The history of Walmart, an American discount department store chain, began in 1950 when businessman Sam Walton purchased a store from Luther E. Harrison in Bentonville, Arkansas, and opened Walton’s 5 & 10.
The Walmart chain proper was founded in 1962 with a single store in Rogers, expanding outside Arkansas by 1968 and throughout the rest of the Southern United States by the 1980s, ultimately operating a store in every state of the United States, plus its first stores in Canada, by 1995.
The expansion was largely fueled by new store construction, although the chains Mohr-Value and Kuhn’s Big K were also acquired. The company introduced its warehouse club chain Sam’s Club in 1983 and its first Supercenter stores in 1998.
