Multiple Sam's Club Stores to close

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Re: Multiple Sam's Club Stores to close

Post by arizonaguy »

wnetmacman wrote: February 9th, 2018, 4:20 pm
BillyGr wrote: February 9th, 2018, 10:59 am Although perhaps not as much as would first be thought - after all, if you place an order there and go to pick it up, should you think of something else you forgot to get (or hear an ad for product x while en route that sounds good) it would only be sensible to grab it while you are there, rather than making another stop, at least it seems?
Have you used Walmart or Sam's Pickup? You do not enter the store. No checkout line. So no impulse buying.
I've never used Sam's pickup but in my area it appears that one has to walk into the store to pick up their items.

With Walmart there seems to be 2 different pickup systems going on depending on the item ordered.

If it's groceries, it's a pickup outside of the store where your items are delivered to.

At the closest Walmart to me, though, general merchandise is picked up in the very back of the store (next to electronics).
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Re: Multiple Sam's Club Stores to close

Post by BillyGr »

wnetmacman wrote: February 9th, 2018, 4:20 pm
BillyGr wrote: February 9th, 2018, 10:59 am Although perhaps not as much as would first be thought - after all, if you place an order there and go to pick it up, should you think of something else you forgot to get (or hear an ad for product x while en route that sounds good) it would only be sensible to grab it while you are there, rather than making another stop, at least it seems?
Have you used Walmart or Sam's Pickup? You do not enter the store. No checkout line. So no impulse buying.
I wasn't referring to seeing stuff and picking it up like one would do while waiting to checkout.

Rather, I was thinking that, as long as you are already in their parking lot, if you remembered (while driving there to pick up the order for instance) that you needed item y and forgot to order it, wouldn't you think about running in and grabbing it while you are right there, rather than going somewhere else to get it?
Or, while driving there to pick up the order, you heard an ad on the radio for something you've been meaning to try out or that reminded you of something you meant to order and didn't, again the convenience of being feet from the store might encourage you to park and go in and grab that item.
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Re: Multiple Sam's Club Stores to close

Post by Brian Lutz »

Meanwhile, the parking lot of the former Sam's Club location in Seattle on Aurora Avenue was quickly occupied by squatters once the store closed, to the point that police intervention was required to clear it out: http://komonews.com/news/local/squatter ... th-seattle
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Re: Multiple Sam's Club Stores to close

Post by storewanderer »

Brian Lutz wrote: March 30th, 2018, 11:48 am Meanwhile, the parking lot of the former Sam's Club location in Seattle on Aurora Avenue was quickly occupied by squatters once the store closed, to the point that police intervention was required to clear it out: http://komonews.com/news/local/squatter ... th-seattle
I guess they will have to fence and gate the place off. That area in Seattle was always a little rough around the edges but this appears to be a very very bad situation. So no people were camping in the parking lot back when the store was open?

Camping is very common at rural Wal Marts throughout the middle of the United States...where there is not a large appears to be ongoing situation with dozens (hundreds?) of homeless people like various of the larger cities particularly on the west coast, but actual people driving RVs around and just needing a place to stop for the night taking Wal Mart's offer of a free parking lot... here in Reno there is a city ordinance against this practice, but sometimes there will still be a few RVs in the parking lot after 10 or 11 PM at the store near me, and they are gone early the next morning, so nobody really cares.
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Re: Multiple Sam's Club Stores to close

Post by Super S »

storewanderer wrote: March 30th, 2018, 11:23 pm
Brian Lutz wrote: March 30th, 2018, 11:48 am Meanwhile, the parking lot of the former Sam's Club location in Seattle on Aurora Avenue was quickly occupied by squatters once the store closed, to the point that police intervention was required to clear it out: http://komonews.com/news/local/squatter ... th-seattle
I guess they will have to fence and gate the place off. That area in Seattle was always a little rough around the edges but this appears to be a very very bad situation. So no people were camping in the parking lot back when the store was open?

