![]() ![]() Kenny Folk joined Sam’s Club in 1986 as the El Paso, Texas, store manager. “With Sam’s Club, I had the chance to build a company all over again, and I tried to be as hands-on as I could,” Walton noted. Within a few months, clubs opened in Kansas City and Dallas. Sam’s Club began with about three buyers and a few like-minded risk-takers. Walton said he wanted the Sam’s Club culture to be different from Walmart, but members and customers would still be a top priority. “Starting Sam’s Club was like a second childhood for me, a second challenge anyway,” Walton noted. In April 1983, the first Sam’s Club opened in Midwest City, and Walton described the venture as another experiment. Walton said he chose mavericks from Walmart’s ranks to head up the new wholesale club venture he called Sam’s Club. ![]() He rented an old building for about 85 cents a square foot and began to remodel the space. Walton scouted properties in Midwest City, Okla. The wholesale club model also allowed Walmart to enter larger markets with more business sectors. Walton said Price had yet to learn he planned to return home and copy the Price Club model. ![]() Walton, who traveled his stores and competitors, wrote in his autobiography that he was curious about the new sub-discounter undercutting Walmart prices because they had very little overhead and could sell below his 22% margins.Įarly in 1983, Sam and Helen Walton visited San Diego and had dinner with Price Club founder Sol Price and his wife. Price pioneered the first wholesale club in 1976. Walton saw the success of club stores - like San Diego-based Price Club - and wanted in on the action. Walmart had grown to more than $1 billion in sales by 1983. Many 65-year-olds were retiring, but Walmart founder Sam Walton sought a new challenge. ![]()
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