Sam Walton

97
Sam Walton bigraphy, stories - Founder of Wal-Mart and Sam's Club

Sam Walton : biography

March 29, 1918 – April 5, 1992

Samuel Moore "Sam" Walton (March 29, 1918 – April 5, 1992) was an American businessman and entrepreneur born in Kingfisher, Oklahoma best known for founding the retailers Walmart and Sam’s Club.

A Chain of Ben Franklin Stores

With the new Bentonville "Five and Dime" opening for business, and 220 miles away, a year left on the lease in Newport, the cash-strapped young Walton had to learn to delegate responsibility. ISBN 978-0-451-17161-0

After succeeding with two stores at such a distance (and with the post war baby boom in full effect), Sam became enthusiastic about scouting more locations and opening more Ben Franklin franchises. (Also, having spent countless hours behind the wheel, and with his close brother James "Bud" Walton having been a pilot in the war, he decided to buy a small second-hand air-plane. Both he and his son John would later become accomplished pilots and log thousands of hours scouting locations and expanding the family business.)

In 1954, he opened a store with his brother Bud in a shopping center in Ruskin Heights, a suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. With the help of his brother, father-in-law, and brother-in-law, Sam went on to open many new variety stores. He encouraged his managers to invest and take an equity stake in the business, often as much as $1000 in their store, or the next outlet to open. (This motivated the managers to sharpen their managerial skills and take ownership over their role in the enterprise.) By 1962, along with his brother Bud, he owned 16 stores in Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas (fifteen Ben Franklins and one independent, in Fayetteville).

Legacy

A statue of Sam Walton and his dog outside of Wal-Mart in [[Kingfisher, Oklahoma, his birthplace.]] In 1998, Walton was included in Time’s list of 100 most influential people of the 20th Century. at Wayback Machine Walton was honored for all his pioneering efforts in retail in March 1992, when he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George H. W. Bush.

Forbes ranked Sam Walton as the richest person in the United States from 1982 to 1988, ceding the top spot to John Kluge in 1989 when the editors began to credit Walton’s fortune jointly to him and his four children. (Bill Gates first headed the list in 1992, the year Walton died). Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. also runs Sam’s Club warehouse stores. Walmart operates in the U.S. and in 15 international markets, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Japan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom. Walmart Corporation, July 2009.

At the University of Arkansas, the Business College (Sam M. Walton College of Business) is named in his honor. Walton was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1992.

The first stores

In 1945, after leaving the military, Walton took over management of his first variety store at the age of 26. With the help of a $20,000 loan from his father-in-law, plus $5,000 he had saved from his time in the Army, Walton purchased a Ben Franklin variety store in Newport, Arkansas. The store was a franchise of the Butler Brothers chain.

RYON Walton pioneered many concepts that became crucial to his success. Walton made sure the shelves were consistently stocked with a wide range of goods. His second store, the tiny "Eagle" department store, was down the street from his first Ben Franklin and next door to its main competitor in Newport. Walton leased the space mainly to preempt his competitor from expanding. It held its own, but didn’t fare as well.

With the sales volume growing from $80 to $225,000 in three years, Walton drew the attention of the landlord, P.K. Holmes, whose family had a history in retail. Admiring Sam’s great success, and desiring to reclaim the store (and franchise rights) for his son, he refused to renew the lease. The lack of a renewal option, together with the prohibitively high rent of 5% of sales, were early business lessons to Walton. Despite forcing Walton out, Holmes bought the store’s inventory and fixtures for $50,000, which Walton called "a fair price".Walton & Huey, Made in America: My Story, p. 30.