- Philip Green
Sir Philip Green is a British billionaire businessman who owns some of the United Kingdom's largest retailers, including Bhs and the Arcadia Group. He is Britain's fourth richest man, with a total of 2300 shops in the UK and assets worth around £3.61bn. His assets currently control 12% of the UK clothing retail market, making his empire the second-largest in the sector. The leader, Marks and Spencer, has been the target of two unsuccessful takeover bids from Green. - Sam Walton
Samuel Moore Walton (March 29 1918 - April 6 1992), born in Kingfisher, Oklahoma was the founder of two American retailers Wal-Mart and Sam's Club. He was the patriarch of the Walton family, one of the richest families in the world. - S. Robson Walton
Samuel Robson (Rob) Walton (born 1945, in Tulsa, Oklahoma) is the eldest son of Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer. According to Forbes, his net worth is $16.7 billion as of 2007. Walton graduated from Columbia Law School in 1969 and became a member of the law firm that represented Wal-Mart until his father's death. Rob Walton was named chairman of the Board of Directors of Wal-Mart on April 7, 1992, two days after his father's death, … - Helen Walton
Helen Robson Kemper Walton was the wife of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton. She was the eleventh richest American and at one point the richest woman in the world. Helen died with an estimated net worth of $16.4 billion. Helen was the valedictorian of her high school class in Claremore, Oklahoma and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma at Norman with a degree in business. She was the daughter of L.S. Robson, a prosperous banker and rancher. - Alice Walton
Alice Louise Walton (born October 7, 1949) is the daughter of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton and Helen Walton, and sister of S. Robson Walton, John T. Walton (d.2005), and Jim Walton. She has an estimated net worth of about $16.6 billion. She is a graduate of Trinity University San Antonio, and lives in Mineral Wells, Texas on The Rocking W Ranch. Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton's only daughter, Alice chose not to get involved in the operations of the family business. - Jim Walton
Jim Carr Walton (born 1948) is the youngest son of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton. He is the Chairman of Arvest Bank. With an estimated current net worth of around $16.8 billion, he is ranked by "Forbes" as the 23rd-richest person in world. He is married to Lynne McNabb Walton and has several children, including Stephen Michael Walton Breed, Christopher Sean Walton Breed, Alice Anne Walton, Thomas Layton Walton. The family resides in Bentonville, Arkansas. - Theo Albrecht
Theodor Paul Albrecht, generally known as Theo Albrecht (born March 28, 1922), is a German entrepreneur, who in 2007 was ranked by Forbes magazine as the 20th richest person in the world, with a net worth of $17.5 billion. He owns the Trader Joe's specialty grocery store chain and was CEO of Aldi. He and his brother Karl Albrecht owned the Aldi discount supermarket chain. In 1971, Theo was kidnapped for 17 days. - Ingvar Kamprad
Ingvar Feodor Kamprad (born March 30, 1926) is a Swedish entrepreneur who is the founder of the home furnishing retail chain IKEA. As of 2007 he is the richest person in Europe and the 4th richest person in the world according to "Forbes" magazine, with an estimated net worth of around US$33 billion. - Les Wexner
Leslie "Les" H. Wexner (born September 8 1937 in Dayton, Ohio) is an American businessman from Columbus, Ohio, and currently chairman and CEO of the Limited Brands corporation. - Karl Albrecht
Karl Hans Albrecht is a German entrepreneur who founded the discount supermarket chain, Aldi, with his brother Theo. He is among the richest men in the world, with an estimated net worth of $17.0 billion (Forbes,2006). Albrecht is the wealthiest man in Germany. Karl and Theo Albrecht were raised in modest circumstances. Their father was employed as a miner and later as a baker’s assistant. Their mother had a small grocery store in the worker’s quarter of Schonnebeck. - Marshall Field
Marshall Field (August 18, 1834 - January 16, 1906) was founder of Marshall Field and Company, the Chicago-based department stores. He was born on a farm in Conway, Massachusetts, the son of John Field IV and wife Fidelia Nash. At the age of 17, he moved to Pittsfield, Massachusetts where he first worked in a dry goods store. In 1856, at age 21, he went to Chicago, Illinois and obtained employment at leading dry goods merchant Cooley, Wadsworth and Co., … - John T. Walton
