Sam’s Club Opening More Clubs As It Rivals Costco And BJ’s Expansion

In times of doubt and uncertainty, join our club, could well be the message from Walmart as it plans to ramp up expansion of its Sam’s Club stores as it increases competition with warehouse rivals Costco and BJ’s Wholesale Club.

All three have set out ambitious expansion plans and have been outlining their strategies to try and shield their shoppers from the worst of the inflationary impacts of tariffs as imports get hit by higher import costs.

Walmart said that it wants to open 15 new locations per year “for the foreseeable future” and on top of that is set to remodel all of its around 600 existing locations, Sam’s Club CEO Chris Nicholas said at an investor gathering Wednesday past.

Notably, the chain has set plans in motion to double its membership, sales and profits within the next decade, in part because of strong growth from its e-commerce operations and also as hard-pressed U.S. shoppers turn to discount clubs to make their dollars spread further.

Nicholas said that the company is confident of seeing strong returns in sales and in membership income as it remodels Sam’s Club’s entire store estate.

Sam’s Club Growth And New Formats

“This is one of the fastest, most scalable transformations happening in retail today,” said Nicholas. “We’re investing with intention — in our fleet, our associates and the member experience — to become the world’s best club retailer.”

The ambitions were set out after BJ’s Wholesale Club announced in early March that it intends to open between 25 and 30 new locations over the next two fiscal years. The company also said it will open several clubs in the Dallas-Fort Worth as clubs and at gas stations starting in early 2026, marking its debut in Texas.

Meantime, Costco plans to open 29 new locations this year, although it did not specify how many of Costco’s new warehouses will be in the U.S. CEO Ron Vachris also said of tariffs that the company plans to “minimize the impact of related cost increases to our members” and has been negotiating with suppliers.

Sam’s Club CFO Todd Sears added at the meeting that between 80% and 90% of Sam’s Club’s profits come from membership fees, while half of the company’s members either shop online or use the retailer’s Scan & Go technology when they are shopping in its physical locations. He added that around 40% of the transactions Sam’s Club now records are digital, with that provision including its Just Go exit technology and personalized, AI-driven advertising.

The pivot to omnichannel is important because consumers who use Sam’s Club’s online tools shop three times more often than customers who only make purchases in physical locations, buy products from twice as many categories and spend three times as much as other customers, according to Tom Ward, Sam’s Club’s end-to-end chief operating officer.

Sam’s Club Grapevine Concept

Sam’s Club is a $90 billion division of Walmart Inc. and operates currently from 600 clubs across the U.S. and Puerto Rico and those omnichannel club members also renew their memberships at a 10% higher rate than other Sam’s Club shoppers, Ward added.

As part of its remodeling and trials of new formats, in the fall Sam’s Club reponed its Grapevine Sam’s Club, with a new ‘dance floor’, an omnichannel showroom to “reimagine the member shopping experience and give members a new way to interact with items”.

Replacing registers is a space where members can explore online exclusives, use Scan & Go to add items to their cart, and ship purchases directly to their doorstep. The new Sam’s Club offer also includes a sushi island and home meal solutions, plus a full-service pharmacy, optical, and hearing centers.