Business & Tech

How Did Sam's Club Influence Retail Development Along Woodbury Drive?

The wholesaler, which celebrated its 10th anniversary Thursday, made the area more attractive to other retailers, city official says.

The Woodbury Sam’s Club in the city on Thursday.

But its inception meant more than just a place to get groceries in bulk.

“It definitely provided an anchor for the area,” said Eric Searles, associate planner with Woodbury, whose work with the city coincided with the opening a decade ago.

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The opening of Sam’s Club was about the same time the CityWalk development began to come online, Searles said, when the current area near was an outlet mall.

The wholesaler’s opening made the business climate in the area more attractive for additional retailers—most notably the Commerce Hill parcel, which saw a new .

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“Sam’s Club certainly increased the amount of traffic for that area,” Searles said. “Commerce Hill was made more attractive because of Sam’s.”

Construction on new retail buildings at Commerce Hill (at Woodbury and Commerce drives) is expected to begin this fall or next spring, he said.

Yet it wasn’t Sam’s Club alone that led to the development of that area of Woodbury, Searles said.

Easy access from Interstate 94 has also helped spur development in that area, he said.


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