In case you missed it Sam’s Club is closing 63 stores. They had already announced membership refunds or three month extension for those affected. Closing stores are also offering 25% off all merchandise, with reports of 50% off on alcohol in at least one store (other stores excluded alcohol purchases from the sale). Gift cards are excluded in some stores and the discount applies to some gift cards at other stores. Expect big lines and the sales started yesterday so most of the better stuff might have already sold out. Some other exclusions mentioned by readers (note this will vary from store to store by the sounds of it):
- Tires
- Fuel
- Gift cards
- Prescription drugs
- Phone contracts
- Alcohol
Store representatives have also stated that they will be increasing the discounts as the store closure dates come closer to ensure all stock is sold (e.g it doesn’t look like they will be moving stock to unaffected locations).
Well, our Sam’s went 50% off today. It was worse than Black Friday. Even liquor was 50% off (however, almost all the high end liquor was either sold before or removed). But bought quite a few bottles of Vodka and Rum which were around $7.50 each after 50% off. Had to stand in the cold in a line for 1.5 hours. But got quite a bit of stuff … spent $400 for $800 of things I normally buy. Not much in the freezers, no meat to speak of… People were leaving with TV sets for 50% off (not looking for one). But hey, it was really wild. Though sad to see our store getting ransacked.
Really sad about all this. Walmart is a corporate pig. Closing stores, laying people off and giving some Walmart people a token $1/hr raise. I hope they fry in their own juices, and Walmart goes out of business.
“Farsighted”? The name is a joke, right? You realize they are the largest employer in the country? Are you hoping all of those people become unemployed?
I am a dyed-in-the wool capitalist, but — The way in which WM did these Sams closings makes me sick. Assuming media reports are accurate, many employees only found out when they showed up for work & were turned away. Almost 10,000 workers losing jobs, WM doesn’t seem to care about transition, etc. How about taking some of those corporate tax savings and providing a little cushion for these workers?
A tip for any readers that may be intimidated by the long checkout lines reported by others: I highly recommend downloading the free Sam’s Club Scan & Go app for IOS or Android. You can scan items in store as you add them to your cart, check out and pay through the app, then proceed directly to the exit, where you show the barcode to the greeter. No need to wait in ridiculously long checkout lines.
This is not an option anymore for the locations that are closing. Found that out the hard way today…
Drats! I was planning to do a Scan-and-Go to skip all the lines.
I saw the line yesterday… Did not wait. It was worse than Black Friday. 25% off is not even that good of a deal. Might stop by when its 50% or 75%.
Do you still have to be a member to purchase?
Are the stores that already closed reopening just for the sale? The one near me was closed Thursday without warning, haven’t gone back to check yet though.
Answering my own question, I just went to the South Loop Houston location which closed abruptly and it wasn’t open. Security turned everyone away.
In our store in CT, we had to form queues in advance to enter, no carts, 3 hour long checkouts.. stuff like TVs on sale and Bose products flew off the shelf.. Gatorade was a fan favorite and I didn’t understand why :/ basically it was worse than black Friday to be frank..
Coming to the interesting part, I didn’t find all gcs on the rack.. but local gcs like sweet frog, Boston market and bertucci’s were on the 25% sale.. maybe I was a day late for the rest of the gcs.. but I am not sure..
I went to a CT store today as well, saw all the normal GC’s tucked away in a corner and were not for sale. I thought it was foolish to stack up on all the Chase Walmart GC I hoarded up, but it all came in handy, next is the Discover Q1.
It was crazy for sure, with a police officer at the entrance; long lines( they said they are off the grid so no Scan & go etc.). People are driving from afar to shop and folks are waiting for people to unload their carts to grab them.
The sale at the location by me started Friday morning. There were Black Friday-level crowds when they opened. They ran out of carts, long checkout lines, etc.
Items already on sale as part of their current “instant savings” catalog qualify for an additional 25% off. I focused my purchases on those items and items which I know never go on sale in the monthly catalogs (as the discounts in those catalogs are around 25% anyway).
Hi Brad,
Did you find and purchase some good deals? Some examples?