Sam Walton: Made In America

by Sam Walton

So now we’re the largest retailer in the world, and still growing like a weed. If my chart doesn’t paint a clear enough picture for you of how large the company is, here are some other ways to think about Wal-Mart’s size. Every week, nearly 40 million people shop in Wal-Mart. Last year, we sold enough mens’ and women’s underwear and socks to put a pair on every person in America, with some to spare. We sold 135 million men’s and boys’ briefs, 136 million panties, and 280 million pairs of socks. We sold one quarter of all the fishing line purchased in the U.S., some 600,000 miles of it, or enough to go around the earth twenty-four times. We sold 55 million sweatsuits and 27 million pairs of jeans, and we sold almost 20 percent of all the telephones bought in the U.S. And here’s one I’m really proud of: in one week last year, we sold as much Ol’ Roy private label dog food as we did in all of 1980. With sales of $200 million last year, Ol’ Roy became the number-two dog food in America, and remember, we only sell it in Wal-Mart. Another one: Procter & Gamble sells more product to Wal-Mart than it does to the whole country of Japan.