Walmart: number of stores worldwide FY2006-FY2024, by division

Sam's Club operated 599 stores as of January 31, 2025. Sam's Club is a chain of membership-only retail warehouse clubs owned and operated by Walmart. 

Walmart

Walmart was founded in 1962 by Sam Walton when he and his brother James “Bud” Walton opened the first Walmart Discount City in Rogers, Arkansas. Since then, Walmart has grown to become the largest publicly-owned retail company in the world. In the United States, the company includes Walmart discount stores, Supercenters, Neighborhood Markets, and Sam’s Club warehouse membership clubs. The company also has many international operations. Walmart is considered a variety store which focuses on low prices featuring apparel as well as hard goods, and has been committed to upholding their basic value of customer service.

Beginning in the early 1990s, Walmart went to great lengths to increase their market share. They introduced a full line of groceries into their stores, diversified their market by appealing to certain ethnic groups through bilingual advertisements, and took steps to promote the awareness of environmental issues. As of 2024, Walmart operated close to 11,000 stores worldwide and these stores generated around 643 billion U.S. dollars in net sales.