ew rapidly in the 1970's, due to their highly automated distribution centers and computerization. By 1980, they were up to 276 stores with revenues of over $1.2 billion. Sam Walton's guiding philosophy for his stores from the beginning was to offer consumers a wide selection of goods at a discounted price. The company saved money by keeping advertising costs low and located stores in small towns where residents had few options for retail shopping. On one level, Sam Walton was just folks, the guy with the red dented pickup with the bird dogs in back. On another, he was the flinty entrepreneur, there to peer as deep into the salesmen's souls as into their sample kits and persuade them to give a deeper discount for Wal-Mart's bulk and massive purchases. Wal-Mart's success in small towns led to criticism that the stores took business away from small, hometown merchants. Nevertheless, the company managed to successfully market the stores as friendly, local businesses. In the Wal-Mart spirit, employees often greet shoppers at the store's entrances. Since their early days, Wal-Mart stores have paid careful attention to specific community needs and wants, often selling local merchandise along with items sold throughout the chain. In addition, the company honors selected graduating high school seniors with college scholarships, and the stores hold charity fund-raisers and sponsor various community events. Wal-Mart's corporate community spirit began to exert an influence on public policy in the 1990s. After the record industry established a parental advisory system of stickering music albums containing potentially offensive material, Wal-Mart decided to ban the stickered albums altogether from their stores. The company subsequently has succeeded in influencing many record companies to release clean versions of stickered albums. Wal-Mart has considerable impact in the music industry, largely because about one-tenth of all compact disks sold in the...
