I don't see them reopening the Casa Grande location (even though it opened in 2014 and is less than 10 years old at present).
They were supposed to open a club in Tempe at the Tempe Marketplace development around 2006/2007 (that would've been an indirect replacement for that 48th St. Location. Tempe Marketplace would be the perfect location for them to enter into as there aren't any Costco's close by and there has been a lot of infill development nearby. This location also has good freeway access. I don't know what the status of this property is but there is still a dirt lot in the parking lot of Tempe Marketplace that is the exact shape of a Sam's Club: https://goo.gl/maps/3eqxaXUZAe9sGctKA
Phoenix is the rare SunBelt metro area where Costco is absolutely dominant. Costco opened a new store in Santan Valley last week and already has plans for another new store in Buckeye. The density of Costco's in the Phoenix area is probably only rivaled by Los Angeles, Seattle and San Diego (I believe there are 15 in Metro Phoenix right now with a 16th on the way, not including the Business Center which would make it 17).
I guess they were so busy growing Wal Mart across the region, that they sort of forgot about Sam's Club.
Casa Grande is probably not ideal to reopen. That Sam's Club was doing almost no volume. That was a really bad situation for them and it was odd they opened it when they did, maybe they were legally forced for some reason. That shopping area has never recovered. It is odd to see Target closed and Sam's Club closed. What is strange is that shopping area had held on to clothing tenants- Dillards is a clearance store now (meaning it closes when someone else gets the property... which is probably not going to be anytime soon there...), JCP is open, Kohls is open, Ross, Marshalls, Bealls FL Outlet, all open. So I am not sure if these clothing retailers are actually doing okay there or quite why they are all open.
Can't wait to see how the parking will work for 800 residential units (oh wait......... my bad.... they don't need any according to the state of CA) plus a Costco.....
I wonder how much time and money will be spent ensuring the parking is used by Costco customers only...
Lately I've been seeing Facebook ads offering a half-price Sam's Club membership ($25 per year) and in the past it's been fairly common to see deals on Groupon offering basically free membership ($50 gift card when you sign up at the regular $50 price.) Not sure how the Sam's Clubs here are; my most recent experience with them was one of the now closed Seattle area stores which I remember having competitive prices at the time and pretty good pizza in the food court, but the non-food merchandise mix seemed to be much more B2B oriented than Costco's and less useful to the average consumer. Since I'll probably be moving to an area where Sam's Club is still active I might bite, but these days I don't even shop at Costco much for lack of space.
As for Costco's food court the quality still seems OK but not great. I think they started going downhill when they switched it to Pepsi products after the dispute they had with Coca-Cola and started offering an unusually limited drink selection (16 spigots on 2 soda fountains in the typical food court but only 5 choices, 2 of which are caffeine free.) As far as I can tell Sam's Club has Pepsi products too, but offers a much wider selection of drinks in their food courts,
Brian Lutz wrote: ↑January 29th, 2023, 9:51 pm
Lately I've been seeing Facebook ads offering a half-price Sam's Club membership ($25 per year) and in the past it's been fairly common to see deals on Groupon offering basically free membership ($50 gift card when you sign up at the regular $50 price.) Not sure how the Sam's Clubs here are; my most recent experience with them was one of the now closed Seattle area stores which I remember having competitive prices at the time and pretty good pizza in the food court, but the non-food merchandise mix seemed to be much more B2B oriented than Costco's and less useful to the average consumer. Since I'll probably be moving to an area where Sam's Club is still active I might bite, but these days I don't even shop at Costco much for lack of space.
As for Costco's food court the quality still seems OK but not great. I think they started going downhill when they switched it to Pepsi products after the dispute they had with Coca-Cola and started offering an unusually limited drink selection (16 spigots on 2 soda fountains in the typical food court but only 5 choices, 2 of which are caffeine free.) As far as I can tell Sam's Club has Pepsi products too, but offers a much wider selection of drinks in their food courts,
Sam's has done a lot of free memberships and discount memberships in recent years. I think this is part of the momentum they have going. I think the hardlines mix is still a lot more B2B oriented than Costco. That also seems to be the emptiest part of Sam's Club when I go in (aisles like hardware, air filters, automotive, office supplies, etc.).
