“Walmart does more business by March 3 than Target does all year. Target doesn’t have a single store outside the United States; Walmart’s international stores alone generate almost twice Target’s total revenue.”. Walmart founder Sam Walton speaks to employees at the opening of a store in Topeka, Kans., in 1988. On July 2, 1962 — 50 years ago today — Sam Walton opened the very first Walmart store in Rogers, Ark. Little did he know at the time that he was laying the foundation for an American institution that would reshape not just the retail industry but the U.S. itself.