Shewmaker: Father of ‘Everyday Low Prices’

Walmart executive Jack Shewmaker had a storied career with the Bentonville-based retail giant. His untimely death in late 2010 was unexpected, but it didn’t stop his peers from honoring him with an induction in this year’s Arkansas Business Hall of Fame, which will be held in Little Rock next month.

Shewmaker’s distinguished career with Walmart would never have happened if he hadn’t given Sam Walton a second chance.

The fast-rising retail executive was wooed to Bentonville for a meeting with founder Sam Walton in 1970 when Walmart was a fledgling discount chain of 17 stores. Shewmaker, who was living in Ohio and working for a Cincinnati-based retailer, drove his family to his hometown of Buffalo, Mo. en route to his northwest Arkansas rendezvous with Walton.

But on arrival, Walton wasn’t there. He was flying his airplane over new territory scouting for potential locations for stores. Shewmaker waited all day, but “Mr. Sam” never showed up for their scheduled appointment.

Shewmaker was quite put out at being stood up, particularly after the 11-hour trip and family accommodations he’d arranged. He left at day’s end and returned to Buffalo to regroup with his family.

Somehow, Walton found a phone number for Shewmaker and asked him if he’d come back for an interview the next day. Shewmaker, unimpressed with the tardiness and delay, said he had to get back to work and couldn’t take any more time off.

So Walton asked, “Will you meet me halfway?”

That request changed Jack Shewmaker’s life, and arguably Sam Walton’s.

The two men met in Joplin and Walton hired Shewmaker as his first regional manager for the 17-store chain. Later that decade, Shewmaker would become president of Walmart and helped launch the chain into a historic, exponential growth mode.

One of Shewmaker’s greatest contributions to Walmart was his insistence that the retailer adopt the “everyday low prices” mantra.