I visited Texas to see Sam's Club's store of the future. It was brimming with tech.

Dominick ReuterOct 22, 2024, 17:28 IST

Shoppers walk through the new AI gateways at Sam's Club in Grapevine, Texas.Dominick Reuter/Business Insider

Sam's Club recently opened its first new location in seven years in Grapevine, Texas, near Dallas.
The store is the first in the chain to have no checkout lanes — but the tech doesn't stop there.

I wanted to see what the future of brick-and-mortar retail might look like, so I traveled to the Dallas-area suburb of Grapevine, Texas.

The town is home to Sam's Club's recently opened store — its first new location in seven years — which is a showcase of a host of new tech that could soon appear in more of the warehouse chain's planned locations, as well as remodels of existing ones.

While the headline-grabbing innovation is the lack of checkout lanes at the front of the store, the tech doesn't stop there.

Business Insider toured the store on its grand opening day and got an exclusive behind-the-scenes view of how it all works.

The new location opened shortly after 8 a.m. on a chilly October morning.

The scene at the opening of the Sam's Club in Grapevine, Texas.Dominick Reuter/Business Insider

Shoppers rolled in past a custom mural made by a local Grapevine artist.

Shoppers enter the club shortly after opening.Dominick Reuter/Business Insider

The member services area seems more like a tech help desk than a retail-returns counter.

The member services area.Dominick Reuter/Business Insider

It's increasingly common to see people carrying their phones in their hands while shopping, and Sam's Club leaned into that trend — hard.

A shopper carries their iPhone at the Sam's Club in Grapevine, Texas.Dominick Reuter/Business Insider

Customers wore promotional T-shirts with a phrase that reads both literally and figuratively: "Scan & Go checkout is the only way to shop!"

A customer tests out a barbecue grill.Dominick Reuter/Business Insider

Instead of cash registers, the front end of the store now features displays of big-ticket items.

The new front end, with no checkout lanes.Dominick Reuter/Business Insider

The café is also run through the scan-and-go app.

The new Sam's Club café.Dominick Reuter/Business Insider

18 pizza-sized cubbies correspond to the monitor where shoppers can collect their orders.

Food cubbies at the Sam's Club café.Dominick Reuter/Business Insider

Behind the café is a super-sized e-commerce fulfillment area.

The e-commerce fulfillment area at Sam's Club.Dominick Reuter/Business Insider

A vertical carousel holds smaller orders, and an oversized overhead door leads out into the parking lot.

Dominick Reuter/Business Insider

Battery-powered coolers will soon extend the delivery range for perishables.

Battery-powered coolers for delivery.Dominick Reuter/Business Insider

The curbside pickup area is huge.

The curbside pickup area at Sam's Club.Dominick Reuter/Business Insider

More than 30 parking stalls are reserved for pick-ups.

The curbside pickup area at Sam's Club.Dominick Reuter/Business Insider

In the weeks leading up to the opening, Sam's Club used an interesting strategy to get shoppers acquainted with the app: car washes.

The Sam's Club car wash.Dominick Reuter/Business Insider

By nudging people to use the app for car washes, Sam's Club members were shown how the checkout-free process works.

An employee helps a customer purchase a carwash.Dominick Reuter/Business Insider

It uses the same strategy for customers filling up on gas.

The Sam's Club fuel station.Dominick Reuter/Business Insider

Even the tire center was high-tech, with a vertical carousel similar to the e-commerce fulfillment area.

The tire carousel at Sam's Club.Dominick Reuter/Business Insider

The loading dock was full of tech, too.

A worker uses a forklift to lower a pallet of merchandise.Dominick Reuter/Business Insider

Most of the lifts require human operators, but this autonomous unit is expected to save valuable time unloading trucks.

An autonomous forklift.Dominick Reuter/Business Insider

AI-powered computer vision scanners also watch what's coming into the store.

An AI-powered computer vision scanner on the loading dock.Dominick Reuter/Business Insider

Many of the store's latest innovations were made possible due to an autonomous floor scrubber that rolled out across the store fleet in 2022.

An autonomous floor scrubber in the maintenance closet.Dominick Reuter/Business Insider

There are also plenty of low-tech solutions, like signs that help demystify the treasure hunt.

Signs tell shoppers where to find products in the warehouse.Dominick Reuter/Business Insider

But you don't have to look far to find more tech, like these RFID scanners on the ends of aisles.

RFID scanners track merchandise through the warehouse.Dominick Reuter/Business Insider

This 3D printer was one of several display items that required shoppers to scan a QR code to purchase.

A 3D printer on display at Sam's Club.Dominick Reuter/Business Insider

At the store's exits, several employees were equipped with tablets and credit card readers to help complete transactions.

An Sam's Club employee with a tablet to process purchases.Dominick Reuter/Business Insider

However, many shoppers simply passed through the gateways without stopping.

A shopper walks through one of the AI powered gateways.Dominick Reuter/Business Insider

Cameras on the sides of the gateways capture images of the cart's contents, as well as the area underneath them.

A sideview camera in the AI gateway.Dominick Reuter/Business Insider

Overhead cameras catch the top-down view of customers' carts.

An overhead camera in the AI gateway.Dominick Reuter/Business Insider

The images are then processed to alert employees to any problems within the roughly three seconds it takes shoppers to get to the exit door.

The AI gateway at the Sam's Club.Dominick Reuter/Business Insider

Sam's Club CEO Chris Nicholas experienced one such inspection.

Sam's Club CEO Chris Nicholas confirms his purchases with an associate at the exit.Dominick Reuter/Business Insider

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