Through the dim mist of earliest morning, with everything still dark, a small town sleeps. It is 3 a.m., and nothing moves; even the townÆs dogs are asleep. Stores are closed, parking lots empty. A light is visible, through the mist, though. Upon closer inspection, the light is revealed to be a storeùWal-Martùwhere the lights are on, customers are shopping, and cars are parked in the parking lot. Yes, while everyone else is sleepingùincluding its competitors, Wal-Mart is awake and already making money for the day. When does this store close? Never. It is open 24/7, selling to the middle-of-the-night crowd, the morning crowd, the noontime crowd, the afternoon crowd, the evening crowd, and the late-night crowd. Everyday shoppers, commuters, holiday shoppersùeverybody shops at Wal-Mart.
Furthermore, there is not just one Wal-Mart. There are 4,750 of them (Bianco & Zellner). In fact, Wal-Mart is the worldÆs largest company; it is a full three times the size of the second-largest retailer, FranceÆs Carrefour (Bianco & Zellner). It gets 138 million shoppers every week, and 82% of American households made at least one purchase at Wal-Mart last year (Bianco & Zellner). ôIn business, there is big, and there is Wal-Martö (Bianco & Zellner). Ira Kalish, global director of Deloitte Research, says ôThereÆs nothing like Wal-Mart. They are so much bigger than any retailer has ever been that itÆs not possible to compareö (Bianco & Zellner). According to Forbes, ôIf it were its own economy, Wal-Mart Stores would rank 30th in the world, right behind Saudi Arabiaö (Upbin). If Wal-Mart grew at 11% every year, it would rack up half a trillion dollars in sales by early in the next decade (Upbin). In fact, ôAll thatÆs left for Wal-Mart is mop-up. It already sells more toys than Toys ôRö Us, more clothes than the Gap and Limited combined, and more food than Krogerö (Upbin). Nor is Wal-MartÆs reach limited to the U...