The Future of Sam’s Club Begins in Grapevine, Texas
This fall, Sam’s Club celebrated the grand opening of its Grapevine, Texas, location, offering a glimpse into the future of retail.
In December 2022, the Grapevine Sam’s Club was forced to close after damage from a tornado. But instead of simply remodeling the store, the company decided to reinvent the whole shopping experience.
Grapevine Sam’s Club reopened in October 2024 as a fully digital store. The new store introduced “the dance floor” concept, an omnichannel showroom that gives customers a new way to interact with items. Where registers once stood, there is now an expansive space that integrates digital and in-person shopping. Members can explore online exclusives, use Scan & Go to add items to their cart, and ship purchases directly to their doorstep – all within an expansive environment that Sam’s Club designed for convenience and discovery.
“[W]e’ve created these inspiration spaces that are purely things you can buy online,” explained President and CEO Chris Nicholas during his keynote at Groceryshop in October. “And so people, not only are they shopping with their phone online, but they get to transact and buy something online whilst they're shopping in real life. And I think this really exciting connection in real life and online, and those two things being inextricable, is really exciting.”
Grapevine Sam’s Club is a register-free store. High-top tables near the showroom and entrance are staffed by member specialists ready to assist anyone new to Scan & Go.
Other upgraded features in Grapevine include a sushi island, home meal solutions, and digitally enhanced pharmacy, optical and hearing centers.
The location also incorporates Sam's Club newly released store exit technology, which resolves a key pain point for members: waiting in line for receipt verification to exit the club. A combination of computer vision and digital technology now captures images of carts and verifies payment for all items within a member’s basket. The innovative technology earned Sam's Club a 2024 GroceryTech Innovation Award, presented by Progressive Grocer.
Meanwhile, Sam’s Club also invested in AI and computer vision technology to create a better work environment for its Grapevine associates. Upgrades that assist employees during their workday include a vertical tire carousel, automated forklifts and a pizza robot in the cafe.
Sam’s Club is a division of Bentonville, Ark.-based Walmart Inc. The company operates 600 clubs in the United States and Puerto Rico. Meanwhile, Walmart operates more than 10,500 stores and numerous e-commerce websites in 20 countries. Walmart U.S. is No. 1 on Progressive Grocer’s 2024 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America, and Sam’s Club is No. 8. PG also named Walmart one of its Retailers of the Century.
