Sam's Club will expand this fall

Construction is returning to the Village Plaza on Bobby Jones Expressway.

Wal-Mart expanded into a Supercenter last year. Now the other anchor tenant, Sam's Club, will be undergoing an expansion this fall.

Sam's Club will be adding 20,000 square feet to the store, giving it room to add a pharmacy, optician, photo lab and more products, said Glen Wilkins, a Wal-Mart regional spokesman.

"It is going to be a better-looking store and have better offerings inside," he said.

Sam's Club also will create a gas station.

The project should get under way in October, Mr. Wilkins said, and take a year to finish.

Mr. Wilkins did not reveal how much the company was spending on the expansion, nor did he know how many employees the store will add.

The company is planning parking lot improvements, including trees, and will be moving the front entrance to the corner of the building so that it is close to more parking spaces, Mr. Wilkins said.

The expansion will take place in the alley between Sam's Club and Tractor Supply Co.

Tractor Supply will lose a portion of its garden center, said Cynthia Hicks, the vice president of leasing and development for U.S. Properties Group, which owns the shopping center.

Along with the Sam's Club project, U.S. Properties Group is planning a face-lift for the rest of the shopping center between the anchor stores.

Ms. Hicks said the exterior renovations will be tenant-driven, meaning the incoming and existing tenants will renovate their spaces. The property group will be paying for the renovation at Tractor Supply as part of the bargain to take part of its garden center for Sam's Club, she explained.

"We had a lot of national tenants that were interested in the shopping center, but the components were whether Wal-Mart would expand, which they have done, and whether Sam's would expand," Ms. Hicks said.

Ms. Hicks said there are three vacant large spaces in the center. Its other tenants include GNC, Cato, Mr. Dryclean, Lendmark Financial, Greats Deals on Furniture and Sally Beauty.

Sam's Club will remain open during the construction.

"We'll make it as easy as can be," Mr. Wilkins said.

It is one of the oldest Sam's Club stores in the region, and one of the busiest, ranking in the top two for sales volume in a three-state region, said Mike Thompson, the market manager. Sam's Club opened in 1989.