Walmart announced yesterday that it is closing 63 Sam's Club locations across the country, including warehouses in St. Louis Park and Moorhead, Minn.The stores were closed Thursday but re-opened Friday with storewide discounts of 25 percent. A representative in St. Louis Park said the store's last day will be Jan. 26.
Many retail going-out-of-business sales start at 25 percent off and then scale up to 75 or 90 percent. Sam's Club's discount is surprisingly generous because of much smaller margins in a warehouse club. It is generally reported that Sam's Club and Costco have gross margins of 10 percent compared to Walmart's 25 percent.
The best deals will typically be on food items and worst on apparel, which typically has higher margins. Even better, the items on the Instant Savings program this month will also get the additional 25% discount, which means extra low prices on mattresses, Tide, Cheerios, Glad bags and many others.
Only Sam's Club members will be able to take advantage of the extra savings. You will need to show your Sam's Club membership card at the entrance and show it at the checkout, but a person could join at any location and then go to a store that is going out of business. The closing stores will be mobbed, so it might tbe faster to join at a location that is not closing.
Both Sam's Club and Costco have a satisfaction guarantee on their memberships. Anyone not satisfied with a membership can cancel at any time. Sam's Club currently charges $45 a year for a membership.
Sam's Club has 14 locations in Minnesota and 660 in the U.S.
