Sam Walton and the First Store (1945-1962)
Sam Walton began his retail career after World War II, operating variety stores under the Ben Franklin franchise. In 1945 he took over a Ben Franklin store in Newport, Arkansas, and later ran stores in Bentonville, where he refined the merchandising and low-price ideas that would define his later ventures. He became known for buying merchandise at a discount and passing savings to customers to drive volume.
Convinced that deep discounting could work in small-town America where competitors saw little opportunity, Walton opened the first Walmart Discount City store in Rogers, Arkansas, on July 2, 1962. The concept combined a wide assortment of general merchandise with aggressively low prices, and it targeted the rural and suburban markets that larger chains had overlooked.
Incorporation and Public Offering (1969-1972)
As the store count grew across Arkansas and neighboring states, the business was formally incorporated as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. on October 31, 1969. To fund further expansion, the company went public on October 1, 1970, offering shares to investors and reducing the Walton family's debt while providing capital for new stores.
Walmart's stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on August 25, 1972. By that point, roughly a decade after the first store opened, the company operated around 51 stores with sales of approximately $78 million. The combination of public capital, a centralized distribution model, and a focus on underserved markets set the stage for rapid multistate growth through the 1970s.
Rapid Expansion and Sam's Club (1970s-1980s)
Through the 1970s and 1980s Walmart expanded aggressively, investing heavily in distribution centers and information systems that let it restock stores efficiently and keep prices low. This logistics-first approach became a durable competitive advantage as the chain spread across the American South and Midwest and then nationwide.
Key developments in this era included:
- Sam's Club: The first Sam's Wholesale Club, a membership-based warehouse format, opened on April 7, 1983, in Midwest City, Oklahoma.
- The Supercenter: In 1988 Walmart opened its first Supercenter, in Washington, Missouri, combining a full discount store with a full-service supermarket under one roof.
- Leadership transition: David Glass became chief executive officer in 1988, succeeding Sam Walton in day-to-day management while Walton remained chairman.
By 1990 Walmart had become the largest retailer in the United States by revenue, overtaking longtime leaders such as Sears and Kmart.
International Expansion (1991-2000s)
Walmart entered international markets in 1991 through a joint venture with the Mexican retailer Cifra, opening its first location outside the United States in the Mexico City area. This began a decades-long global expansion into markets across the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Sam Walton died in April 1992, but the company he built continued to grow under professional management. In the following years Walmart expanded into Canada, the United Kingdom (through the acquisition of the supermarket chain Asda in 1999), China, and numerous other countries, sometimes through acquisitions and sometimes by building stores from the ground up. Results varied by market: Walmart became a dominant force in some countries while exiting others, such as Germany and South Korea, where it struggled to adapt to local competition and consumer habits. Lee Scott succeeded David Glass as CEO in 2000 and oversaw much of this global buildout.
The E-commerce Era (2000-2016)
Walmart launched its e-commerce website, Walmart.com, in 2000, though for much of the following decade its online business trailed the growth of digital-first competitors. Under Lee Scott and later Mike Duke, who became CEO in 2009, the company continued to expand its physical footprint while gradually building out online capabilities and, increasingly, addressing scrutiny over labor practices, environmental impact, and its effect on local businesses.
A turning point came under Doug McMillon, who became president and CEO in February 2014. Recognizing the accelerating shift toward online shopping, Walmart made a decisive investment in e-commerce with the acquisition of Jet.com in 2016 for approximately $3.3 billion. Jet.com's founder, Marc Lore, went on to lead Walmart's U.S. e-commerce operations, and the deal signaled the company's commitment to competing seriously in digital retail.
The Modern Era (2018-2025)
Reflecting its evolution into an omnichannel retailer that blends stores and online shopping, the company changed its legal name from Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. to Walmart Inc., effective February 1, 2018. In the years that followed, Walmart expanded services such as grocery pickup and delivery, launched the Walmart+ membership program in 2020, and grew its advertising, marketplace, and financial-services businesses alongside its core retail operations.
By its fiscal year 2024, Walmart reported roughly $648 billion in total revenue and employed about 2.1 million people worldwide, making it the largest company by revenue on the Fortune 500 and one of the world's largest private employers. In November 2025 the company announced that Doug McMillon would retire and be succeeded as president and CEO by John Furner, the head of Walmart U.S. who had joined the company decades earlier as an hourly associate. The transition took effect on February 1, 2026, with McMillon staying on temporarily as an adviser.