Sam Walton: Made In America

by Sam Walton

we found some store that had run oil, and we’d just cut out the oil can and paste it on there and write ‘Pennzoil 30W’ and stick our price on it. And we’d do the same thing for the socks and the panties and the wastebasket—just make up our own ad out of everybody else’s ads in those newspapers.

I guess we had very little capacity for embarrassment back in those days. We paid absolutely no attention whatsoever to the way things were supposed to be done, you know, the way the rules of retail said it had to be done.

I don’t think any of those guys in New York really understood our thinking, but we were a store whose profit and volume had to be driven by finding real bargains on things we could promote out in the sticks. And we did.

“Anyway, we would split up and go to all these different showrooms. We’d walk in, and they’d say, ‘Who are you with?’ “And we’d say, ‘We’re with Walton’s.’ “ ‘Oh yeah, where are you located?’ “ ‘Arkansas.’ “ ‘What town?’ “ ‘Bentonville, Arkansas.’ “Then they’d always say, ‘Where in the world is Bentonville, Arkansas?’ “And Don Whitaker, with a straight face, would always say, ‘Next to Rogers.’

“We never finished up until about twelve-thirty at night, and we’d all go out for a beer except Mr. Walton. He’d say, ‘I’ll meet you for breakfast at six o’clock.’ And we’d say, ‘Mr. Walton, there’s no reason to meet that early. We can’t even get into the buildings that early.’ And he’d just say, ‘We’ll find something to do.’

The simple truth is that Mother and Dad were two of the most quarrelsome people who ever lived together.

Later, we all snickered at some writers who viewed Dad as a grand strategist who intuitively developed complex plans and implemented them with precision. Dad thrived on change, and no decision was ever sacred.”

“You know, it’s interesting. I know Dad worked incredible hours, and I know he traveled a lot, but I never really felt like he was gone much. He went out of his way to spend time with us, and he was fun to be with.

I think maybe one reason they don’t have too much resentment is that Helen and I always involved them in the business

‘Do anything you’re big enough to do.’

what nobody realized, including a few of our own managers at the time, was that we were really trying from the beginning to become the very best operators—the most professional managers—that we could. There’s no question that I have the personality

it’s true that Bob Bogle came up with the name Wal-Mart in the airplane that day, but the reason I went for it right away wasn’t that the sign was cheaper,

Most of them could still be around today if they had followed some basic principles about running good stores. There are a lot of ways to build strong companies. They don’t have to be done the Wal-Mart way, or my way, or anybody else’s way. But you do have to work at it.

somewhere along the line, these folks stopped short of setting the goals and paying the price that needed to be paid.

‘Let me introduce myself, my name is Sam Walton,’ he says. ‘I’m only a little fellow from Bentonville, Arkansas, and I’m in the retail business.’ “I say, ‘You’ll have to pardon me, Sam, I thought I knew everybody and every company in the retail business, but I never heard of Sam Walton. What did you say the name of your company is again?’ “ ‘Wal-Mart Stores,’ he says.

The more you turn your inventory, the less capital is required.

Sam never did anything in size or volume until he actually had to. He always played it close to the belt.”

We were generating as much financing for growth as we could from the profits of the stores, but we were also borrowing everything we could.

Once we got it going, it was hard to see why we should quit.

everybody at Wal-Mart knows that I’ve fought all these technology expenditures as hard as I could.

The truth is, I did want it, I knew we needed it, but I just couldn’t bring myself to say, “Okay, sure, spend what you need.” I always questioned everything.