Sam walton a&e biography hostess

Background

Sam Walton was born in Kingfisher Oklahoma in   From his humble beginnings, he rose and founded the largest retail empire in the world.  He attended the University of Missouri at Columbia, graduating in with a bachelor&#;s degree in economics.  He served as a Captain in the Army Intelligence Corps from to   He married his wife Helen in , and they had four children over their 49 years together.

Sam Walton was always interested in retail.  He had early beginnings working at JC Penney as a management trainee before entering the Army.  After World War II he decided to open his own business.  In his father-in-law, a successful banker, loaned him $20, to open a Ben Franklin variety store.  His initial store earned a profit as Sam introduced ideas of cutting costs that are still present in Wal-Mart today.  He bought large volumes of goods directly from manufacturers and made his store more accessible to more customers with lon