Sam Moore Walton was born on March 29, 1918, the first child of his parents, Tom and Nancy Walton who lived on a farm (humble beginnings). The government was in the midst of World War I, and the government encouraged farmers to produce more and more crops to feed soldiers. But after the war, there was a surplus of food making farmers struggle with how they would sell and make profits, so Walton moved to Springfield, Missouri, where he worked for his brother. Then the great depression set in.
He was shy but made friends easily, and since his family struggled a lot financially, he and his brother, James “Bud” Walton often worked to help at home. Sam would help milk his mother’s cows, then he would sell them each for ten cents per gallon, to the only ten customers they had. He also began selling magazines, selling pigeons, and rabbits. He was eight years old then. Bud would become a big part of Sam’s business and his partner.
He also played sports and learned teamwork and was really versatile.
He finally got to the University of Missouri to study and continued to explore, he became so well known that he got more opportunities, plus he was always engaging himself. He developed himself to be more social, and even headed a Bible study class, while in college.
In addition to all these activities he engaged in, he still had several jobs, for he had to pay for his living expenses at school, himself. He made approximately $4,000 per year from the several jobs he had.
After his business degree at the University of Missouri, Colombia, he took on cashier work at JC. Penny, he enjoyed the job, since it developed his interest in retail. In fact, he was always so focused on his customers that he would forget to record down his transactions, before attending to another.
Sam joined the army (non-combatant), married Helen Robson, and had four children. After World War II, he was discharged and he went into retail when he began a franchise with the Ben Franklin store (owned by the Butler Brothers) at Newport, Arkansas. It cost $25,000 for the store, with 5% of every sale to his landlord. But, he was able to produce only $5000, with the $20,000 from his father-in-law, who believed so much in him.
But he had to move out, when Ben Franklin refused to pay for the store’s five-year lease, being jealous that he was doing better than him. So, he purchased old Harrison’s Variety Store at Bentonville, Arkansas, with another Ben Franklin franchise, but it was a 99-year lease, the store was next to Harrison’s variety’s store, but he loved the competition.
He then tried to apply a new store model, he heard of, ‘Self-service’. His store eventually became the only third variety store in the United States to use self-service, the first in Arkansas. He learned lessons from Newport’s store and created two other stores. Making three Walton’s Five and Dimes.
He heard of a new trend of stores, which sold discounted prices, and he was afraid, they would wipe him out. So, he was forced to open a large store too in that fashion, no company would accept to franchise it, so he had to provide 95% capital, and the other 5% was from families and friends. It was a huge risk, but he believed in himself. He named the store, “WALMART”. He would go on to open two new Walmarts, in Springdale and Harrison.
Walmart kept opening more Walmart stores in small, rural towns across America. Contrary to opinion, many stores would want to locate their stores in large cities, but Walmart didn’t fall for that. And the stores were making it. He would go on to open four more, then ten more, and by the end of 1980, he had 18 Walmart stores, nine of which were under Ben Franklin Franchise.
Walton was a hard worker, and he demanded the same commitments from his staff too. His children were also involved in the Walmart stores, doing work after school and during the Summer, for which they would be given a small allowance. He wanted them to be the best at what they did, but he never forced them to do what they would not like. He wanted them to dream on their own.
Walton was always looking for new ideas and innovation. So, he enrolled in an IBM school in 1966, which trained retailers on how to use technology for business. But he didn’t enroll to be taught, he enrolled to find people who knew more technology than he did. He met Abe Marks, who invited him to the National Mass Retailer’s Institute (NMRI), which gave him more access to resources.
But Walton was in millions of dollars debt. So, in the late 1960s, he started selling shares of stock to the public. It was a big relief for him, although his family still owned 61 percent of the shares, so they could still make major decisions concerning the company. Walmart then began selling his Five and Dime variety stores. It was a big decision, but the varieties of stores were becoming outdated.
Walmart continued to look for new ideas and continued to expand. He wasn’t scared of trying out new things that he believed in. Walmart stores became famous and in 1985, Forbes magazine would name Walton the richest man in America. Despite this, the Waltons lived frugally. They wouldn’t fly first class or drive fancy cars. But they gave to charities, especially ones that supported education.
Walmart launched its Supercenters. The first was a large store in Washington, Missouri, in March 1988, having 24 registers, a pharmacy, an optical center, and a snacks area. Walmart grew weaker as he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in November 1989. He had to stop visiting the stores in 1991, as he did previously.
Walton felt compelled to write his autobiography, so he invited John Huey, a writer for Fortune magazine. The autobiography was published in 1991 and became a national bestseller. In 1992, he was honored by President George H. W. Bush with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Days later, he passed away at 74.
Presently, Walmart has grown far beyond Walton’s dream. They operated by five different stores across the United States, as of 2012. Walmart Supercenters sell general products like apparel, toys, groceries, and home goods. Most have pharmacies, banks, fast-food restaurants. They continued to spread to other continents in the world, evolving into Walmart Express, Walmart Neighborhood Market, and the Sam Club Sam Walton set up when he was alive continued to be more successful within and outside the country.
Walmart began to be criticized for outsourcing the manufacturing of most of its products to China. The reason being that in China, there was cheap labor. Many believed that it strengthened international trade to strengthen the US economy.
Walton’s legacy is deep and strong. It paints a good picture of the American dream; how someone can come from humble beginnings and work his way, as he keeps learning through life into becoming a great influencer in America, and around the world.
Photo credit: Goodreads
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