On a recent weeknight in Shanghai, customers packed one of the city’s six Sam’s Clubs, scouting for deals among the wide aisles stacked to the ceiling with groceries and merchandise.
“At least half our family’s stuff is bought here,” said Peter Xu, a 34-year-old shopper at the front of a long queue for free samples of Chaoshan beef noodles.
Sam’s Club, Walmart’s warehouse chain, is one of China’s fastest-growing foreign retailers, with 56 stores in the country and plans for 60 by the end of the year, said a person familiar with its expansion. This compares with seven China stores from Costco, the dominant warehouse club operator in the US.