| Chapter 1: | The Chain Store Historically Considered |
Figure 1.1 Selected 20th-Century Chain Stores
Data from Lebhar, 1952.
Virtually any consumer in the United States would have seen and shopped in at least one variety. At least one current researcher, Bethany Moreton, argues that Wal-Mart has its roots in Ozark agrarian culture. That may be so (and her study is a fine read), but Sam Walton and all his contemporaries who later patronized him had already digested a steady diet of chain stores (see Moreton, 2006). A graph of the explosive growth of chain stores is given in Figure 1.1.
Considering Wal-Mart within the context of earlier chain store growth is important to better understand its role in transforming the retail trade sector. Wal-Mart stores (and the supercenters) are popularly depicted as enjoying historically record expansion. This is a poor characterization. To illustrate, I compare the growth of several similar stores across time. By collecting their start date to a single point, I can show how the leading chain stores grew relative to each other in different decades of the 20th century. As surprising as it may be, neither the rate nor level of Wal-Mart’s growth is outside the historical norms. Figure 1.2 presents a clear illustration of Wal-Mart’s relative growth (by number of store locations) compared with that of earlier chain stores.