Sam Walton is the founder of Walmart. Walmart is the world’s biggest offline store. Sam Walton’s full name is Samuel Moore Walton. He took birth in the year 1918 on March 29. He is an American business and entrepreneur. Some best stores founded by him are Walmart and Sam’s Club. The Walmart company grew rapidly and soon became one of the biggest private employers in the world. Sam was also one of American’s richest man at some point in time.
Sam Walton Early Life
Sam Walton took birth on March 29 in the year 1918 in Kingfisher, Oklahoma. The name of his parents is Thomas Gibson Walton and Nancy Lee. Sam was raised along with his parents on their farm until the year 1923.
But as farming didn’t pay them much and can afford them a good living, his father decided to look for a new work for a better income. Thomas Walton i.e Sam’s father worked in his brother’s company for earning good. The company was a Walton Mortgage Company.
Then Sam moved to Oklahoma in the year 1921. And then they continued to migrate from one place to the other. We can clearly say that Sam faced a lot of problems from his childhood even but he never gave up.
Sam Walton attended his eight grade in Shelbina, Missouri. His family too soon moved to Columbia, Missouri. Sam grew up in the Great Depression, and during this period he did a lot of part-time jobs to meet his family needs. At the same time, he milked the family cows, bottled the surplus, and also delivering it to the customers.
Along with those, Sam Walton also delivered Columbia Daily Tribune newspapers to the people. He sold magazine subscriptions too. Thus we can see that Sam was very hard working from this childhood. Once in high school in Columbia, Sam was voted as “Most Versatile Boy”.
Then Sam Walton Decided to attend to attend college after high school so that he can become someone respected in future and also earn well to support his family. He went to the University of Missouri as an ROTC cadet. To meet his daily needs and meals, he worked various part-time jobs during this time.
He also joined the Zeta Phi chapter of Beta Theta Pi fraternity during this period. In the year 1940, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in economics and was also voted as the “permanent president” of the class.
When he moved to Des Moines, Iowa, Sam Walton joined J. C. Penney and worked as a management trainee.
Sam Walton First Store
By the year 1945, Sam left the military work and took over the management work for his various work at just the age of 26. Walton required funds for setting up hi the first store and so he took a loan of $20,000 from his father-in-law. Adding to it, he also had $5000 which he saved during his work in the military.
He purchased the Ben Franklin variety store in Newport, Arkansas. The store worked as a franchise of the Butler Brothers chain.
Sam Walton figured out many personal growth strategies which helped him in growing his brand. He always made sure that his stores were always filled with goods and stocks so that his business is never interrupted.
Soon his business started to reach new heights and rapid growth in sales. His sales grew from $80,000 to $225,000 in three years. In this process, Walton drew the attention of the landlord P. K. Holmes who was also in the retail business.
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They also made a deal on the goods and sales on some percentage basis which Sam called as a fair deal.
The business went well and after a year he decided to move to a new location to take it to new heights. His wife and father-in-law also helped to negotiate the price of the new location which was at the downtown square of Bentonville, Arkansas.
Sam Walton with his hard work, patience, and skills excelled well in the business. In a year he increased his sales from $72,000 to $105,000.
He took his business to the next level and resulted in opening a chain of Ben Franklin stores. His business expanded and resulted in much profit. Sam Walton also encouraged his managers to invest in the business and take a share of it in return.
Sam Walton’s full name is Samuel Moore Walton. He took birth in the year 1918 on March 29. He is an American business and entrepreneur. Some best stores founded by him are Walmart and Sam’s Club. The Walmart company grew rapidly and soon became one of the biggest private employers in the world. Sam was also one of American’s richest man at some point in time.
Walmart Startup
On the month of July of the year 1962, Sam Walton inaugurated the first Wal-Mart discount city store. The store was located in a small Ozarks city of Rogers, Arkansas. Sam Walton worked really hard for his new journey.
Later in the course of his business journey, he realized that he has a competitor at the very same town and so he has to do something different to beat his competitor. His competitor was a Michigan-based chain store Meijer. It was a one-stop-shopping supercenter and its uniqueness drove the customers back in the 1960s.
During that period, many American discount stores gave tough competition to each other in small towns. But Walton saw the potential of business growth in the small towns itself. Sam then started selling his goods to the smaller markets with a bit of commission.
Another major problem faced by Sam Walton was with the expansion the company Wal-Mart is of transportation. Walton figured out a solution that the goods to be supplied within a day’s drive.
Walton soon saw great growth in his business. By the year 1969, the company Wal-Mart had expanded itself to 38 stores to its time. The worth of the company at that time rose to around $44.2 million in sales. On that very year, Wal-Mart opened a company headquarters and a distribution center in Bentonville, Arkansas.
The company i.e Wal-Mart went public in the year 1970. Walmart then started trading on the New York Stock Exchange. By the year 1975, Wal-Mart expanded itself to many nearby cities adding stores in Kansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi and Texas. Just after fifteen years of the first start of the company Wal-Mart i.e by the year 1977, the company expanded itself to 190 stores all around the country. The company then started to grow at rapid growth.
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At the 25th anniversary of Wal-Mart, by the year 1987, the company reached around 1198 location around the world. The annual worth of Wal-Mart has reached around $15.9 billion by that time and also the number of employees reached around 200,000.
According to Forbes, by the late ’80s, Sam Walton was the richest person from America.
In the year 1988, Sam retired at the age of 70 and handed the post to Wal-Mart veteran executive David Glass.
Walton was one awarded with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992 by George H. W. Bush.
Sam Walton Personal Life
Sam Walton was married to Helen Robson on February 14, 1943. The couple had four children – Samuel Robson, John Thomas, James Carr, and Alice Louise.
Sam also made many donations and charity. They were also active in the First Presbyterian Church of Bentonville.
Death and Legacy
On April 5, 1992, Sam Walton took his last breath. Sam died due to multiple myeloma which is a type of bone cancer. He left his belongings for his wife and children. Rob Walton succeeded Sam Walton for the post of the chairman of Wal-Mart.
In the year 1998, Sam Walton was included in Time’s list of 100 most influential people of the 20th Century. For his work in retail, Sam was honored with Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George H. W. Bush in the year 1992.
From the year 1982 to 1988, Sam was the richest person according to Forbes.
Some Popular Quotes of Sam Walton
- One should commit to one’s business.
- To always share your profile with the associates and treat them as partners.
- To always energize and motivate your colleagues.
- One should communicate with the partners.
- To appreciate everything the associates do for the well being of the company.
- One should always celebrate small success and happiness in life.
- To listen to everyone in the company.
- To encourage and motivate to exceed the customer’s expectations.
- One should control the expenses better than the competition.
- To always blaze our own path.
Sam Walton Net Worth
The Walton family is considered as one of the richest families in present times. By the end of the year 2017, according to Forbes, the family had a combined net worth of $140 billion.
The net worth is such huge that, three separate Walton ranked among the 20 richest people.
Sam Walton is one of the most successful Entrepreneurs in the 19th Century. Today Many books are written about Sam Walton Business Stagey. One of the most popular books is Sam Walton: Made in America is the most selling book.
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