Sam's West, Inc. (

doing business as A trade name, trading name, or business name, is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is a "fictitious" business name. Registering the fictitious name w ...

Sam's Club) is an American chain of membership-only retail

warehouse club A warehouse club (or wholesale club) is a retail store, usually selling a wide variety of merchandise, in which customers may buy large, wholesale quantities of the store's products, which makes these clubs attractive to both bargain hunter ...

s owned and operated by Walmart Inc., founded in 1983 and named after Walmart founder

Sam Walton Samuel Moore Walton (March 29, 1918 – April 5, 1992) was an American business magnate best known for founding the retailers Walmart and Sam's Club, which he started in 1962 and 1983 respectively. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. grew to be the world's ...

as Sam’s Wholesale Club. , Sam's Club ranks second in sales volume among warehouse clubs with $57.839 billion in sales (in fiscal year 2019) behind rival

Costco Wholesale Costco Wholesale Corporation (doing business as Costco Wholesale and also known simply as Costco) is an American multinational corporation which operates a chain of membership-only big-box retail stores (warehouse club). As of 2022, Costco i ...

. , Sam's Club operates 600 membership warehouse clubs in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

in 44 states,

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

and the

U.S Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands,. Also called the ''American Virgin Islands'' and the ''U.S. Virgin Islands''. officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and an unincorporated and organized territory ...

. The only states where Sam's Club does not operate are

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U ...

(all three locations in that state closed in 2018 as part of a plan to close 63 clubs),

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

(its last remaining location in that state, located in

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

, closed in 2018 as part of a plan to close 63 clubs),

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

(the state's only location, in

Warwick Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon, Warwickshire, River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined wit ...

, closed in 2016 as part of a plan to close 269 stores globally, including four U.S. clubs),

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provin ...

, and

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

(all three locations in that state closed in 2018 as part of a plan to close 63 clubs), as well as the

District of Columbia ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle (Washington, D.C.), Logan Circle, Jefferson Memoria ...

. Walmart International also operates Sam's Club stores in Mexico and China. It has 167 locations in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

, and 39 in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

. Grupo Big, formerly Walmart Brazil, which was de-consolidated from Walmart in August 2018, also operates Sam's Clubs in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. Locations generally range in size from , with an average club size of approximately . From 2003 to 2009 Sam's Club had 6 locations in Canada. 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 ''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German publ ...

'' that 63 Sam’s Club stores would begin liquidating across the country, including in

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

, and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. According to ''Business Insider'', the Sam's Club closings and plans to convert some stores into

e-commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain manag ...

fulfillment centers as announced in January 2018 are part of Walmart's growing commitment to

online retailing Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet using a web browser or a mobile app. Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of th ...

that will allow it to better compete with rival

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

History

opened the first Sam's Club on April 7, 1983, in

Midwest City, Oklahoma Midwest City is a city in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, United States, and a part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, the population was 54,371, making it the eighth largest city in the state. The city was developed in r ...

, 21 years after he founded Walmart. 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 Hardy Howard Alton Hardy Howard (March 28, 1925 – October 29, 2006) was a businessman, author, and a gospel songwriter from West Monroe in Ouachita Parish in northeastern Louisiana. Background Howard was the sixth of seven children born in the Rocky Bran ...

and his son John. In 1989, Sam's Club entered

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...

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 Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

market in 1990. In 1993, Walmart acquired

PACE Membership Warehouse Sam's West, Inc. (doing business as Sam's Club) is an American chain of membership-only retail warehouse clubs owned and operated by Walmart Inc., founded in 1983 and named after Walmart founder Sam Walton as Sam’s Wholesale Club. , Sam's C ...

from

Kmart Kmart Corporation ( , doing business as Kmart and stylized as kmart) is an American retail company that owns a chain of big box department stores. The company is headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, United States. The company was inc ...

and converted many (but not all) PACE locations into Sam's Clubs. Sam's Club entered the Canadian market in

Southern Ontario Southern Ontario is a primary region of the province of Ontario, Canada, the other primary region being Northern Ontario. It is the most densely populated and southernmost region in Canada. The exact northern boundary of Southern Ontario is disp ...

