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Arbor did not return phone calls, but since the sale the four-store Sam's chain has taken on a very different image. Once known for the biggest selection and lowest prices in wine anywhere in the Midwest, and perhaps the entire country, Sam's has wine narrowed its inventory and is increasingly concentrating on high-profit private-label wines. In Chicago, rivals such as Costco and Binny's Beverage Depot now offer the lowest prices on most wine labels. Most of the longstanding sales force of Sam's is now working elsewhere.
"It's very sad to see this," said Darryl Rosen, a former president of Sam's who left the wine company to his brother Brian in a rift two years ago. "Sam's used to be a Chicago institution. For whatever reason, it's not that anymore."