Supermarket News

Walmart opens new-style Sam's Club without cash registers in Grapevine

A new and different Sam's Club reopens in Grapevine

Walmart

Walmart is about to open a new kind of Sam’s Club in Grapevine that will be different from the rest: It'll be an all digital store, without checkout lanes.

According to a company representative, the new store will open on October 17, with fanfare and a full schedule of events listed below.

The store is actually a reopening of sorts, of a store at 1701 W. SH-114 that closed in 2022, when the roof was damaged by a tornado on December 13.

Company CEO Chris Nicholas is describing the store as a forward-thinking prototype that represents the company's efforts to evolve for the future.

Instead of getting orders rung up on a cash register, shoppers will be required to use a smartphone app called Scan & Go to ring up purchases as they walk through the aisles.

When leaving the store, shoppers will walk under "computer vision-based" archways that use AI to scan their carts, comparing their products to their digital receipts — technology the company introduced in the spring.

In the place where you'd expect to find cash registers will be a display of unusual, online-only items such as Christmas trees or a five-carat lab-grown diamond — items they would not be able to see and touch otherwise — as well as a larger area for e-commerce (curbside pickup and delivery).

More space-age features will include a pizza robot that can make up to 100 pizzas in an hour, and a new system that delivers food orders to an assigned cubby after customers order through Scan & Go.

Walmart is touting this as a first-of-its-kind store. However, in 2018, they opened a similar concept on Greenville Avenue in Dallas called Sam's Club Now, which then-CEO Jamie Iannone called "the epicenter of innovation for Sam's Club."

In that store, customers similarly use the app to scan items as they shop, but a staff member is still required to give the order a final onceover.

A spokesperson says that the Now Club served as a small-format initial testing ground and Grapevine allows them to test innovation at scale in a full-size club (the Grapevine store is 151,000 square feet). The Now Club remains open and will run in tandem with the Grapevine club.

Schedule of events is as follows:

Wednesday, October 16: Soft Opening

5-8 pm: The public is invited to get a sneak peek of the club and shop from 5–8 pm
6-7:30 pm: Dallas Mavericks star Dereck Lively II appearance

Thursday, October 17: Grand Opening

8-8:30 am: Ribbon-cutting ceremony, Remarks from Sam’s Club leadership and Grapevine Mayor William D. Tate, and check presentations to 10 local organizations
10 am-12 pm: Dallas Cowboys legend Charles Haley appearance in partnership with LG
2-3 pm: Dallas Cowboys legend DeMarcus Ware appearance in partnership with PepsiCo

Member’s Mark demos, exclusive merchandise, exciting brand experiences and the first 3,000 members receive a Member’s Mark swag bag.

October 16-20

Free parking lot activities including the Sam’s Club Mobile Café, Member’s Mark Experience, inflatable games and crafts (through October 20)
Guided LEGO® build experience with Russell Cassevah, president of LittleBricks Charity and Guiness World Records holder for the farthest distance walking barefoot on LEGO® bricks

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Taco News

Mexican American restaurant in Grand Prairie does crazy street snacks

Asiago Grill

Tacos from Asiago Grill

There’s a darling new family-owned restaurant in Grand Prairie doing a different twist on Mexican: Called Asiago Mexican American Grill, it just opened in a little corporate park off SH 360, in what used to be an African buffet restaurant at 2100 N. SH 360 #2004-2005 Bldg 20.

Asiago is worth seeking out because owners Erik Escobedo and Yamile Cambron, who previously spent 17 years in catering, are pouring their heart and soul into the venture.

The restaurant serves a crowd-pleasing mix of Mexican and American classics, featuring family recipes and popular dishes from their catering days: street tacos, carne asada fries, and a burrito chile relleno, featuring a poblano pepper stuffed with mozzarella and carne asada, folded inside a tortilla.

There are tortas on hoagie-like bolillo bread with fillings such as birriera and beef asadera, topped with mayo, cilantro, mozzarella, and grilled onions.

On the American side, they offer burgers, chicken tenders, and wings in four flavors: lemon pepper, buffalo, garlic parmesan, and orange pepper.

“A lot of people in Texas are used to Tex-Mex restaurants, but this is more Mexican and traditional American,” Escobedo says.

Part of their goal is also to introduce dishes you don't find everywhere else. For example, a sincronizada — similar to a quesadilla, except that a quesadilla is a single tortilla, filled and folded. A sincronizada is more like a sandwich, with the tortillas standing in for the bread. Asiago fills theirs with cheese, chorizo, ham, and avocado.

They do Tostilocos, a Mexican street snack you won't find on many Dallas streets. It consists of Tostitos tortilla chips topped with jicama, cucumber, Japanese peanuts, and pickled pork rinds. (The name "Tostilocos" literally translates to "crazy Tostitos".)

For the workers nearby, they do breakfast every morning, with breakfast sandwiches, chilaquiles, and burritos.

“I have some customers who come at night, and if they say they want an egg burrito, I make it for them,” Escobedo says. “I don’t have a limit on the items.”

The restaurant occupies a 2,800-square-foot space with seating for 80 people. In addition to the restaurant, it's also home to a fruiteria with snacks and desserts such as churros, both regular cinnamon sugar as well as stuffed churros filled with cajeta caramel sauce. There are also fruit cups, mangonadas, and milkshakes with a dairy-free option.

There’s no alcohol although Escobedo says they may add beer plus karaoke nights on certain Fridays.

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