(all but one in the

Greater Toronto Area The Greater Toronto Area, commonly referred to as the GTA, includes the City of Toronto and the regional municipalities of Durham, Halton, Peel, and York. In total, the region contains 25 urban, suburban, and rural municipalities. The Greater ...

Golden Horseshoe The Golden Horseshoe is a secondary region of Southern Ontario, Canada, which lies at the western end of Lake Ontario, with outer boundaries stretching south to Lake Erie and north to Lake Scugog, Lake Simcoe and Georgian Bay of Lake Huron. The ...

) in 2003. The latest flagship club opening , was in

Fayetteville, Arkansas Fayetteville () is the second-largest city in Arkansas, the county seat of Washington County, and the biggest city in Northwest Arkansas. The city is on the outskirts of the Boston Mountains, deep within the Ozarks. Known as Washington unt ...

. The largest Sam's Club is located in

Pineville, North Carolina Pineville (; locally ) is a suburban town in the southernmost portion of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, United States, situated in the Waxhaws district between Charlotte and Fort Mill. History Pineville became known as a mule trading ce ...

with of retail space that was formerly an

Incredible Universe Incredible Universe was the name of a chain of American consumer electronics stores in the early to mid-1990s. A typical Incredible Universe was of sales floor and warehouse, stocking around 85,000 items.

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

serif In typography, a serif () is a small line or stroke regularly attached to the end of a larger stroke in a letter or symbol within a particular font or family of fonts. A typeface or "font family" making use of serifs is called a serif typeface ...

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 Costco Wholesale Corporation ( doing business as Costco Wholesale and also known simply as Costco) is an American multinational corporation which operates a chain of membership-only big-box retail stores (warehouse club). As of 2022, Costc ...

and the non-membership The Real Canadian Superstore (known as Maxi & Cie in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

), 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 demonstration In marketing, a product demonstration (or ''"demo"'' for short) is a promotion where a product is demonstrated to potential customers. The goal is to introduce customers to the product in hopes of getting them to purchase that item. Products offere ...

s 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 Rosalind G. Brewer, also known as "Roz", is an American businesswoman serving as the CEO of Walgreens Boots Alliance. With her appointment at Walgreens in March 2021, she is one of only two Black women CEOs of Fortune 500 companies (along with Th ...

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 Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

, 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. ''

'' 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 Carl Douglas McMillon (born October 17, 1966) is an American businessman, and the president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Walmart Inc. He sits on the retailer's board of directors. Having first joined the company as a summer associate ...

, 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. In

Midland, Texas Midland is a city in and the county seat of Midland County, Texas, United States. A small part of Midland is in Martin County. At the 2020 census, Midland's population was 132,524. It is the principal city of the Midland, Texas metropolitan ...

, a Sam's Club store was the site of a violent stabbing that wounded three family members, including two young children. The suspect, a 19-year-old who allegedly stabbed the family due to fearing they had symptoms of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...

, and were of

Asian American Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous peopl ...

descent. He was sentenced in 2022 to 25 years imprisonment.

Design

Like other warehouse clubs, Sam's Club sells most of its merchandise in

bulk Bulk can refer to: Industry * Bulk cargo * Bulk liquids * Bulk mail * Bulk material handling * Bulk pack, packaged bulk materials/products * Bulk purchasing * Baking * Bulk fermentation, the period after mixing when dough is left alone to fer ...

and directly off

pallet A pallet (also called a skid) is a flat transport structure, which supports goods in a stable fashion while being lifted by a forklift, a pallet jack, a front loader, a jacking device, or an erect crane. A pallet is the structural founda ...

s. The clubs are arranged like

warehouse A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the outskirts of citie ...

s, 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 markets items under the private labels Simply Right, Member's Mark, Bakers & Chefs, Daily Chef, Sam's Club, and Richelieu Foods, a private label manufacturer of frozen pizza, salad dressing, sauces, marinades, condiments, and deli salads. Sam's Club does not sell the Sam's Choice or Great Value brands that are available in Walmart stores. File:Sam's Club store.jpg, A Sam's Club store in Maplewood, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri (Club #6474) File:SamsClubLerdo.jpg, A Sam's Club store in Ciudad Lerdo, Durango, Mexico File:Sam's Club in Suzhou-1.JPG, A Sam's Club store in Suzhou, China File:Sams Club interior.jpg, A Sam's Club store in California File:Samsclub gasstation.JPG, A Sam's Club gas station at a store in Santa Clarita, California File:Sam's Club in Suzhou-3.JPG, Shelves of a Sam's Club store in Suzhou, China

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.

