What Year Did the First Wal-Mart Store Open?
Wal-Mart is the largest retailer in the world. In fiscal year 2008, the company reported $375 billion in sales. With more than 7,000 facilities world-wide, it is hard to believe that this discount phenom has grown from just one store in Rogers, Arkansas, which opened in 1962.
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History
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Sam Walton started his career in retail as a clerk for J.C. Penney. Then, after serving in the military until 1945, he purchased his own Ben Franklin store in Newport, Arkansas. He added several other of these stores and became savvy about what makes for profitable retail sales over a twenty year period. He then opened his first Wal-Mart in Rogers, Arkansas in 1962. Since then, the Wal-Mart brand has steadily grown to a position as the "world's largest retailer," projected to do over $300 billion in sales during 2008.
Time Frame
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The company has been growing steadily since it opened in 1962. Five years later, there were 24 stores in Arkansas, one in Sikeston, Missouri and another in Claremore, Oklahoma. In 1967, the company did $12.6 million in sales revenue. The company incorporated as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on October 31, 1969. Its home office in Bentonville, Arkansas opened in 1970. Sales revenues reached more than $1 billion by 1979, when the company had 276 stores in a total of ten states and employed 21,000 associates.
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Geography
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In 1991, Wal-Mart opened its first store outside of the United States, in Mexico City. In 2000, Fortune Magazine named Wal-Mart the number five "Global Most Admired All-Star" and in 2003 and 2004 Fortune upped the ranking to number one. In 2007, Wal-Mart created 2.5% of the new jobs in Mexico. In 2008, Wal-Mart operated 4,100 facilities within the United States and 3,100 facilities abroad. Wal-Mart stores, Wal-Mart Super Centers, Discount Stores, Neighborhood Markets and Sam's Clubs are in eight Latin American nations, as well as in China, Japan, Canada and the United Kingdom.
Significance
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The Wal-Mart mission is to save "people money so that they can live better." This pertains to everything that the company does, from its commitment to clean, renewable energy with zero waste to its reputation as a place where prices on name-brand items are low thanks to the volume with which they can be purchased. It takes corporate citizenship seriously. One of its outreaches is a partnership with Food For America. The Cone/Roper Report named Wal-Mart the number one corporate U.S. citizen.
Expert Insight
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Wal-Mart has laid out an impressive set of goals going forward. The company has purchased enough wind energy to transition 15% of its Texas stores to this clean fuel source. By 2012, the company plans to run 30% of its facilities on totally renewable energy. It has a long-term goal of 100% dependency on clean fuel technology. Even though it is sometimes accused of disparities in its treatment of minority employees, the company deals with more than 3,000 minority and woman-owned businesses and suppliers. The leadership of Wal-Mart, as of February 1, 2009, includes Mike Duke as CEO, who succeeds Lee Scott in this position. Lee Scott remains involved on the Wal-Mart Board of Directors.
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