Big-box retailer prepares to open doors

August 14, 2008

By Jamie Busen

Quincy’s newest big-box store is slated to open soon.

Sam’s Club, 700 N. 54th, will have its grand opening Oct. 23. Employees will move in a month earlier for on-site training and to stock shelves to get the 134,537-square-foot warehouse store ready for business.

On a recent day, the store’s temporary office at 4937 Oak was full of employees going through orientation sessions. Penny Lock, membership manager for the store, said the company has about 75 people hired and expects to add another 75 before the store opens.

The warehouse club is a division of Wal-Mart. It filed for rezoning in fall 2006, and the four-lot commercial subdivision was approved in June 2007.

There will not be a gas station and car wash, as originally thought, but the store will feature a pharmacy; photo department; eyecare center; and meat, produce and bakery departments.

It also will sell appliances and clothing, along with tires and batteries, which will be changed on-site. The lot will have around 600 parking spaces.

Lock said the company also has been pre-selling store memberships and have sold about 450 in three weeks.

“We’ve had a great response. I think we’ve really been welcomed into the community,” said Lock, a Quincy native who has been with the company more than four years.

Bryan Willis, assistant hardline manager for the store, said he was “thrilled” about the upcoming opening and said Sam’s Club is looking forward to serving the community.

There are different membership levels of Sam’s: business membership for small-business owners and an advantage membership for everyone else. The store opens earlier for business members who need to get “in and out” before the start of work. A business membership runs $35 a year, and an advantage costs $40.

The store will open at 7 a.m. for business members and 10 a.m. for advantage members Monday through Friday, closing at 8:30 p.m.

On Saturdays, it will open at 7 a.m. for business members and 9:30 a.m. for advantage members, closing at 8:30 p.m. It will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays.

According to Sam’s Club’s Web site, the first store opened in Oklahoma in 1983, and the company now serves more than 47 million members in the U.S. and has more than 590 club locations.