WALMART

WALMART. An American multinational retail corporation that operated a chain of hypermarkets, discount department stores and grocery stores, Walmart was founded by Sam Walton in 1962 and incorporated on October 31, 1969. As of April 30, 2016, Walmart had 11,527 stores and clubs in 28 countries, under a total of 63 banners. The company operated under the Walmart name in the United States and Canada. It operated as Walmart de México y Centroamérica in Mexico, as Asda in the United Kingdom, as Seiyu in Japan, and as Best Price in India. It had wholly owned operations in Argentina, Brazil, and Canada. It also owns and operated the Sam's Club retail warehouses. (1)

Walmart was the world's largest company by revenue, according to the Fortune Global 500 list in 2014, as well as the biggest private employer in the world with 2.2 million employees. Walmart was a family-owned business controlled by the Walton family. Sam Walton's heirs owned over 50 percent of Walmart through their holding company, Walton Enterprises, and through their individual holdings. It was also one of the world's most valuable companies by market value and is the largest grocery retailer in the U.S. In 2016, it generated 62.3 percent of its $478.614 billion sales in the U.S. (2)

In April 1992, the Dubuque City Council voted to rezone 78 acres east of the Northwest Arterial and north of Asbury Road from agricultural and residential to commercial development. This prepared the way for the development of a 116,097-square-foot Wal-Mart store and a 135,500-square-foot Sam's Wholesale Club. (3) In August, 1992 Walmart and Sam's Discount Club purchased more than seventy-one acres of the tract for about $1,445,000. (4) The companies quickly announced that construction should make shopping at the stores possible by Christmas, 1993. (5)

A month after Walmart announced that it would begin construction of a store in Dubuque, Sam's Club officials unveiled their plans to open a store. At the time, Sam's Club was the largest members-only buying club in the United States. (6)

On January 4, 1994 DUBUQUE AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, people from the city and county, Walmart employees, and company officials formally attended the grand opening of the 121,267 square-foot store at 4200 Dodge. The Dubuque store was one of 19 Walmarts to hold grand openings that day. (7)

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Source:

1. Wikipedia

2. Ibid.

3. Bergtrom, Kathy. "It's Official: Dubuque Roll Out Welcome for Wal-Mart," Telegraph Herald, Jan. 4, 1994, p. 3A

4. Bergstrom, Kathy. "Wal-Mart, Sams's Buy 71 Acres of Land," Telegraph Herald, September 11, 1992.

5. Bergstrom, Kathy. "Wal-Mart Makes It Official," Telegraph Herald, September 14, 1992, p. 1

6. "Sam's Club Will Join Walmart," Telegraph Herald, October 24, 1992. Online: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=aEyKTaVlRPYC&dat=19921024&printsec=frontpage&hl=en

7. Bergstrom, Kathy. "Wal-Mart Still in Store," Telegraph Herald, August 8, 1992, p. 3A. Online: https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=aEyKTaVlRPYC&dat=19920808&printsec=frontpage&hl=en