Membership

Membership is required to purchase at Sam's Club (except at the cafe, eye exams in Optical, and the pharmacy where federal law prohibits sales of prescription drugs to members only, as well as liquor and gasoline in some states). A 10% surcharge is added (except where forbidden by local laws, such as in Elmsford, NY, CA, SC) to the prices for non-members, except for alcohol items, cafe, and pharmacy items where available. All memberships fees are 100% guaranteed at any point of time in the membership tenure. Memberships can be renewed online, by mail, at the in-club Membership Services desk or any cash register, and at new ATM/Membership kiosks available in select locations. In the United States, Sam's Club memberships are divided into two categories: Club and Plus, each with an annual fee. Plus is the more comprehensive membership plan, that includes Cash Rewards, extra savings in Pharmacy and Optical centers, free shipping on items purchased from their website, and (at some clubs) early shopping hours before the store is opened to the public.

Payment options and store credit products

Payment options

Sam's Club locations, as well as their online storefront (samsclub.com), accept Sam's Club (online and in-store) and Walmart credit cards (in-store only),

American Express American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation, multinational corporation specialized in payment card industry, payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Man ...

Discover Card Discover is a credit card brand issued primarily in the United States. It was introduced by Sears in 1985. When launched, Discover did not charge an annual fee and offered a higher-than-normal credit limit, features that were disruptive to the ...

, MasterCard, Visa,

debit card A debit card, also known as a check card or bank card is a payment card that can be used in place of cash to make purchases. The term '' plastic card'' includes the above and as an identity document. These are similar to a credit card, but ...

s (PIN-based, except MasterCard and Discover, which also can be signature-based), Sam's Club and Walmart and gift cards and egift cards, cash, or checks. , EBT SNAP benefits are accepted in-store. In the past, Visa credit cards were not accepted, except at gas stations because of the high processing fees compared with Walmart's discounted rates with MasterCard. 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.

Sam's Club credit cards

Sam's Club offers store credit lines to individuals and businesses linked to the member's membership card. As of June 2014, Sam's Club discontinued offering the Sam's Discover card and now offers a Sam's Club MasterCard or Sam's Club Consumer Card that can be used at Sam's Club. Both cards are issued by

Synchrony Bank Synchrony Financial is a consumer financial services company headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, United States. The company offers consumer financing products, including credit, promotional financing and loyalty programs, installment lendi ...

and the Sam's Club MasterCard is accepted anywhere MasterCard is accepted worldwide. Sam's Club MasterCard offers a cash back program of 3% for eligible purchases for Plus members (1% for Club members), 5% (Up to $6,000 a year then 1% thereafter) on gasoline, 3% on dining and travel and 1% on all other purchases. Sam's Club is also the first merchant in the United States to offer EMV (Europay/MasterCard/Visa) chip-enabled cards.

Sam's Club car washes

Sam's Club offers car wash services at gas stations in 39 clubs as of October 15, 2019.

Backlashes from Chinese market

Sam's Club is facing a boycott from some Chinese consumers due to taking Xinjiang-produced goods off the shelves. A number of Chinese consumers have already cancelled or suspended their membership cards.

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, United States, Companies, Business and economics 1983 establishments in Oklahoma American companies established in 1983 American corporate subsidiaries Bentonville, Arkansas Companies based in Arkansas Defunct retail companies of Canada Defunct supermarkets of Canada Discount stores of the United States Multinational companies headquartered in the United States Online retailers of the United States Retail companies established in 1983 Supermarkets of Mexico Supermarkets of the United States Walmart