🔒 Inside Sam’s Club: The company, its history and how the bulk-buying vision has endured (2024)

HOUSTON – I went into a Sam’s Club for the first time in early August 2022.

First impressions? Well, mine was a little informed by my recent grocery bills at mainstream traditional stores: How -- in this era of record inflation -- could prices look like they’d hopped off a 1995 grocery mailer?

Sam’s Club’s origins

Sam Walton’s Walmart vision was a starting point for his legacy, built from a five and dime franchise that was extremely Walmart successful when he opened the first Sam’s Club location in Midwest City, Oklahoma on April 7, 1983. The vision for Sam’s Club -- 21 years after the first Walmart opened -- was perhaps, let’s say, borrowed from another chain called Price Mart in California. Sara Gilbert notes in her book “Built for Success: The Story of Walmart” that Walton had visited the store earlier in the year and decided to copy its business model. Like its predecessor, Sam’s Club was open to members only who paid an annual fee to shop at the warehouse-style store, products sold in bulk packaging and often, directly off of shipping pallets.

Inside the Sam’s Club vision

At the dedication of the first store, according to Sam’s Club anniversary materials, Walton shared with the new associates and guests, “when one of our experiments works, watch out.”

Sam’s Club says Walton began the stores as a wholesale club to help small business owners save on everyday items they needed to run their operations. Through the years, the format evolved to include the general public and an assorted merchandise mix from fresh meats and produce to high end electronics, pharmacy, travel and other services like tire and battery centers.

How wholesale works and why prices are so low at Sam’s Club

Sam’s Club has a cover charge and that certainly helps with costs, but further it has what the company calls “a limited-item business model” that offers members products at lower prices than traditional retail. Here’s how the company puts it: “Instead of stocking every item in every available brand, Sam’s Club merchants do their homework for our members, stocking the right products and purchasing them in large quantities, passing on the savings to our members.”

The company says it also reduces costs by maintaining a simple shopping environment, often displaying merchandise on shipping pallets so employees can move new items into the stores.

Timeline

1983: The First Sam’s Club opened in Midwest City, Okla.

1991: Sam’s Club goes international beginning in Mexico City and expanding to Puerto Rico, China, Mexico, Brazil and Canada.

1994: Walmart buys 80 Pace Membership Clubs, converts them into Sam’s Club locations.

1997: First gas station opens in Wichita, Kan.

1998: First Sam’s Club pharmacy opens in Tulsa, Okla.

2000: Samsclub.com launches on June 24

2001: Six women file a class-action employment-discrimination against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. -- including Sam’s Club stores -- in federal court in San Francisco. They charged that Walmart discriminated against women in pay and promotions to management.

2002: 500th Club opened in Fort Worth, Texas.

See how the Sam’s Club logo has changed through the years

Current logo, 2019:

2006-2019

1993-2006

See more logos dating back to Sam’s Club’s inception from logos-world.net.

How big is Sam’s Club?

There are almost 600 clubs across the U.S and Puerto Rico and each averages about 136,000 square feet, according to the company’s official website.

How much money does Sam’s Club make?

For the fiscal year ending January 31, 2022, Sam’s Club’s total revenue was $73.6 billion, according to its official website.

Who is in charge of Sam’s Club today?

Sam’s Club is a division of Walmart Inc. Its President and CEO is Kathryn McLay and the headquarters is in Bentonville, Arkansas.

How many people does Sam’s Club employ?

Walmart Inc., the parent company of Sam’s Club, has nearly 1.6 million workers and is the largest employer in the country. Sam’s Club has nearly 600 stores and about 100,000 employees.

Employee history and benefits

Walmart Inc., the parent company of Sam’s Club, is the nation’s largest employer, with nearly 1.6 million workers. Walmart Inc. has an anti-unionization stance. It has historically been at the center of a lawsuits around gender discrimination and sex-based hiring discrimination. See more in the timeline above.

Some Sam’s Club employees have health plan options, including vision and dental plans for the employee and dependents, free membership and discounts in fresh produce, financial benefits including 401(k), stock purchase plans, life insurance, paid education assistance with college degrees through our Live Better U program, parental Leave, pay during military service, paid time off - to include vacation, sick leave and parental leave, short-term and long-term disability for when you can’t work because of injury, illness, or childbirth. Eligibility requirements apply to some benefits and may depend on your job classification and length of employment. Benefits are subject to change and may be subject to specific plan or program terms. For information about benefits and eligibility, see One.Walmart.com/Benefits.

Houston-area locations

Sam’s Club has 19 Houston-area locations. See a map with the address of all of the locations below.