Sam Walton launches what will become the nations largest chain of Wal-Mart stores. K-Mart, Target and WoolCo launch their national store effort in 1962 also.
Sam Walton
Walton was an active student of retailing–all family vacations included store visits–so by the time a barber named Herb Gibson from Berryville, Ark., began opening discount stores outside towns where Sam ran variety stores, Walton saw what was coming. On July 2, 1962, at the age of 44, he opened his first Wal-Mart store, in Rogers, Ark. That same year, S.S. Kresge launched K Mart, F.W. Woolworth started Woolco and Dayton Hudson began its Target chain. Discounting had hit America in a big way. At that time, Walton was too far off the beaten path to attract the attention of competitors or suppliers, much less Wall Street.
Once committed to discounting, Walton began a crusade that lasted the rest of his life: to drive costs out of the merchandising system wherever they lay–in the stores, in the manufacturers’ profit margins and with the middleman–all in the service of driving prices down, down, down.
Using that formula, which cut his margins to the bone, it was imperative that Wal-Mart grow sales at a relentless pace. It did, of course, and Walton hit the road to open stores wherever he saw opportunity. He would buzz towns in his low-flying airplane studying the lay of the land. When he had triangulated the proper intersection between a few small towns, he would touch down, buy a piece of farmland at that intersection and order up another Wal-Mart store, which his troops could roll out like a rug.
As the chain began to take off, Walton made major adjustments to manage the growth–again always seeming to see ahead. As early as 1966, when he had 20 stores, he attended an IBM school in upstate New York. His goal: to hire the smartest guy in the class to come down to Bentonville, Ark., and computerize his operations. He realized that he could not grow at the pace he desired without computerizing merchandise controls. He was right, of course, and Wal-Mart went on to become the icon of just-in-time inventory control and sophisticated logistics–the ultimate user of information as a competitive advantage. Today Wal-Mart’s computer database is second only to the Pentagon’s in capacity, and though he is rarely remembered that way, Walton may have been the first true information-age CEO.
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1962 Convertible Sports Car Barbie’s sports car was manufactured / released in 1962. To grasp the value of such collectors items today, a vintage Barbie with shipping box sells for $350 and a car in the cellophane display box sells for $450. A used car, but in excellent condition (a little chrome rubbed off on the bumpers) will easily bring more than $200. You can pad your retirement if you have one of these little beauties stored away in your closet!!
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In 1962, we thought cars were so expensive !!! Just look at this little baby…..what we pay in taxes alone for a new car today would have bought this car! Price? $1,295
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The ‘Car Of Our Dreams’ in high school in 1962!!
1962 Corvette Convertible – Sold 14,531
Base Price $4,038.00
In 1962 Chevrolet showed the experimental Mako Shark for the first time. Sales had increased to the point where a second shift at the plant was added shortly after 1962 production began. Engine displacement increased from 283ci for 1961 to 327ci for 1962. Dual carburetor engines were no longer available. 1962 Corvettes could not be ordered with a painted side cove.
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n 1962, Ross Perot borrows $1,000 from his wife’s savings account and launches what became a multi-billion dollar company….EDS!
Ross Perot – EDS
Beginning at age seven, Perot worked at various jobs throughout his boyhood, including breaking horses, selling Christmas cards, magazines, and garden seeds, buying and selling bridles, saddles, horses and calves, delivering newspapers, and collecting for classified ads.
He entered the United States Naval Academy in 1949 and graduated in 1953. While at the Naval Academy, he served as class president, chairman of the honor committee, and battalion commander. After graduation, Perot served at sea for four years on a destroyer and an aircraft carrier.
In 1956, he married Margot Birmingham from Greensburg, Pennsylvania, whom he met while a midshipman at the Naval Academy. Upon his honorable discharge from the Navy in 1957, Ross and Margot settled in Dallas where he went to work for IBM’s data processing division as a salesman.
Margot taught school during the early years of their marriage. In 1962, she loaned Perot $1,000 from her savings account to start a one-man data processing company. He named the company Electronic Data Systems. Today, EDS is a multi-billion dollar corporation employing more than 70,000 people.
Ross and Margot have been married for forty five years. They live in Dallas and have five children – Ross, Jr., Nancy, Suzanne, Carolyn, and Katherine. The Perots currently have nine grandchildren.
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