Who invented Wal-Mart?
Sam Walton, here is his story: Many trace discount retailing’s birth to 1962, the first year of operation for Kmart, Target and Wal-Mart. But by that time, Sam Walton’s tiny chain of variety stores in Arkansas and Kansas was already facing competition from regional discount chains. Sam traveled the country to study this radical, new retailing concept and was convinced it was the wave of the future. He and his wife, Helen, put up 95 percent of the money for the first Wal-Mart store in Rogers, Arkansas, borrowing heavily on Sam’s vision that the American consumer was shifting to a different type of general store. Today, Sam’s gamble is a global company with more than 1.3 million associates worldwide and nearly 5,000 stores and wholesale clubs across 15 countries. The “most admired retailer” according to FORTUNE magazine has just completed one of the best years in its history: Wal-Mart generated more than $256 billion in global revenue, establishing a new record and adding more than $26 b
