Posted on 01/12/2010 6:42:07 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
In a move that indicates consumers may be worse off than the economic pundits think, Sam's Club, the discount warehouse chain owned by Wal-Mart (WMT), is closing 10 U.S. locations and cutting 1,500 jobs.
"Despite the outstanding efforts of Sam's Club Associates, these Clubs continued to lose money and we have decided to close them," wrote Sam's Club president and CEO Brian Cornell in a memo to employees Monday.
Almost half of the closures will occur on the west coast. In addition to California locations in La Quinta, Vista, Irvine, and Sacramento, stores in Nampa, Idaho; Louisville, Colo.; Rolling Meadows, Ill.; Clay, NY; Houston and Phoenix will also be shuttered. Trying to position these closures as a strategic cost-saving move, Cornell emphasized that the chain will have opened six stores by the end of its fiscal year and finished the remodeling of 52 others. He also announced plans to open five to ten more stores and remodel between 60 and 80 locations in fiscal year 2011.
Sam's Club will host job fairs at all ten locations to help displaced workers find jobs at other Sam's Club and Walmart stores. The company has also offered to refund membership fees in areas where stores are being closed and is trying to steer customers to other store locations. The move is bound to affect revenues in locales where stores are shuttered: in the Louisville area, city officials anticipate that the shuttering warehouse club will cost the area more than $500,000, totaling approximately 5% of the city's general fund revenue.
Major layoffs like the one Sam's Club is embarking on have filled the news lately. In the past week, Lockheed Martin (LMT) announced it was dropping 1,200 workers and United Parcel Service (UPS) said it would let 1,800 people go. DailyFinance's parent Aol (AOL) has also been streamlining its workforce, with the aim of cutting as many as 2,500 jobs.
Still, there remains a key difference between Sam's Club and the other companies that are clearing the decks. Throughout the recession, the conventional wisdom has held that the retail slowdown was, to some extent, reflective of a consumer move from high-end to low-end stores. No longer able to justify expensive "aspirational" purchases, customers chose instead to patronize bargain-priced stores. In general, Walmart and Sam's Club were perceived to be the winner in this trend, as their business model was designed to appeal to lower- and middle-income families. But these closures, and the dropping revenue that has inspired them, represents a worrisome trend: after all, if the stores that are best situated to ride out a recession can't keep their heads above water, then the future looks bleak for more upscale establishments.
15% unemployment? Are you in Michigan?
“They won’t even let you out their door without some minimum wage “security guard” checking your cart. “
Costco does this, too.
nope, south florida. We got hit with a triple whammy- tourism/all but disappeared, construction, and now, the citrus industry hit by this cold. That is pretty much our trifecta of industry here.
You are probably a fan of police roadblocks too.
There are plenty of other non-obtrusive ways to catch shoplifters.
I don’t have that problem. It’s usually glance at the ticket, glance at the cart, glance at the ticket again as they swipe it with the marker. If you hand it ahead to them, keep moving slowly, and reach back, you usually don’t have to even come to a complete stop.
You may wish to follow this other older thread: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2426732/posts
I took a beating for upholding individual rights.
Here in North Florida we seem to have more snowbirds but less revelry. The condo rentals seem to be doing relatively well, the bars and restaurants less.
we have way less snowbirds here this year, and if it keeps getting as cold as up north is, why would they want to come here anyway? Our home/condo sales are flat, many vacant homes, and more importantly, a HUGE shadow inventory of homes people have been living in without paying, many for years now. Sigh. We’ve a long way to go yet.....
These folks don’t catch shoplifters much but their presence prevents a lot of them from practicing their craft in the first place. I have no problem with it. It keeps losses down and prices lower.
No shoplifter is going to be stupid enough to put his stolen goods in a cart and try to walk out the door. So that whole "door-checking" routine is a complete waste of time. It's almost comical to see these stores harassing their honest customers at the front door while the real crooks are robbing them blind through the back door.
Every Sam’s and Costco that I’ve been to do the same thing....I belong to both clubs.
Never been a huge fan of Sam’s. I just don’t buy items in the quantity or fashion as that offered by the Sam’s/CostCos so I just don’t go there.
Wal-Mart SuperCenters, though, different story. As much as I dislike the crowds and lack of floor service, I can consistently spend 20-25% less simply on groceries when compared with the same buy from Kroeger/Alberton’s/Tom Thumb, etc. No doubt about it. I still hit the local grocery-only chains about once per month to get a few things Wal-Mart doesn’t stock but for regular weekly trips for normal used items.......it’s the local Wal-Mart SC.
And they don’t take bank cards, either.
Sam’s is convenient to my daughters’ college....that is the only reason I joined....that and they gave a reduced rate for college kids and a $25 dollar store credit to sign up
Uh, yeah, they do take debit cards.
One of the Sam’s Club that is closing is in Irvine, CA. It was a Price Club many years ago before they sold out to Costco, then the site changed over to Sam’s Club.
The death knell was when Costco opened a new warehouse within walking distance of Sam’s Club.
I can only speak for myself but you know more than I do. I do not mean that sarcastically- I simply mean you have experienced more than me, and not good either.
Some of the Canadians we get are coming for their annual visits to real doctors or to get their cancers treated, etc. If we get Obamacare that will stop as they get vacation homes in India or Thailand or maybe in a few years in Central America or the Caribbean. The medical trade is what gave us a Winter season here when the Canadian dissolution of Medicine started biting. A good business to get into after Obamacare will be Medical Tourist Agencies.
We tried Sam’s, but the quality of their products just can’t compete with Costco. The foodstuff is pretty much the same, but the furniture, tools, playtoys, etc. always seemed to be better at Costco.
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