GNC private-label products arrive at Sam's Club

PITTSBURGH and BENTONVILLE, Ark. — After providing its products to Rite Aid customers through a co-branded store format for more than a decade, GNC is making its foray into the warehouse club for the first time by offering select private-label products at Sam's Club locations.

GNC's products will boost Sam's Club's current health-and-wellness offerings by extending GNC's specialty retailing brand to mass-market customers.

Prior to this deal, GNC products only were available at GNC-branded stores and Rite Aid. In 1999, Rite Aid and GNC developed the GNC LiveWell store-within-a-store concept, giving the drug store operator's customers an expansive selection of vitamins and supplements, as well as affording GNC the opportunity to extend its brand name beyond the mall stores and strip centers where GNC stores are located.

This month, approximately 400 Sam's Club locations will introduce the 2-lb. container of GNC Pro Performance AMP amplified 100% whey protein, as well as the 1.7-lb. bottle of GNC Total Lean lean shake, a diet product. The products will retail for $18.98 and $22.98, respectively.

"Through this exclusive alliance with GNC, a leader in the nutritional products industry, our Sam's Club members will have access to this high-quality brand of these popular dietary supplements at a great value," said Jill Turner-Mitchael, Sam's Club SVP health and wellness.