Sam's Club

"Sam's" redirects here. For other uses, see Sams.

Sam's West, Inc.
Sam's Club
FormerlySam's Wholesale Club (1983-1990)
Company typeDivision
IndustryRetail
FoundedApril 7, 1983; 41 years ago (1983-04-07), in Midwest City, Oklahoma, U.S.
FounderSam Walton
Headquarters
Bentonville, Arkansas
,
U.S.
Number of locations
599 U.S. (as of October 31, 2023)[1]
Areas served
United States
Mexico
China
Brazil (Legally independent)
Key people
Chris Nicholas (CEO)
Products
Brands
MembersIncrease 69 million[2] (2022)
Number of employees
Increase 2,300,000[3] (2023)
ParentWalmart Inc.
Websitewww.samsclub.com Edit this at Wikidata

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.[4] As of January 31, 2019, Sam's Club ranks second in sales volume among warehouse clubs with $84.3 billion in sales[5] (in fiscal year 2023), behind its main rival Costco Wholesale.[6]

As of October 31, 2023, Sam's Club operates 599 membership warehouse clubs in the United States across 45 states and Puerto Rico, with no locations in Alaska, Massachusetts, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington State.[1] Sam's Club offers car wash services at gas stations in 41 locations.[7]

Sam's Club also operates 168 locations in Mexico and 45 locations in China.[1] Grupo Big, formerly Walmart Brazil, which was de-consolidated from Walmart in August 2018 and now a part of carrefour group, also operates about 50 Sam's Club locations in Brazil. Locations generally range in size from 32,000–168,000 sq ft (3,000–15,600 m2), with an average club size of approximately 134,000 sq ft (12,400 m2).[5] 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.[8][9][10] 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.[11]

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.[12]

  1. ^ a b c "Walmart Investor Relations - Financials Investor Relations > Financials". stock.walmart.com. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
  2. ^ https://www.pymnts.com/news/retail/2023/sams-club-add-locations-strengthen-omnichannel-capabilities/#:~:text=With%2069%20million%20members%20as,Mass%20Retailers%20and%20Subscription%20Services.%E2%80%9D [bare URL]
  3. ^ https://www.forbes.com/companies/sams-club/?sh=156155c4559f [bare URL]
  4. ^ "Sam's Wholesale Club | American company | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved June 11, 2022.
  5. ^ a b "Walmart FY 2022 Annual Report" (PDF). Walmart.
  6. ^ Thomas, Marques (December 9, 2021). "11 Biggest Sam's Club Competitors In 2023 (Full Guide)". QuerySprout. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
  7. ^ "Sam's Club Fuel Center Details". samsclub.com. Retrieved October 15, 2019.
  8. ^ Richter, Wolf (January 11, 2018). "Walmart Suddenly Shutters Numerous Sam's Clubs without Notice, 11,000 Jobs Impacted, Chaos Breaks out on Twitter". Wolf Street. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
  9. ^ Polk, Leroy (January 11, 2018). "Alaska Sam's Club locations to close permanently in January". KTUU. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
  10. ^ Miles, Jason (January 11, 2018). "Multiple Sam's Clubs close without notice in Houston, across nation". KHOU. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
  11. ^ Peterson, Haylay (January 11, 2018). "Walmart is abruptly closing 63 Sam's Club stores and laying off thousands of workers". Business Insider. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
  12. ^ Green Dennis (January 11, 2018). "Walmart's closure of 63 Sam's Club stores shows what the company is willing to do to take on Amazon". Business Insider. Retrieved January 16, 2018.