• January 10, 2011

In an effort to boost membership, Walmart's Sam's Club division is throwing an Open House.

The event, which runs from Jan. 11 to 13, will include special sale prices aimed at small-business owners, including $499 HP G72 Notebooks, and 2,500 sheets of 20# Georgia-Pacific multipurpose paper for $17.

Typically, shoppers at Sam's are either required to buy a membership or to pay the additional 10% guest charge.

The Bentonville, Ark.-based company, which says its research shows that half of small-business owners are more optimistic about the coming year than they were last year, says it wanted to link the event to that renewed small-business optimism.