Sam’s Club Retools; Emphasizes Everyday Items

NEW YORK (AP) - Wal-Mart’s Sam’s Club chain hopes to steal more customers from rivals by expanding its space for such everyday categories as fresh food and health and beauty items at the expense of general merchandise like electronics.

It is also mirroring moves unveiled Wednesday by the Wal-Mart chain by deepening price cuts on specific items.

Sam’s Club’s officials say the warehouse club chain also testing a new prototype, which will have wider aisles and better sightlines. The redesigned stores will be more efficient to run, which would mean a reduction in labor hours by 6 to 8 percent in the next five years. That would save the company money.