Camping is very common at rural Wal Marts throughout the middle of the United States...where there is not a large appears to be ongoing situation with dozens (hundreds?) of homeless people like various of the larger cities particularly on the west coast, but actual people driving RVs around and just needing a place to stop for the night taking Wal Mart's offer of a free parking lot... here in Reno there is a city ordinance against this practice, but sometimes there will still be a few RVs in the parking lot after 10 or 11 PM at the store near me, and they are gone early the next morning, so nobody really cares.
Some cities flat out prohibit camping in store parking lots including Walmart, due to some people causing problems. While other cities have no problem with people making overnight stays (which I think represent the majority).

In some cases, Walmart will also allow a limited amount of semi truck parking (including non-Walmart trucks)if space allows, sometimes in front, sometimes at the rear. I have a family member that drives truck who sometimes passes through and will park at a local Walmart and I will pick him up when he wants to visit for the day.
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Re: Multiple Sam's Club Stores to close

Post by arizonaguy »

Sam's Club's same store sales, excluding fuel, are up 3.8% for the quarter.

https://www.thestreet.com/markets/walma ... l-14592519
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Re: Multiple Sam's Club Stores to close

Post by Brian Lutz »

Costco has filed preliminary plans with the City of Seattle to open a new store in the former Sams Club location on Aurora Avenue:

https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/new ... KmOEdl4Slg

Meanwhile the former Sam's Club in Renton continues to sit vacant, although I don't think Costco would have any interest in that site unless they wanted it to replace their Tukwila store (which is built in a large converted warehouse and is reportedly the largest Costco in the world, but tends to have severe parking shortages.)
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Re: Multiple Sam's Club Stores to close

Post by Alpha8472 »

Walmart is very foolish to close down Sam's Club stores that do not meet their sales goals. These stores are profitable and are in good locations. Walmart has unreasonable sales goals. Other chains will swoop right in and take over a good location.

Costco does run a much better store. The selection and prices are better. Costco has really good customer service and pays their employees well. The result is that Costco has loyal customers and Walmart has fewer loyal customers.

Perhaps the Sam's Club that is still closed is still owned by Walmart. Perhaps Walmart does not want to sell or lease to a competitor. Sometimes Walmart will pay rent on a building just so that a competitor can never move in.

Has anyone ever seen Walmart reopen a closed store that they previouslyabandoned?
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Re: Multiple Sam's Club Stores to close

Post by arizonaguy »

Alpha8472 wrote: October 1st, 2021, 5:00 pm Walmart is very foolish to close down Sam's Club stores that do not meet their sales goals. These stores are profitable and are in good locations. Walmart has unreasonable sales goals. Other chains will swoop right in and take over a good location.

Costco does run a much better store. The selection and prices are better. Costco has really good customer service and pays their employees well. The result is that Costco has loyal customers and Walmart has fewer loyal customers.

Perhaps the Sam's Club that is still closed is still owned by Walmart. Perhaps Walmart does not want to sell or lease to a competitor. Sometimes Walmart will pay rent on a building just so that a competitor can never move in.

Has anyone ever seen Walmart reopen a closed store that they previouslyabandoned?
The issue with Sam's Club is that many of the stores that closed weren't in great locations and/or overlapped too much with other stores. Unlike Costco where they are very judicious when it comes to site selection and store openings Sam's seemed to follow Walmart's strategy of opening stores wherever (including in Walmart parking lots) and saturating markets with stores.

The 2018 closures also allowed them to exit WA / AK where the logistics of having a handful of stores in both WA and AK just wasn't profitable when Costco had a much larger presence there (WA) and closer distribution (AK).

Sam's has been improving significantly since this big round of closures and I wouldn't be surprised if they open up a new store in a couple of years.
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Re: Multiple Sam's Club Stores to close

Post by storewanderer »

I find the level of customer service in the Sam's Club in Reno to be excellent; the employees are very customer focused and are very helpful. Many have been there since the store opened. They are not nearly as efficient as Costco employees (the store has so much less business) but they certainly have a positive attitude.

I also find the pricing at Sam's Club to be every bit as good as Costco (in some cases better). The mix is certainly not as good as Costco and it is missing the discovery element. I find Costco is a place where I made a lot more unplanned purchases when walking the store, whereas with Sam's I rarely walk out with more than what I went in for.
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