Walmart was created by American entrepreneur Sam Walton, who opened the first Walmart store in 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas, later growing it into a national discount retail chain with help from his brother, Bud Walton.

Who made Walmart?

  • The person who made (founded) Walmart is Sam Walton, a retail businessman from Oklahoma.
  • He launched the first “Wal-Mart Discount City” store in 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas.
  • His brother, James “Bud” Walton, joined him early on and is often cited as co‑founder and key partner in building the chain.

In simple terms: Walmart exists today because Sam Walton believed small-town shoppers deserved big-city prices, and he built a whole business model around low prices and high volume.

A tiny origin story

In the 1950s, Sam Walton was running variety stores and studying what customers bought and how price changes affected sales.

Big chains didn’t like his idea of very low margins and lower prices, so he struck out on his own and opened his first Walmart in Arkansas.

That “everyday low prices” idea turned one small store into what would become the world’s largest retailer by revenue over the following decades.

Why this still matters now

Today, Walmart is a massive omnichannel retailer (stores plus online), still rooted in Sam Walton’s core idea of saving people money.

The Walton family remains the dominant shareholder, so the founding family’s influence continues to shape Walmart’s strategy even as it leans heavily into e‑commerce and AI‑driven operations.

TL;DR:
Sam Walton made (founded) Walmart in 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas, with crucial early help from his brother Bud Walton, and their low‑price strategy is still the company’s core today.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.