West Allis Sam’s Club among stores closing

Jan. 26 will be its last day of operation

WEST ALLIS – The West Allis Sam’s Club is one of the Sam’s Clubs closing nationwide, a Wisconsin store manager confirmed Thursday.

The West Allis and Madison Sam’s Clubs are the only Wisconsin stores closing, the manager said.

“I guarantee it,” he said.

The West Allis store, 1540 S. 108th St., was closed Thursday, but a recorded announcement said it will reopen at 10 a.m. Friday. It will remain open at least five days after that, the source said.

A sign on the door stated the store would close Jan. 26, and that records of prescription customers would be moved to a Sam’s Club at 600 N. Springdale Road in Waukesha.

Merchandise will be marked down. Employees have been offered additional pay to stay until the final closing, the source said.

Sam’s Club is trying to find other positions within the company and even outside the company for employees affected by the closures, the source said. A job fair has been tentatively scheduled for next weekend.

Milwaukee resident Bob Bivens pulled in to the Sam’s Club parking lot in

West Allis early Thursday afternoon and got the news from security guards stationed outside the building. The guards were only allowing people who needed to pick up prescriptions to go inside.

“I’m kind of surprised,” Bivens said of the shutdown of the West Allis location. “They’ve had a lot of business.”

Sam’s Club, the membership warehouse owned by retail giant Walmart, is shutting down or converting 63 stores, a Walmart official told USA Today on Thursday.

Walmart would not immediately say the specific locations or the number of employees that will be affected.

The closures came the same day that Walmart said it would lift the hourly minimum wage in the United States to $11 and give out bonuses of up to $1,000.