Sam's beverage area has Pepsi but has a lot of choices (multiple tea choices, etc.). The dispensed beverages at Sam's taste off and I do not purchase a drink there when purchasing food. A drink alone at Sam's is closer to $1, it has always been more expensive for just a drink there than Costco, though the cup is a little larger.
Can't wait to see how the parking will work for 800 residential units (oh wait......... my bad.... they don't need any according to the state of CA) plus a Costco.....
I wonder how much time and money will be spent ensuring the parking is used by Costco customers only...
Simple. They'll just charge for it like the "BC Place" Costco in Vancouver does.
ClownLoach wrote: ↑January 28th, 2023, 5:51 pm
I was surprised to see that their paid membership is at an all time high as well. I'm not noticing as many promotional discounts or free membership deals, and they have now put systems in place to prevent freeloaders from letting it lapse then get a new promotion.
Eh, I still see plenty of membership promos if you browse deal sites like SlickDeals. Right now, there is one for $25 a year, which isn't as good as some of the previous promos, but they come and go. (I'm on the $8 Super Bowl promo they ran last February, but that is ending soon. I think I only ended up using it twice since I signed up, so definitely not renewing unless there is a similar promo). Also unless they changed things recently, being a new member just involves using different information when you sign up online. As long as you never go to the desk to get a physical card, which isn't necessary these days, it really doesn't matter.
Eh, I still see plenty of membership promos if you browse deal sites like SlickDeals. Right now, there is one for $25 a year, which isn't as good as some of the previous promos, but they come and go. (I'm on the $8 Super Bowl promo they ran last February, but that is ending soon. I think I only ended up using it twice since I signed up, so definitely not renewing unless there is a similar promo). Also unless they changed things recently, being a new member just involves using different information when you sign up online. As long as you never go to the desk to get a physical card, which isn't necessary these days, it really doesn't matter.
Do they not collect a DL number when you apply for membership online?
My previous experience with them was they collected DL numbers.
How does gas work without a physical card or does that mean no access to gas pump?
After these years of promotions I have been expecting them to eliminate membership somehow, or add some ongoing free membership that allows people to go in and shop at the posted prices but doesn't have certain other "benefits." But I feel like that would be suicide for the format.
Sign up with a different email online and use a different credit card. I have never been asked for ID. When I added a relative on my account, the Sam's employee said she would make up a birthdate since I didn't know my relative's date of birth.
Alpha8472 wrote: ↑January 30th, 2023, 7:41 pm
Sign up with a different email online and use a different credit card. I have never been asked for ID. When I added a relative on my account, the Sam's employee said she would make up a birthdate since I didn't know my relative's date of birth.
You basically exclude yourself from both Scan and Go (eventually) as well as Sam's Cash by making up a workaround. Scan and Go has what seems like a random audit functionality that I have run into where it suddenly pops up a error message instead of the exit QR code and tells you to go to a self checkout stand. There is a barcode on the screen that is required to complete the transaction and it requires an employee to override. It has you insert the credit card in the PIN pad but then the employee has to scan or swipe the drivers license to complete the transaction. I believe the audit setup is triggered once you spend over a certain amount cumulatively with Scan and Go on a new membership. Sam's is moving towards having more Scan and Go Savings offers where you have to use the app to get the sale price; the issue they are going to have to work around is liquor in stages like CA which is why they are not truly mandating it for savings yet. Since Amazon seems to be able to get away with just verifying ID at the liquor aisle or at the front end and then the customer can buy using self checkout methods (Just Walk Out or Dash Cart) I'm sure Sam's could soon make the argument that their system is also not covered by the self checkout register law that was basically designed to screw over Fresh and Easy.
I have seen the same thing in the past where they were super lax about data entry and sign-ups, but Sam's is becoming more like Costco in that they are going to lean into membership fees as the primary source of profits. If there is no membership revenue then there aren't any profits. Their new membership setup does require the right and valid information to be entered but some of the "old timer" employees will still use the old AS/400 type systems to set up memberships as they are pretty much open fields where I'm sure they could give Mickey Mouse a membership today. They'll always have promotional offers, Costco does as well but they are not publicized as often. For new warehouses Costco sets up membership pop ups all over town starting two months out and they practically give away the membership if the person hasn't already been a member, plus they give them hundreds of dollars worth of special coupons.
