Message from Our Chairman

My Wal-Mart Partners and Associates:

The following letter came in from one of our good Wal-Mart customers yesterday:

“I would like to tell you what a pleasure it is to shop at the Wal-Mart Stores. How nice it is to be greeted with a smile and to have assistance in locating different items.

“The employees of both Jonesboro stores are no nice and I especially want to tell you the people a the Pine Bluff Wal-Mart are great.

“This day and time you begin to wonder if people are still taught good manners and respect. I’ve shopped where the employees were rude and acted as if they didn’t care if your shopped their store—not so at Wal-Mart—there a person is treated like a human being.

“Thanks for developing Wal-Mart Stores.”

What a thrill it is to get a letter like the one above, and along with some that point out our problems, we do get many more positive ones than negatives from our customers throughout our Wal-Mart Country.

At this time of year I can think of no better theme or objective for all of us than to emphasize the obvious qualities that this person felt so strongly about in our two Jonesboro, Arkansas and Pine Bluff stores. So very simple—yet so very much appreciated by our customers.

A friend of mine, Bruce Brookshire of Brookshire Grocery Co., call it “Aggressive Hospitality” and he and his people do practice it so very well. Why not let us develop our own super Wal-Mart Aggressive Hospitality Campaign? Let’s do it in every Wal-Mart store and throughout our Company for this next most important 4^th quarter of the year. Let’s be the most friendly—offer a smile of welcome and assistance to all who do us a favor to enter our stores. Why not? You wonderful caring associates can do it and do it better than any other retailing company in the world.

Let me suggest you collectively, with your servant-leader managers, brainstorm this one subject soon—Wal-Mart Aggressive Hospitality—and come up with whatever suggestions and ideas you can think of to make your own Wal-Mart store tops and the very best place for our customers to shop. Let’s do go all out—let’s be the total aggressor in each of our market places in being the best team of people—enjoying our jobs, exuding friendship, happiness, assistance, service and appreciation to our customers. A smile from front to back. We can, and now’s the time. I’ll say no more and leave it with you.

How will you proceed in your store to accomplish this one objective for this all important Holiday Season and beyond? Good luck and thanks for all you’ve done to make this 1984 year our best ever so far.

Sam Walton

P.S. As soon as possible, could you forward your own customized plan for our store to our district managers. Let it be no more than a one page outline and written on a legal pad or whatever, but let it be a composite of your own ideas and let us then proceed to accomplish these very important objectives.

Thanks.