About Sam's Club

Sam's Club is a very popular discount club store. As a club store, Sam's Club requires that shopppers purchase memberships to shop in their stores and purchase items for reduced prices. Sam's Club has several competitors throughout the United States, including companies such as BJ's and Costco.

History

Sam's Club was created by Sam Walton, who is also the founder of Wal-Mart. The first Sam's Club opened in 1983 in the central United States in Oklahama. The purpose of Sam's Club is to offer reasonably priced food. This is accomplished by purchasing food in bulk, and offering it to Sam's Club's customers in bulk sizes as well. Sam's Club does not just sell food; you can purchase everything from tires to computers.

Features

Sam's Club is a membership-based shopping club. Members purchase their memberships on a yearly basis. Each member is permitted to bring one guest with him into a Sam's Club. There are two different memberships. The Advantage Membership is for families. Two members of any family with an Advantage membership receive a membership card. The other type is a Business membership for small businesses, which also includes two membership cards.

Size

There are Sam's Club locations in every state in the United States except for the states of Oregon and Vermont. Every other stated in the United States has at least one Wal-mart, with most states have multiple locations. The largest Sam's Club in the United States is located in Utica, Michigan and is approximately 145,000 square feet in size.

Benefits

Sam's Club locations offer discount groceries and other supplies for average households. The discounted prices are greatest on the items that are purchased in large bulk orders. Sam's Club also offers many pre-made food items for parties, including sandwiches, seafood, rotisserie chicken, and barbecued ribs. Sam's Club even offers a special feature for their business members, which allows business members to fax in their orders overnight and they are ready for pick-up the next day.

Warning

Do not assume just because something is sold at Sam's Club that Sam's Club offers the best price. The mealts, poulty and seafood at Sam's Club quite often has a lower everyday price than the local grocery store. Compare the sale prices from your local grocery store to Sam's Club for these items and you might discover that you can save more purchasing these items on sale at your local grocery store.