The chain of membership-only retail warehouse clubs Sam’s Club belongs to Walmart Inc. The founder of the company was Sam Walton, also known as the founder of Walmart. The first Sam’s Club opened in the spring of 1983, in Midwest City, Oklahoma. The first notable acquisition took place four years later, when Sam’s Club purchased the SuperSaver Wholesale Warehouse Club West Monroe.
The evolution of Sam’s Club logo can be described as a transition to more modern styles without losing touch with the brand’s heritage.
What is Sam’s Club?
Sam’s Club is one of the retail chains owned by Walmart. The chain is specialized in the wholesale of a variety of goods, including electronic appliances, homeware products, fashion accessories, and pet supplies. The chain works on a Members-only basis.
The earliest versions of the logo contain the word “Wholesale”. The largest word in the logo, however, is the word “Sam’s”, which is set in an austere all-caps sans. The lettering “wholesale club” is given in two lines to the right.
Below, there are three horizontal lines and the writing “A Division of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.”
The design was simplified. The word “Sam’s”, which has remained unchanged, now occupies a larger part of the logo because many details were discontinued. Apart from the name of the founder, there is only the word “Club” in white placed inside a black rectangle.
While the design is simple, it seems to lack identity.
The company went for a logo that was better recognizable. Technically speaking, the shape of the elements remained virtually unchanged. And yet, the logo looked fundamentally different.
For one, a blue square was added as the background. The square was standing on one of its angles, which resulted in a very unstable feel. It looked as if the logo was going to fall and you needed to catch it. This captured your attention making the design eye-catching in spite of its calm colors.
To make this effect even stronger, the designers who worked on the emblem tilted the wordmark slightly. Now, the letters were positioned diagonally and were oriented upward. Such a direction is subliminally perceived as optimism and readiness to embrace the future.
We should also point out that there was a version with the slogan “It’s a Big Deal”. The slogan is placed inside an orange arrow. What’s even more important, there is a second square in the background. It is colored in a warm shade of green. The Chinese variation was also based on two squares.
The versions with two squares became the inspiration for the following variation of Sam’s Club logo.
In this version, the two squares were slightly rotated and placed inside a larger dark blue square. The lettering “Sam’s” in a serif font could be seen below, also inside the dark blue square. The word “club” still features a simple sans.
What is Sam’s Club
Sam’s West, Inc. (better known under the Sam’s Club brand) is a US chain of retail warehouse clubs. As of the fall of 2021, there are 600 outlets across the US and Puerto Rico. In addition to it, there are also clubs in other countries.
This logo was more serious and business-like. It also looked somewhat dated due to the serifs and the larger number of elements. Possibly, the company wanted to emphasize its heritage.
A simpler and thoroughly modern logo transformed the double square into a sleek and minimalist emblem. The name of the brand was set in a homogeneous lowercase sans.
The grayish shade of blue in Sam’s Club logo is PMS 2384. Its RGB coordinates are as follows: 0 103 160, the hex index: #0067A0.
The subtle transitions from thick to thin in the glyphs make them somewhat similar to Gibson Regular, which is one of the primary fonts of the brand. Yet, in fact, the type in the wordmark is a different one.
What does the Sam’s Club logo mean?
The modern minimalistic logo of Sam’s Club represents the approach of the company to its business, and shows the exchange between the buyers and the sellers. As for the lowercase inscription at the bottom of the badge, it adds friendliness and a sense of accessibility. The shade of blue in the logo is a symbol of reliability and loyalty if the company. Overall, the Sam’s Club emblem reflects the company’s value of its clients’ comfort and mood.
Did Sam’s Club change their logo?
Sam’s Club company has changed its logo several times throughout the years. The original version, introduced in 1983, was redesigned in 1990, and later — in 1993. The next redesign took place in 2006, and the latest version of the logo was created in 2019, basing on the previous badge, but made simpler, stricter, and cleaner.
What font is Sam’s Club logo?
The stable lowercase lettering from the primary Sam’s Club badge is set in a modern sans-serif font, which is very similar to Kontora Bold, or Boston Semi Bold, but with the apostrophe after the “Sam” slanted, adding a small unique feature to the badge.
What does Sam’s Club have?
Sam’s Club is a chain of warehouses, which have literally all kinds of goods, available for the club members in bulks. Here you can find food, homeware goods, furniture, health and beauty products, and pet supplies. Selling items in bulks makes it possible for the chain to offer best prices for its customers.