Dkfjakdfjafjdkfjakdfddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddjdkf * 1 History * 1.1 Early years (1945–1969) * 1.2 Incorporation and growth (1969–2005) * 1.3 Initiatives (2005–present) * 2 Operating divisions * 2.1 Walmart Stores U.S. * 2.1.1 Walmart Discount Stores * 2.1.2 Walmart Supercenter * 2.1.3 Walmart Market * 2.1.4 Supermercado de Walmart * 2.1.5 Walmart Express * 2.2 Sam's Club * 2.3 Walmart International * 2.4 Vudu * 2.5 Private label brands * 2.6 Entertainment * 3 Corporate affairs * 3.1 Finance and governance * 3.2 Competition * 3.3 Customer base * 3.4 Economic impact * 3.5 Employee and labor relations * 3.6 Gender and sexual orientation * 3.7 Logos * 4 See also * 4.1 Television and film * 4.2 Other * 5 References * 6 Further reading * 7 External links |
History
Main article: History of Walmart
Early years (1945–1969)

Sam Walton's original Walton's Five and Dime store in Bentonville, Arkansas now serving as the Walmart Visitor Center
In 1945 a businessman and former J. C. Penney employee, Sam Walton, purchased a branch of the Ben Franklin Stores from the Butler Brothers.[12] Sam's focus was on selling products at low prices to get higher-volume sales at a lower-profit margin. He portrayed it as a crusade for the consumer. He experienced setbacks, because the lease price and branch purchase were unusually high, but he was able to find lower-cost suppliers than the ones used by other stores. He passed on the savings in the product pricing.[13] Sales increased 45 percent in his first year of ownership to