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 fictitious business name. Registering the fictitious name with ...

Sam's Club) is a chain of membership-only

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

retail stores The retail format (also known as the retail formula) influences the consumer's store choice and addresses the consumer's expectations. At its most basic level, a retail format is a simple marketplace, that is; a location where goods and services ar ...

in the United States owned by

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

. It was 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 $90.2 billion in sales, ahead of BJ's Wholesale Club but behind its main rival

Costco Costco Wholesale Corporation is an American multinational corporation which operates a chain of membership-only big-box warehouse club retail stores. As of 2021, Costco is the third-largest retailer in the world, and as of August 2024, Cos ...

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

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

across 44 states and

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

, with no locations in

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

Washington State Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...

, and

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

. Sam's Club offers car wash services at gas stations in 41 locations. Sam's Club also operates 173 locations in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

and 48 locations in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. Grupo Big, formerly Walmart Brazil, which was de-consolidated from Walmart in August 2018 and since then is part of Carrefour Group, also operates 58 Sam's Club locations in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and to operate them pay a fee for the use of the brand. Locations generally range in size from , with an average club size of approximately . Sam's Club had six locations in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

from 2006 to 2009.

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 New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

in a former Two Guys/Jefferson Ward store located in Delran. This was Walmart's first expansion into the Northeast. 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 Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. 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 Southern Ontario is a Region, primary region of the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. It is the most densely populated and southernmost region in Canada, with approximately 13.5 million people, approximately 36% o ...

(all but one in the

Greater Toronto Area The Greater Toronto Area, commonly referred to as the GTA, includes the Toronto, City of Toronto and the regional municipality, regional municipalities of Regional Municipality of Durham, Durham, Regional Municipality of Halton, Halton, Regional ...

/ Golden Horseshoe) in 2003. The latest flagship club opening , was in

Fayetteville, Arkansas Fayetteville ( ) is the List of cities and towns in Arkansas, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Arkansas, the county seat of Washington County, Arkansas, Washington County, and the most populous city in Northwest Arkansas. The city ...

. The largest Sam's Club store is located in Pineville, North Carolina, with of retail space that was formerly an Incredible Universe. 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. Starting in April 2007, there was speculation of a possible sale or spinoff of Sam's Club from parent company Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. 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

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

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

), 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 Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, 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. ''

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'' 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 Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

-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. In April 2025, Sam's Club announced the nationwide implementation of its AI-powered receipt verification technology across all 600 U.S. locations.

Design

Like other warehouse clubs, Sam's Club sells most of its merchandise in bulk 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 Loader (equipment), front loader, a Jack (mechanical), jacking device, or an erect cra ...

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 rural–urban fringe, out ...

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 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. File:Sam's Club - Fort Wayne, IN( 50979977208).jpg, A Sam's Club store in Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States File:2F entrance of Sam's Club Beijing Houshayu (20240727171407).jpg, Entrance of a Sam's Club store in Beijing, China File:Samsclub gasstation.JPG, A Sam's Club gas station at a store in Santa Clarita, California File:Sam's Club in Beijing, China, 2020.jpg, Shelves at a Sam's Club store in Beijing, China File:Sam's Club in Onalaska.jpg, Aerial view of a Sam's Club store in Onalaska, Wisconsin File:FEMA - 41189 - Mitigation advisor counsels customer at Sam's Club in Bismarck.jpg, A mitigation advisor speaks to a woman at a Sam's Club store in Bismarck, North Dakota

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 Midland is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Midland County with small portions extending into Martin County. The population was 132,524 as of the 2020 census. Located in the Permian Basin in West Texas, Midland is a ...

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 The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. In 2021, Sam's Club faced a boycott from some Chinese consumers due to taking

Xinjiang Xinjiang,; , SASM/GNC romanization, SASM/GNC: Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Sinkiang, officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the China, People' ...

-produced goods off the shelves. A number of Chinese consumers cancelled or suspended their membership cards.

References

External links