Sam's Club Closures: Is Princeton On The Chopping Block?

PRINCETON, NJ — How much longer will Princeton residents have to shop at the local Sam’s Club? On a day in which Sam’s Club stores in Mount Olive and Linden, New Jersey, and multiple other stores around the country are closing, the status of the store at the Nassau Park Pavilion off Route 1 remained unclear.

The store was closed on Thursday, Jan. 11, with an outgoing phone message that says it will reopen on Friday, Jan. 12. The same outgoing message was left at Sam’s Club locations in other states on Thursday. The location was also removed from the store's corporate website.

Others were more conclusive. A recording that greets callers to the Mount Olive store confirms that that location is permanently closed, effective Jan. 11. It has been removed from the company's website as well.

The store in Linden also closed effective Jan. 11, a recording confirms. Locations across the country, including in Illinois and Texas, appear to have shut their doors for good Thursday morning.

Calls to Sam's Club media representatives have not yet been returned. Representatives from the company that owns the Nassau Park Pavilion, as well as from the West Windsor Zoning and Planning Department and Mercer County Business Advocate Anthony Carabelli Jr. weren't immediately available on Thursday.

The closures of the New Jersey stores took employees by surprise, with one telling the Daily Record they were informed of the closures during a 9 a.m. meeting on Thursday. Employees were told about the meeting late Wednesday night.

Sam's Club said in a tweet that the closures were to "better align our locations with our strategy." They confirmed that pharmacies in closed stores would stay open at least two weeks, and that they "will work with each state's Board of Pharmacy to help guide this transition."

News of the closures comes on the same day Walmart, which owns Sam's Club, announced they were raising their minimum hourly rate to $11.

It was not immediately clear if members of the stores that are closing would be getting refunds for their memberships. According to their membership terms, they will "cancel your membership and provide a refund of the amount paid for your current year Membership fee" if a member is "unsatisfied." The company is asking Twitter users to direct message them regarding membership refunds.

This is a developing story. Check back for more information.

Patch Editor Katie Kausch contributed to this story

Image via Google Maps