Sam&＃39;s West, Inc. (doing business as Sam&＃39;s Club) is an American chain of membership-only retail warehouse clubs owned and operated by Walmart, founded in 1983 and named after Walmart founder Sam Walton. As of 2012, Sam&＃39;s Club chain serves 47 million U.S. (including Puerto Rico) members and is the 8th largest U.S. retailer.[2] As of January 31, 2008, Sam&＃39;s Club ranks second in sales volume among warehouse clubs with $56.828 billion in sales[3] (in fiscal year 2016) behind Costco.Sam&＃39;s Club had sales of $57.157 billion in FY 2014.[4] It reported a 0.3% sales increase in 2014, 4.1% in 2013, and 8.4% sales increase in 2012. This is significantly higher growth than Walmart U.S. stores, which did not have higher than 2% growth since 2010.[4]Its major competitors are Costco and BJ&＃39;s Wholesale Club.As of January 31, 2017, Sam&＃39;s Club operates 660 membership warehouse clubs in 47 U.S. states and Puerto Rico.[1] Oregon, Rhode Island (which that state&＃39;s only location closed in February 2016) and Vermont are the only states where Sam&＃39;s Club does not operate, as is the case for the District of Columbia. Walmart International also operates Sam&＃39;s Clubs in Mexico, Brazil, and China. It has 160 locations in Mexico,[1] 27 locations in Brazil,[1] and 15 in China.[1]