The Sam's Cafe operation unfortunately is the worst part of the store consistently, wherever I go. Supposedly this is getting a revamp, but the App ordering doesn't work well and has just backed up the lines more. I agree it needs kiosks.storewanderer wrote: ↑March 31st, 2024, 8:02 pmOne of the other things I notice at Sams is I don't see many people returning items there. It seems like while the store has significantly more customer traffic than before, the returns/membership area is usually deserted or has one customer doing something. There used to be a line there and a good number of people were returning those junk special buys that they used to love to put on pallets out in the middle of the sales floor.ClownLoach wrote: ↑March 31st, 2024, 10:14 am
As far as Sam's assortment, they have about 5,000 SKUs compared to 3,000 at Costco. They have some restaurant supply type stuff that Costco would only carry at business centers now. But they have been gradually moving that stuff online except for consumables and expanding more for the consumer. They used to carry almost 7,000 SKUs at Sam's but as we all know they couldn't manage the inventory well, they had bulk stacks in the aisles and other nonsense which has all been cleaned out and SKU rationalized. When I first saw a remodeled store I thought they had added more merchandise because of the improved layout when in fact a couple thousand items were removed to clear the clutter. Not one item I would shop them for disappeared so they must have known what they were doing. It felt like they really cut the vending machine type stuff, clunkier restaurant equipment and business oriented office supplies the most. They also stopped buying Walmart type deal junk like stacks of noname air fryers for $25 and such. The end result is the assortment skews much higher end, aligned with the Costco demographic.
Where Sam's excels is seasonal merchandise, far better assortment and quality than Costco. Clothing has been improving and is now comparable to Costco with really good quality basics in their house brand. All the house brand items are comparable to Kirkland, I would argue many are better and I have favorites all over the store. They have some really fun areas, spices and seasonings changes constantly and has probably 5 times the selection of Costco with lots of limited buys. Meat is a larger assortment and they have smaller packs at same price which is great for a smaller household. Their Home department is fantastic, the best quality towels, sheets, etc. Deli and Bakery in my opinion are hit or miss, selection is probably double Costco but they have some lower quality items thrown in. They do get lots of seasonal limited time foods, had some fantastic stuff for Octoberfest. Incredible quality garden stuff. Sam's is not the same as it was 5 years ago and continues to get better. They have a very large program where they target their top 10,000 members to test and adjust new house brand products before they come out, so their Members Mark brand moved from being bulk Walmart stuff to rivaling or exceeding Kirkland Signature. I don't care for the Sam's cafe operation but their hot dog is much better than Costco.
The areas I think Costco does better in are electronics, produce, limited time high dollar items, liquor (although Sam's just tripled their selection of whiskeys and tequilas but didn't have anything that excited me yet), bakery and deli, tires, pharmacy, furniture, appliances, and of course the food court.
Sam's selection, especially in the middle of the store, is more fun these days. I went over ten years without shopping Sam's because it was just Walmart junk in bulk in a clunky store, but they have completely reinvented the store and it keeps getting better. Costco is very stagnant and set in their ways, which I can understand from an operational perspective due to their volume where any new friction could cost millions of dollars in a single day. Sam's is the innovator in the industry now, not Costco, and it shows in their performance as they've flipped from years of downsizing and closures to remodeling nearly the entire chain and now expanding again with new warehouses under construction that are larger than what Costco builds today.
And the convenience offerings like the free curbside pickup for Plus members, free shipping etc. all come from Scan and Go and a really good self checkout. One supports the other, and yes half the cashiers went to order pulling where they get more hours, full time status and a fixed work schedule. They're actually treating their people well and it seems like every time I go now there's new faces on a board congratulating employees for 5, 10 year and up milestones. A decade ago Sam's felt like all minimum wage workers that didn't know anything or care because they were going to find a new job next week. Now I see the same people every time I shop there.
They're different like Coke and Pepsi, I can put up with either one but I would say my warehouse visits these days are 60% Costco, 40% Sam's and I usually wind up with a fuller basket at Sam's.
I'm still waiting for them to take some of this mindset over to the Wal Mart side of the business. I think it is happening. Baby steps.
They need to do something with their cafe. It is understaffed and sloppy (also very BUSY). For the price I really like the pizza slice. Better than slices that cost 2-2.5x as much at Whole Foods or the mall. I think they need to install about 20 order kiosks per store and mandate use of them (or the app) for cafe.
Their meat department is doing a lot of good things and the smaller package sizes are very helpful. They just don't do the sheer meat volume Costco does so they don't have the assortment of packages/cuts out that Costco has which is a big draw to Costco for some customers. The other thing is where Sam's is selling a ton of volume of lower priced cuts and chicken, Costco is selling a huge volume of higher end cuts/beef steaks so the department just isn't as interesting as Costco.
Produce at Sam's was better in 2021-2022 than it has been during 2023-present. Something is up with the supplier they use for a good amount of their produce (some of it appears to come from their warehouse but some is from this supplier). Some independent/small chains I shop, as well as US Foods Chef Store, use that supplier too, and I have noticed issues with produce at those stores too the past year.
Interesting what you've seen with meat, because I find they have more Prime meat at my local store than Costco. And a vastly larger meat selection overall. I have noticed some of the older warehouses like the one I shop have larger meat and deli areas. At my store the entire left side of the store is all the "perimeter" including pharmacy, frozen, refrigerated, dairy, deli, meat, bakery and produce all slammed together into a giant block of refrigeration. Then the back and right side are all pallet racking. But another close by store has more of a "Costco style" layout with meat, deli and bakery at the back and it does seem they have less meat.
Some of the stores now have a full service meat, seafood and sushi counter with even more Prime beef. Only places I've seen this so far are Ontario, CA and the SW Las Vegas store near Summerlin but apparently there are more rolling out.