Walmart's founder opened the first store bearing the Walmart name in Rogers, Arkansas, in 1962.
Sam Walton opened the first Wal-Mart Discount City store on July 2, 1962. The business emphasized low prices, efficient distribution, and locations in smaller towns that larger competitors often overlooked. Those choices helped Walmart expand from a regional retailer into a global company.
The company was originally styled “Wal-Mart,” with a hyphen. It later adopted the one-word brand “Walmart.” Sam Walton had already operated variety stores before launching the discount chain, so the Rogers opening was a major step in a longer retail career rather than his first business venture.
Sam's Club is a separate warehouse-club division named after Walton, while Target and Kmart are different retailers. Walmart has frequently appeared near the top of global company rankings by revenue and has also been valued among the world's largest publicly traded companies by market capitalization.