ANN Wants A Commission, Darn It!
We, frankly, still
can't believe it... but it appears Sam's Club, one of the nation's
largest membership warehouse stores, has taken one of ANN's
farcical April Fools announcements to heart. The uber-retailer
announced Friday it will make Cessna's Citation Mustang Jet
available for $2,734,600 -- complete with a lifelong membership to
the Club -- as one of its "Once-in-a Lifetime" packages for the
2006 holiday season.
That's right. The national warehouse retail chain is selling
bizjets... as Aero-News eerily predicted last April
1. (OK, so we pegged another light-jet maker as
getting in on this game first, and Wal-Mart was our store of
choice... but that's still within the Sam Walton empire.)
The Cessna Citation Mustang is sold out until 2009, but the
purchaser of the Sam's Club package will have the chance to
purchase the plane just in time for Christmas, with actual delivery
November of 2007. In addition, the lucky winner will have the
opportunity to choose from a number of interior and exterior
options to personalize his or her very own Citation Mustang.
But we're straying from the point. Did we mention Sam's Club is
selling aircraft? Not even Neiman Marcus can top
that.
"The Once-in-a-Lifetime packages are popular with our Members
and highly anticipated," said Mark Goodman, Executive Vice
President, Marketing, Membership and E-Commerce, Sam's Club. "Our
Members have come to expect that we'll continue to leverage our
buying power to offer quality one-of-a-kind merchandise, and
experiences, which are sure to please that someone special at
Christmas time."
The Once-in-a-Lifetime packages, available exclusively at Sam's
Club, go on sale at the store's website the week of November 1.
Pre-qualifying for the purchase begins on November 1. The first
person to wire transfer the deposit to an account on November 9,
2006 starting at 12:00PM will become the owner.
A Sam's Club Business, Advantage or Plus Membership is required
to purchase two of the luxury packages. Other packages offered for
sale include a trip for four to Super Bowl XLI in Miami, FL,
with deluxe accomodations and guest spots at Dan Marino's VIP
Postgame party; and a trip for four to see legendary crooner Tony
Bennett in concert in London.
But purchasers of those packages will still have to fly
commercial... whereas the Mustang owner, of course, can skirt that
entire experience, and arrive wherever they want to in style.
It remains to be seen whether Sam's Club will start offering
other bizjet lines... but as we've seen before, stranger things
HAVE happened.
ANN's Daily Aero-Term (04.20.24): Light Gun
See All