Sam’s Club on Getwell closes (Memphis, Bluff City: apartment complex, landscaping, neighborhood)

[Mouldy Old Schmo]

I think the Sam’s Club on Getwell was the first one in Memphis.
Sam’s Club on Getwell closes | WREG.com

[mattec]

Apparently it’s going to be converted into a fulfillment center for online sales, which isn’t horrible. At least it won’t be totally shutdown like a lot of other sams clubs were

[Jardine8]

To me it just felt like a weird location for a major retailer. I get that it is right off the interstate but it's Getwell Road. Any idea when this location opened? As someone who isn't a native Memphian, I would guess that it was sometime during the 90s when lots of Sam's Club stores were popping up around the country. Was Getwell Road considered a decent place even back then?

[Mouldy Old Schmo]

Originally Posted by Jardine8

To me it just felt like a weird location for a major retailer. I get that it is right off the interstate but it's Getwell Road. Any idea when this location opened? As someone who isn't a native Memphian, I would guess that it was sometime during the 90s when lots of Sam's Club stores were popping up around the country. Was Getwell Road considered a decent place even back then?

I think it opened in the 1980s.

[Jardine8]

Originally Posted by Mouldy Old Schmo

I think it opened in the 1980s.

Okay. How was Getwell back then? Was it ever "nice", for lack of a better word?

[Mouldy Old Schmo]

Originally Posted by Jardine8

Okay. How was Getwell back then? Was it ever "nice", for lack of a better word?

It is mostly a commercial street, but the residential neighborhood was middle class until the 1990s, at least. Across from Sam’s was Bluff City Buick, where dad bought a car in 1975.

[TheKernel91]

Originally Posted by Jardine8

To me it just felt like a weird location for a major retailer. I get that it is right off the interstate but it's Getwell Road. Any idea when this location opened? As someone who isn't a native Memphian, I would guess that it was sometime during the 90s when lots of Sam's Club stores were popping up around the country. Was Getwell Road considered a decent place even back then?

Yea it was better in the early 90s I remember. The Mall of Memphis which wasn't far off on American Way, it was starting to decline but area nearby was better. There was a Kmart on the other side of Getwell south of American Way where a storge place sits with the tall gates around it. Some major car dealerships like Jaguar was right off the interstate there next to Sam's, now sit some independent car dealerships and landscaping business where another dealership was across the street. Kroger was nearby in a shopping center thats now about vacant that's on American Way. That area seen better days. There's an apartment complex just south of there on Getwell that's abandon, you can tell it was maybe a Class A property in the 80's/early 90's I remember it