A friend of Waltons, Tom Bates, worked for a retail franchiser, Butler Brothers. So Walton asked Tom what hed have that suited a small town, and at the age of 27 got started with a Butler Brothers franchise in Newport, Arkansas. By chance it was right across the street from a very successful competitor, John Dunham. It was a real blessing for me to be so green and ignorant, because it was from that experience that I learned a lesson which has stuck with me all through the years: you can learn from everybody. I didnt just learn from reading every retail publication I could get my hands on, I probably learned the most from studying what John Dunham was doing across the street.?/p>

Then came the billion dollar piece of bad luck. Not because it cost a billion, but it led to a billion. In all my excitement at becoming Sam Walton, Merchant, I had neglected to include a clause in my lease which gave me an option to renew after the first five years? Seeing the success of the store, the landlord chose not to renew the lease and forced the sale of the outlet from Walton to the landlords son. With no other viable location in Newport, Walton loaded his family and belongings in a truck and started driving. They didnt stop until they came to a small town, Bentonville, population 3,000. There, at the age o

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