Thursday, November 1, 2007

Little Rock, AR

Retail Success Story

Contrary to popular belief, Sam Walton (the founder of Wal-Mart) was not from Arkansas. He was actually born in Kingfish, Oklahoma on March 29, 1918. He was raised in Missouri where he worked in his father's store while attending school. This was his first retailing experience and he really enjoyed it. After graduating from the University of Missouri in 1940, he began his own career as a retail merchant when he opened the first of several franchises of the Ben Franklin five-and-dime franchises in Arkansas.
This would lead to bigger and better things and he soon opened his first Wal-Mart store in 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas. Wal-Mart specialized in name-brands at low prices and Sam Walton was surprised at the success. Soon a chain of Wal-Mart stores sprang up across rural America.

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