Article: Helen didn't want to live in a big city. (Geographic Expansion).(Helen Walton partly responsible for company's small-town strategy)(Brief Article)

BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- Wal-Mart's small-town strategy grew in part from the fact that Helen Walton did not want to live in a big city.

Sam Walton left the army in 1945 knowing that he wanted to go into business for himself and that the business would be retailing. One of the first opportunities he considered involved partnering with an old friend to buy and run a Federated department store on Del Mar Avenue in St. Louis.

But Walton's wife objected, saying that city life was not for her. As far as she was concerned, any town with more than 10,000 people was too big. She also did not like partnerships. Her father had been a lawyer and had seen a number of ...

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