Sam Walton's Walmart vision was a starting point for his legacy, built from a five and dime franchise that was extremely Walmart successful when he opened the first Sam's Club location in Midwest City, Oklahoma on April 7, 1983. The vision for Sam's Club -- 21 years after the first Walmart opened -- was perhaps, let's say, borrowed from another chain called Price Mart in California. Sara Gilbert notes in her book "Built for Success: The Story of Walmart" that Walton had visited the store earlier in the year and decided to copy its business model.