Grapevine Sam's Club celebrates reopening years after closing due to tornado damage
GRAPEVINE – Nearly two years ago — and two weeks before Christmas — an EF-1 tornado touched down in Grapevine, damaging several buildings, including the Sam's Club off Highway 114. But you wouldn't know that looking at the newly reopened wholesale club on Thursday.
The store celebrated its soft reopening on Wednesday and had a grand reopening Thursday morning, complete with Grapevine High School's drumline and cheer squad.
That show of community support emphasized how enthusiastic Grapevine was to have this Sam's Club back. On Thursday morning, more than 100 people lined up around the store to check it out.
The tornado also allowed the 150,000-square-foot store to remodel, turning it into the company's first Scan and Go only club, meaning members scan all their purchased products on their phones and don't go through any cashier or checkout counter.
There's also a pizza robot that can produce more than 100 pies an hour, a reimagined cafe, new layouts for good and increased club pickup parking.
The new store manager, Hossein Zakeri, said he was at the store 30 minutes after the tornado hit and the team has been working on the store since January.
"You saw all the people excited," Zakeri said. "This is their Sam's Club. Even though we have Sam's Club in a short radius around us, but this belongs to them. And even though they shop the other Sam's, but they wanted this open so they came to their own Sam's Club."
Customers said the Scan and Go digital experience worked flawlessly for them. Some appreciated the convenience of having a store right off the highway.
"Helps a lot," said Holly Witt. "I'm a very busy person. I work in both Dallas and Wise County, so between stops, I try to make it and it helps a lot to be able to find a place to go."
The company has arches located near the exit of the store to help enforce the new technology by scanning customers' carts before they exit.