Sam’s Club, the warehouse-club division of Wal-Mart Stores, will open a new store in Houston specifically targeting Hispanics.

"Our objective is to create an additional shopping choice that provides currently unavailable value for families, restaurant owners, convenience stores and more," said Doug McMillon, CEO of Sam's Club, in a statement.

The Más Club, to open in the first half of 2009, will carry an expanded selection of imported Mexican products, from sweets to spices to drinks, and will require a separate membership and fee – not yet determined – from the other Sam’s Clubs. The company currently operates eight Sam’s Clubs in and around Houston, plus another store that reopened as business center warehouse in August that is designed to serve resellers such as customers in the food-service industry, convenience store owners and office administrators.

The growing Hispanic population and its increasing buying power, reach and percent of the market were factors behind Sam’s Club decisions to create the Más Club, explains spokeswoman Kristy Reed.

"We see this as an area of opportunity," she says. “We are trying to find new and unique ways to reach those customers.”

Fully one-third of Houston’s 6.15 million residents are Hispanic. Of the two million-plus Latino residents, 1.7 million are of Mexican origin, according to Geoscape International, American Marketscape DataStream: 2008 Series.

Sam’s Club has tapped Houston-based Lopez Negrete, which is Wal-Mart Stores’ Hispanic agency of record, to handle the project on a full-service basis. Reed says the launch of the Más Club represents the first time the warehouse retailer has hired a dedicated Hispanic agency although Sam’s Club has done some Spanish-language radio ads in the past.

The opening of a new Sam’s Club location is typically supported by some direct mail efforts, newspaper inserts and radio spots, Reeds says. Billboards are also used on occasion.

Unique aspects of the Más Cub include fresh tortillas from the bakery, an open-air style pharmacy, “similar to what you find in Mexico,” Reed says. And in a first for a Sam’s Club: a money center, offering check cashing and money wiring services, a feature more commonly found in Wal-Mart stores.

The signage for Sam’s Clubs is blue and green; that of the Más Club will be red and green - that of the Mexican flag, which Reed says is coincidental.

The Más Club, once open, will include an open-air marketplace, covered by an awning, where fresh fruits and vegetables will be sold plus an area for events like art fairs.

Among the Mexican companies whose brands will be sold at the Más Club are Grupo Bimbo, the food giant whose portfolio includes tortilla brands Tía Rosa and Milpa Real; dairy producer Lala, Vero Dulces; Grupo Grisi, maker of shampoos, soaps, creams and other personal care items; Pascual Boing, producer of fruit-juice-based soft drinks; and Vasconia, a manufacturer of cookware, dishware and other housewares.

"We have a great relationship with our suppliers," says Reed, who notes that purchasing for the Más Club will also help expand the selection of Mexican imports at not only Sam’s Clubs but at Wal-Mart stores.

Through the corporate subsidiary of Wal-Mart de México, the retailer operates not only Wal-Mart Supercenter stores and Sam’s Clubs in Mexico but also the Bodega Aurrera chain and the smaller-format supermarket chain Superama.

Warehouse clubs are expected to perform better in the economic downturn, as already evidenced to date by overall same-store sales. Sam’s Club competitor BJ’s Club has no presence in Texas but rival Costco in late October opened its third Houston-area warehouse.

Reed says the Más Club is strictly a pilot effort at this time. “Our members will tell us how far and how fast to go with this,” she says.