sam's Club stores with the older logos were replaced by the current logo in the 2010s.
Exterior Of A Sam's Club Containing The Original Logo With The Slogan In Anderson, South Carolina, Which Opened In 1993
Like other warehouse clubs, Sam's Club sells most of its merchandise in bulk and directly off pallets.
The clubs are arranged much like warehouses, with merchandise stocked in warehouse-style steel bins. Products sold include jewelry, designer goods, sunglasses, crystal and collectibles, electronics, floral, apparel, food, and meats.
Exterior Of A Sam's Club Containing The New 2006 Logo On Emporium Drive In Jackson, Tennessee, Which opened May 21, 1997
Most locations have Pharmacy, Tire and Battery, Photo, Bakery, Optical, Café and Floral departments.
Sam's Club markets items under the private labels Simply Right, Member's Mark, Bakers & Chefs, Daily Chef, and Sam's Club — including products by Richelieu Foods, a private label manufacturer of frozen pizza, salad dressing, sauces, marinades, condiments and deli salads.
Exterior Of A Sam's Club Containing The Original Logo Without The Slogan On Memorial Road In Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Which Opened In 1995
Sam's Club does not sell the Sam's Choice or Great Value brands that are available in Walmart stores. However, Sam's Club is changing some of the Member's Mark items to the name Simply Right. The Member's Mark Deli products are also changing names to Artisan Fresh.
Exterior Of A Sam's Club Containing The New 2019 Logo On James Sanders Boulevard In Paducah, Kentucky, Which opened March 8, 1994
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 first Sam's Club Now store is located in Dallas, Texas.
See also[]
- List of Sam's Club Locations
- Walmart - owner
- Costco - competitor
- BJ's Wholesale Club - competitor