Walmart

WALMART HISTORY

The history of Walmart, an American discount department store chain, began in 1950 when
businessman Sam Walton purchased a store from Luther E. Harrison in Bentonville, Arkansas,
and opened Walton's 5 & 10. The Walmart chain proper was founded in 1962 with a single store
in Rogers, expanding outside Arkansas by 1968 and throughout the rest of the Southern United
States by the 1980s, ultimately operating a store in every state of the United States, plus its first
stores in Canada, by 1995. The expansion was largely fueled by new store construction, although
the chains Mohr-Value and Kuhn's Big K were also acquired. The company introduced its
warehouse club chain Sam's Club in 1983 and its first Supercenter stores in 1988. By the second
decade of the 21st century, the chain had grown to over 11,000 stores in 28 countries.

Walton was known as "Mr. Sam" throughout his tenure at the helm of his empire. His mission
statement for the first Walmart in Rogers, AR was, "The lowest prices anytime, anywhere." The
concept worked. Walton and his family were the proud owners of 24 stores in five short years,
achieving $12.7 million in sales. Two years later (in 1957), the company became incorporated as
"Wal-Mart Stores, Inc."

But maverick entrepreneur Walton wasn't done yet. He wanted his stores in the national spotlight
and, in 1970 Walton brought Walmart public with shares offered at $16.50. By 1972, Wal-Mart
Stores, Inc. had 51 stores and sales had skyrocketed to $78 million. By 1980, Walmart's 51 stores
increased to 276 stores and annual sales reached a benchmark of $1 billion. Moving forward,
Walmart opened it's first Sam's Club – a chain of membership-only retail warehouse clubs – in
Oklahoma in 1983. The first Walmart Supercenter opened in Missouri five years later (in 1988).

Seven short years after that (in 1990), Walmart became the #1 retailer in the United States, a
position it holds today, in 2018.

Sam Walton died in 1992 at the age of 74 but Walmart's headquarters are still located in
Bentonville, Arkansas where the entrepreneur started it all.

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