Sam's Story of a Successful Discounter

In 1962 Sam opened his first discount store in Rogers, Arkansas Just south of Bentonville. He'd make 40 cents on each sale but knew that if he sold the same item for one dollar sales often tripled. The name immediately appealed to Sam because by cutting his last name in half to just three letters His signage costs would be low But Sam also liked the name because it sounded like the name of another successful discounter California's Fed Mart. By 1969 there were 13 Walmarts in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri With five more stores coming down the pipe What asked Sam continued to scale the operation. Meanwhile Kmart was outpacing Walmart's growth as discounting exploded into a 20 billion dollar business