Sam's Club

Sam's West, Inc.
	Sam's Club in Onalaska, Wisconsin
Trade name	Sam's Club
Formerly	Sam's Wholesale Club (1983-1990)
Company type	Division
Industry	Retail
Founded	April 7, 1983, in Midwest City, Oklahoma, U.S.
Founder	Sam Walton
Headquarters	Bentonville, Arkansas, U.S.
Number of locations	599 U.S. (as of October 31, 2023)
Areas served	United States; Mexico; China; Brazil (Legally independent)
Key people	Chris Nicholas (CEO)
Products	Merchandise; Cash & carry; Warehouse club; Gas stations;
Brands	Simply Right; Member's Mark; Bakers & Chefs; Daily Chef; Richelieu Foods;
Members	69 million (2022)
Number of employees	100,000 (2024)
Parent	Walmart
Website	www.samsclub.com

Sam's West, Inc. (doing business as Sam's Club) is a chain of membership-only warehouse club retail stores in the United States owned by Walmart. It was founded in 1983 and named after Walmart founder Sam Walton as Sam's Wholesale Club.^[4] As of January 31, 2019^[update], Sam's Club ranks second in sales volume among warehouse clubs with $84.3 billion in sales^[5] (in fiscal year 2023), ahead of BJ's Wholesale Club but well behind its main rival Costco.^[6]

As of October 31, 2023^[update], Sam's Club operates 599 membership warehouse clubs in the United States across 44 states and Puerto Rico, with no locations in Alaska, Massachusetts, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington State, and Vermont.^[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 since then is part of Carrefour Group, also operates about 50 Sam's Club locations in Brazil and to operate them pay a fee for the use of the brand. 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 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]

^ ^a ^b ^c "Walmart Investor Relations - Financials Investor Relations > Financials". stock.walmart.com. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
^ "Sam's Club to Add Locations to Boost Omnichannel". www.pymnts.com. Retrieved January 25, 2025.
^ "Sam's Club will raise pay to catch up with Costco". www.cnn.com.
^ "Sam's Wholesale Club | American company | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved June 11, 2022.
^ ^a ^b "Walmart FY 2022 Annual Report" (PDF). Walmart.
^ Thomas, Marques (December 9, 2021). "11 Biggest Sam's Club Competitors In 2023 (Full Guide)". QuerySprout. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
^ "Sam's Club Fuel Center Details". samsclub.com. Retrieved October 15, 2019.
^ 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.
^ Polk, Leroy (January 11, 2018). "Alaska Sam's Club locations to close permanently in January". KTUU. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
^ Miles, Jason (January 11, 2018). "Multiple Sam's Clubs close without notice in Houston, across nation". KHOU. Archived from the original on January 12, 2018. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
^ 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.
^ 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.

[Information_for_Walmart_Investors:_Unit_Counts_&_Square_Footage-1] "Walmart Investor Relations - Financials Investor Relations > Financials". stock.walmart.com. Retrieved November 15, 2022.

[2] "Sam's Club to Add Locations to Boost Omnichannel". www.pymnts.com. Retrieved January 25, 2025.

[3] "Sam's Club will raise pay to catch up with Costco". www.cnn.com.

[4] "Sam's Wholesale Club | American company | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved June 11, 2022.

[annual_report-5] "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. Archived from the original on January 12, 2018. 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.

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