Sam Walton: Biography and Facts
                     Sam Walton: 
Biography and 
Facts
Introduction
Sam Walton was the founder of the giant 
American retailer Wal-Mart.
He died a billionaire but was known for 
driving a pick-up truck instead of an 
expensive car.
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Birth
Sam Walton was born in Kingfisher, 
Oklahoma on March 29, 1918. 
His father, Tom, was a farmer, but went to 
work in the farm mortgage business when 
the Great Depression hit. 
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Early Life
Walton excelled physically in high school, 
playing basketball and football as starting 
quarterback for Columbia's Hickman High 
School in 1935, when they won the state 
title. 
While at Hickman, he also served as vice 
president of the student body his junior year 
and as president his senior year. 
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Professional 
Life
Upon graduating, Walton decided to attend 
college, hoping to find a better way to help 
support his family. He attended the 
University of Missouri and majored in 
Economics as a ROTC Officer. 
During this time, he worked various odd 
jobs, including waiting tables in exchange 
for meals
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The first store
He opened his own Ben Franklin variety 
(five-and-dime) store in Newport, Arkansas, 
in 1945 and relocated the store to 
Bentonville, Arkansas, five years later.
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First Walmart store
He opened the first Walmart store, Wal-Mart 
Discount City, in Rogers, Arkansas, in 1962, 
offering a wide variety of merchandise at 
discount prices in a no-frills setting. (In 2018 
the company’s name was changed to 
Walmart.)
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Sam’s Wholesale Club
In 1983 Walton founded Sam’s Wholesale 
Club, a chain of deep-discount wholesale 
warehouse outlets, and in 1988 he began 
opening Supercenters, which added full 
grocery fare to the regular merchandise 
offerings and dwarfed even the barnlike Wal-
Mart stores in size.
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Wal-Mart Expansion
By 1990 Wal-Mart Stores had passed Sears, 
Roebuck and Company to become the 
largest retailer in the United States. 
The next year the company began its 
international expansion with the opening of 
a store in Mexico.
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Profit-sharing plan
Walton kept prices and salaries low but 
nevertheless inspired company loyalty in 
employees, who retired with comfortable 
pensions as a result of his profit-sharing 
plan. 
He stepped down as chief executive officer 
in 1988 but remained company chairman. 
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Death
By the time of his death in 1992, his 
company had established 1,735 Wal-Marts, 
212 Sam’s Clubs, and 13 Supercenters with 
a total of 380,000 employees and annual 
sales of almost $50 billion.
11 Source: 
www.britannica.com