Wal-Mart to close Irvine club store

In a surprise move for the giant retailer, Wal-Mart Inc. disclosed plans Monday to close 10 money-losing Sam's Club warehouses, including one in Irvine.



"Despite the outstanding efforts of our associates, these clubs continued to lose money and we have decided to close them," Sam's Club CEO Brian Cornell said in a statement released today by Wal-Mart Inc.

http://fastfood.freedomblogging.com/2010/01/11/wal-mart-to-close-irvine-club-store/48093/

Yeah... I was really bummed to read this in the paper this morning.

I like Sam's over Costco sometimes because they take credit cards and they have stuff that Costco doesn't have. You can even go online and see if they have the items in-store for you to pick up yourself.

And being in Irvine (I even went there when it used to be PriceSavers) made it convenient.

Sadly, this will hurt my friends who have a business that rely on Sams Club to keep their costs down. Not only is this bad for jobs that will be lost here, but it will hurt businesses that relied on them to help keep the costs down for consumers. I'm surprised too, because every time I have been there they have been busy. Sounds like they just had poor management of the demographics rather than just losing money...

Can't they just switch over to Costco? In any case, they couldn't compete with Costco for members in this area. From the center of Irvine, you have 3 Costcos to choose from, 5 if you include Foothill Ranch and Fountain Valley, which technically aren't that far away. They really bombarded Central OC with locations.

Comparatively, there's only 5 Costcos from West LA all the way north to Northridge and Northeast to Pasadena.

That center is cursed.

The food court that used to be open for an eternity closed down last year. The shoe store closed only after a year or so.

Sam's was never as crowded as Costco... even before the one in the District opened.

I don't know if WalMart owns the building or is just leasing. If it's the latter, it figures that they closed down after the Christmas season. I was there yesterday and they already closed the pizza/hot dog area and it looks like the bakery in the back is closed too.

It's sad... I hope the employees I see there all the time can find new jobs.

And it takes away one of my options at lunch time and a comparison shop to Costco.

Wow, I've lived in Irvine for pushing 5 years, and until this thread didn't even realize there was a Sam's Club here. Maybe that says something about why they failed. Bad location, bad marketing.

[quote author="ck"]Wow, I've lived in Irvine for pushing 5 years, and until this thread didn't even realize there was a Sam's Club here. Maybe that says something about why they failed. Bad location, bad marketing.[/quote]
Dude it was like 2 minutes from the Kogi Truck run you were at.

Shame on you... no wonder you live in the 714! ;D

Speaking of Kogi, the Naranja truck is going to be in Irvine tonight.....6:30PM-9PM @ K-1 - 17221 Von Karman Ave. Right by Sam's Club, I presume.

IHO, can you stop and pick up some and drop it by my office....I'll be working late tonight. Thanks, brother.

Naranja truck? Is that one of the new ones I read about in the OCRegister?

I'm not in that area after 5:30... need to go pick up the kids... maybe next time.

(we should do lunch one day with IR2)

[quote author="screennamefail"]Can't they just switch over to Costco? In any case, they couldn't compete with Costco for members in this area. From the center of Irvine, you have 3 Costcos to choose from, 5 if you include Foothill Ranch and Fountain Valley, which technically aren't that far away. They really bombarded Central OC with locations.

Comparatively, there's only 5 Costcos from West LA all the way north to Northridge and Northeast to Pasadena.[/quote]

They already shop at Costco. They also shop at Sams because on certain products they have better prices. So they will now have to shop for them at Costco, Smart & Final and Restaurant Depot. And since the prices are higher there, then they will either have to raise prices or cut into their margin. Both equally bad for the economy.

[quote author="ck"]Speaking of Kogi, the Naranja truck is going to be in Irvine tonight.....6:30PM-9PM @ K-1 - 17221 Von Karman Ave. Right by Sam's Club, I presume.

IHO, can you stop and pick up some and drop it by my office....I'll be working late tonight. Thanks, brother.[/quote]

For those of you who only see the perfectly aligned trees and perfectly manicured parkway here is another secret of Irvine at the K1-Go-kart location on Von karmon where the Kogi truck has been conducting its business . While your kids are in line the real Korean food is being served at a massage parlor next door to the Go-Kart place.


The recent police bust on prostitution in Irvine was pressured by the Pasadena police who busted the Pasadena brothel and must disclose the branch in Irvine. The local politicians, IPD and corporates could not cover up the bad news.

Irvine has the highest internet related prostitution in all of Socal due to the cities insistance for a perfect image these activities are deliberately being overlooked.

UC Irvine Asian students are notorious for providing tricks to pay for their tuition.

Please don't ask me to provide proof of article.