Several Sam's Club stores throughout the nation reportedly closed Thursday without notice to the public.
One club in South Tampa is among those shutting its doors. The location was closed Thursday, but a sign on the door said it would reopen Friday. Customer were stunned to find the doors locked.
"It's quite disturbing, I've been coming here for the past 20 years. This is like home," Aqeela Syed-Arth explained.
After reopening, the South Tampa location will remain open through January 26.
Sam's Club says about 150 employees will be affected at the South Dale Mabry location. The company is working with stores to transfer employees to other Sam's Club locations, Walmart or Neighborhood Markets.
The employees will receive 60 days pay and severance conversations would ensue after that.
Christopher Holloway, who works at the South Tampa store, said employees were told in a meeting Thursday at the store about the closure.
"Shock. There is a lot of process," explained Holloway. "Some of us employees were very upset because this is a company we rely on."
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Pharmacy customers like Shirley Barber say the closure is frustrating and will force her to move her prescriptions elsewhere.
"I wish we had more notice. At least maybe a couple months notice or a couple weeks notice, to find out today is a shock," Barber said.
Any prescriptions customers at Sam's Club on South Dale Mabry will be transferred to other locations after January 26.
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On Friday, hundreds of members showed up to shop the store's liquidation sale. Many items were priced down 25% and members were cashing in on the great deals before the store closes.
On the Sam's Club website, the South Tampa location no longer appears in the "Find a club" section.
The company scrubbed several store locations off of their website Thursday. Walmart says the decision was based on financial performance.
The Twitter account for Sam's Club confirmed a "series of clubs" would be closing but did not report where the stores would close.
After a thorough review of our existing portfolio, we’ve decided to close a series of clubs and better align our locations with our strategy. Closing clubs is never easy and we’re committed to working with impacted members and associates through this transition.
— Sam's Club (@SamsClub) January 11, 2018
The account did say that pharmacies at these locations would remain open for two weeks.
Pharmacies will stay open for at least two weeks, and we will work with each state’s Board of Pharmacy to help guide this transition.
— Sam's Club (@SamsClub) January 11, 2018
News outlets across the nation -- including Baltimore, Buffalo, Indianapolis, New Jersey, Memphis and Houston -- reported similar unannounced closures of Sam's Club stores Thursday.
The Loveland, Ohio store on Fields-Ertel Road and the Oakley, Ohio store on Marburg Avenue both permanently closed Thursday, Sam's Club spokesperson Anne Hatfield told Cincinnati-based WCPO.
Employees commented on WCPO's Facebook page and said they had no notice of the closure before receiving a letter in the mail.
Also Thursday, Walmart -- the owner and operator of Sam's Club -- announced it would raise minimum pay to $11 per hour and give employees one-time bonuses of $1,000. Walmart attributed the pay increase to the recent tax reform bill.
