Sam’s Club Grows Cheese Assortment, Plans Back-to School Open House

As part of its enhanced fresh food offering, Sam’s Club is rolling out over a dozen international cheese varieties, including products from England, France, Ireland, Italy and Spain. Slated to begin arriving in clubs next month, the cheeses will be featured at over 150 Sam’s Club locations by late fall.

Among the additional product to be featured in the revamped section are both regular and special seasonal items to complement the Walmart division’s domestic cheese offering, which encompasses sliced deli cheese along with hard and soft cheeses.

“Consumers are hungry for new food products because they are experimenting more with food at home and see it as form of entertainment,” explained Sam’s Club VP, fresh and deli Shawn Baldwin. “We have identified some of the highest-quality European brands and will be bringing them to the U.S. for the first time.”

Noteworthy imports to Sam’s Club are Italy’s Parmiagiano Reggiano, which is aged for at least two years, and the Irish Dairy Board’s Ballyshannon Cheddar. Many of the warehouse club chain’s imported cheeses are D.O.P certified (Product Denominazione of Origin) to ensure that quality and production methods meet stringent standards, and that the product is developed only in the region specified. As well as verifying authenticity, by working with its suppliers, Sam’s Club can identify the exact production of many of these cheeses, thereby further ensuring top quality and consistency.

In other Sam’s Club news, the chain will host an open house from Friday, Aug. 6 through Sunday, Aug. 8, at which members and non-members alike can save on everyday home and work items, as well as on back-to-school products such as electronics.

Sam’s Club has only held a few such events throughout its history, including one in 2008 to mark its 25th anniversary. At an open house, non-members can shop Sam’s Club at no charge and don’t have to pay the normal 10 percent service fee if they buy something.

“We’re hosting this open house to welcome families with children in school and college to experience how Sam’s Club can simplify their back-to-school shopping,” noted SVP, membership Mike Turner. “This event is also ideal for small-business owners to try Sam’s Club and let us show how we can save them both time and money with member benefits like Click ’n’ Pull and invoice comparisons. This is a great opportunity for our members to bring friends and family to try Sam’s Club risk free.”

This month, Sam’s Club began offering early shopping hours to its Plus Advantage members as well as its Business members, allowing both to shop its locations from 7 a.m. Monday through Saturday. The chain plans additional open-house events in the near future, including a celebration of the first anniversary of its “eValues” program, which gives personalized digital offers to Plus Business and Advantage members on items purchased at Sam’s Club.

Sam’s Club, a division of Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., serves over 47 million U.S. members with locations nationwide, as well as in Brazil, China, Mexico and Puerto Rico.