The signs of fully automated retail and grocery stores have been coming for a while now.  With an increasing number of stores adding pickup, delivery, robotic stocking assistants, self check out lanes, and more - it seems like a completely human-less experience is right around the corner.  That reality got a lot closer this week with the announcement of a new store concept called "Sam’s Club Now."

The new store concept would eliminate human cashiers all together in an effort to make shopping more efficient and cost effective.  The new store is scheduled to open in Dallas at the beginning of the year, and will act as a laboratory of sorts.  Sam's plans on testing new technologies there before rolling them out to the rest of their stores.

USA Today reports that the people-less check out system won't be the only thing different about the Dallas location.  The new store will be about a quarter of the size the standard Sam's Club, and will feature "Member-Hosts," who will assist members inside the store find items and navigate the plethora of technology expected to make their shopping experience quicker and better.  The Member-Hosts are expected to be humans, for now.

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