Editing Sam Walton (section)

==The first stores==
In 1945, after leaving the military, Walton took over management of his first variety store at the age of 26.<ref>{{Cite web|date=June 4, 2012|title=Lessons from Sam Walton: How a social-local strategy brings the human touch back to business|url=https://hearsaysystems.com/2012/06/lessons-from-sam-walton/|access-date=December 5, 2020|website=Hearsay Systems|language=en-US|archive-date=January 23, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210123111948/https://hearsaysystems.com/2012/06/lessons-from-sam-walton/|url-status=dead}}</ref> With the help of a $20,000 loan {{USDCY|20000|1945}} from his father-in-law, [[Leland Robson]], plus $5,000 {{USDCY|5000|1945}} he had saved from his time in the Army, Walton purchased a [[Ben Franklin (company)|Ben Franklin]] variety store in [[Newport, Arkansas]].<ref name="Forbes269"/> The store was a franchise of the [[Butler Brothers]] chain.

Walton pioneered many concepts that became crucial to his success. According to Walton, if he offered prices as good as or better than stores in cities that were four hours away by car, people would shop at home.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book | title = Wal-Mart| last = Sandra S. Vance | first = Roy V. Scott | publisher = Twayne Publishers | year = 1994 | isbn = 0-8057-9833-1 | location = New York | pages = 41}}</ref> Walton ensured the shelves were consistently stocked with a wide range of goods. His second store, the tiny "Eagle" department store, was down the street from his first Ben Franklin and next door to its main competitor in Newport.

With the sales volume growing from $80,000 to $225,000 in three years, Walton drew the attention of the landlord, P. K. Holmes, whose family had a history in retail.<ref name="ArkEncyclo">{{cite web | url = http://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=1792 | title = Sam Walton | publisher = Butler Center for Arkansas Studies | access-date = March 30, 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120418173821/http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=1792 | archive-date = April 18, 2012 | url-status = live }}</ref>
Admiring Sam's great success and desiring to reclaim the store and franchise rights for his son, he refused to renew the lease. The lack of a renewal option, together with the prohibitively high rent of 5% of sales, were early business lessons to Walton. Despite forcing Walton out, Holmes bought the store's inventory and fixtures for $50,000, which Walton called "a fair price".<ref>Walton & Huey, ''Made in America: My Story'', p. 30.</ref>

[[File:Walton's Five and Dime store, Bentonville, Arkansas.jpg|thumb|left|Walton's Five and Dime, now the Walmart Historical Museum, Bentonville]]
With a year left on the lease, but the store effectively sold, Walton, his wife, Helen, and his father-in-law managed to negotiate the purchase of a new location on the downtown square of [[Bentonville, Arkansas]]. Walton negotiated the purchase of a small discount store, and the title to the building, on the condition that he get a 99-year lease to expand into the shop next door. The owner of the shop next door refused six times, and Walton gave up on Bentonville when his father-in-law, without Sam's knowledge, paid the shop owner a final visit and $20,000 to secure the lease. He had just enough left from the sale of the first store to close the deal and reimburse Helen's father. They opened for business with a one-day remodeling sale on May 9, 1950.<ref name="ArkEncyclo"/>

Before he bought the Bentonville store, it was doing $72,000 in sales and it increased to $105,000 in the first year and then $140,000 and $175,000.<ref>{{cite book | last = Wenz | first = Peter S. | author-link = Peter Wenz | title = Take Back the Center: Progressive Taxation for a New Progressive Agenda | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=TDPuSs2c27cC&q=Sam+Walton+Bentonville+%2472%2C000&pg=PA60 | access-date = December 30, 2012 | year = 2012 | publisher = [[MIT Press]] | isbn = 978-0262017886 | page = 60}}</ref>