This post is part of our Big Company, Small Town series, featuring large companies and the small towns in which they are headquartered.
You probably wouldn't think that the world's largest public corporation is located in a small town with a population of just 29,538 (based on the 2005 Census), but Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) maintains its corporate headquarters in such a town -- Bentonville, Arkansas. Sam Walton opened his first store there in the mid-1940s -- Walton's Five and Dime -- on Main Street as a Ben Franklin franchise. Today that store is Wal-Mart's visitors' center where you can find thousands of company photographs and memorabilia.
Sam Walton's first Wal-Mart Discount City store opened in 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas, and within five years Walton had 24 stores in various towns in Arkansas. In 1968 he opened his first stores outside Arkansas, in Missouri and Oklahoma. Walton incorporated Wal-Mart Stores in 1969 and started selling shares over-the-counter in 1970. The company was first listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972. Today Wal-Mart has more than 6,700 stores worldwide and serves more than 176 million customers weekly.
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