Sam's Club opening location in Texas, but there's no checkout lanes

GRAPEVINE, Texas (KNWA/KFTA) — A new Sam's Club is set to open in Texas, but, according to CEO Chris Nicholas, there won't be any checkout lanes.

In a recent interview at GroceryShop 2024 in Las Vegas, Nicholas said that a location in Grapevine, Texas, opening on October 17 will be the club's first all-digital store. The store is reopening after it was damaged by a tornado nearly two years ago.

CNBC reported that customers will have to use their Scan and Go app on their smartphones to ring up purchases as they go through the aisles.

The company reported one in three Sam's Club members use Scan & Go when shopping at clubs.

Where the cash registers would normally be are online-only items on display, such as a 5-carat lab-grown diamond and a 12-foot Christmas tree. Shoppers can scan a QR code on the items to get more information or to purchase them.

Nicholas said the Grapevine location is part of Sam's Club's strategy to "pioneer the future of retail" by creating a store that manifests the vision of fully digital engagement across its operations.

Chris Walton with Forbes said the purpose of the store is to be a testing ground to "understand the puts and takes of omnichannel warehouse club retailing."

Nicholas said in the interview that not having the checkout lanes allows them to reimagine the floor space. The new layout will allocate more space for employees to prepare online orders, approximately four times as much as the traditional store, Walton said.

Earlier this year, Sam's Club rolled out new exit technology that allows customers to walk under an archway as their carts are scanned using AI technology, leaving no need for an employee to look at their receipt.

Nicholas told CNBC there will be no change to the number of workers at the store; however, some of them will have new roles.