John Thomas Walton (October 8 1946 - June 27, 2005) was a son of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton. He was the chairman of True North Partners, a venture capital firm. Walton was a graduate of Bentonville High School, a public high school, where he was a star football player. Walton went on to continue his studies at the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio. He later dropped out in order to enlist in the U.S. Army and fight in the Vietnam War. - Richard Sears
Richard Warren Sears (born December 7, 1863 in Stewartville, Minnesota - died September 28, 1914), son of James Warren Sears (a blacksmith and wagon-maker by trade) and Eliza Burton, was a manager, businessman, and the founder of Sears, Roebuck and Company with his partner Alvah C. Roebuck. He is considered to be one of the great American promotional geniuses. - François Pinault
François Pinault is a billionaire French businessman who runs the retail company PPR. He lives in France and is married with four children. He is a friend of previous French President Jacques Chirac. According to "Forbes" List of billionaires (2007) he was ranked 34th, with an estimated fortune of US$14.5 billion. His holding company Artemis S.A., owns (or owned), among others, Converse sneakers, Samsonite luggage, the Vail Ski Resort in Colorado, … - Mike Ashley
Michael James Wallace Ashley is an English billionaire retail entrepreneur, in the sporting goods market. He is also the largest shareholder in Newcastle United F.C after buying Sir John Hall's share in the club on 23 May 2007. Ranked 25th in the 2007 version of the "Sunday Times Rich List" with estimated wealth of £1.9 billion, Ashley is an intensely private person, who never attends industry functions or gives interviews. - Edward Lampert
Edward S. "Eddie" Lampert (born July 19 1962) is an American investor, financier and businessman. He is the chairman of Sears Holdings Corporation (SHLD) and founder, chairman, and CEO of ESL Investments. Until May, 2007 he was a director of AutoNation, Inc. He previously served as a director of AutoZone, Inc. from 1999 to 2006. Lampert graduated from Yale University in 1984 (B.A., economics, summa cum laude), where he was a member of Skull and Bones and Phi Beta Kappa. - Franklin Winfield Woolworth
Franklin Winfield Woolworth (April 13 1852 - April 8 1919) was an American merchant. Born in Rodman, N.Y., he was the founder of F.W. Woolworth Company, an operator of discount stores that priced merchandise at five and ten cents. He pioneered the now-common practices of buying merchandise direct from manufacturers and fixing prices on items, rather than haggling. The son of a farmer, Woolworth aspired to be a merchant. - James Cash Penney
James Cash Penney (born September 16, 1875 in Hamilton, Missouri, USA - died February 12, 1971 in New York City, USA) was a businessman and entrepreneur. In 1902, he founded the J.C. Penney stores. After graduating from high school in Hamilton, Missouri, Penney went to work for a local dry goods merchant, then continued in that line of work after moving to Colorado for health reasons. In 1898, he began working in a small chain called the Golden Rule stores, and in 1902, … - Isidor Straus
Isidor Straus —also known as Isadore Strauss—, a German American, was co-owner of the Macy's department store and served as a Member of Congress in the United States. He and his wife, Ida, died on board the RMS Titanic. - Mohamed Al-Fayed
Mohamed Abdel Moneim Fayed state he is not entitled. Fayed is the owner of Harrods department store in Knightsbridge, the English Premiership football team Fulham Football Club and other business interests. He re-launched "Punch" in 1996, only to see it fold again in 2002. He is married to Finnish socialite and former model Heini Wathén, and has four living children: Jasmine, Karim, Camilla and Omar. - Leon Levine
Leon Levine is an American businessman that founded the Family Dollar chain of discount stores. Levine was born in Rockingham, North Carolina and did his undergraduate work at Duke University. Leon, along with his wife Sandra Levine (née Poliakoff), have been involved in numerous charitable and philanthropic causes, donating money to local projects in Charlotte and the surrounding region. Levine is a billionaire. He and his wife currently reside in Charlotte, … - Nancy Walton Laurie
Nancy Walton Laurie is the daughter of the late Bud Walton, the brother and business partner of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton. At Bud's death, she and her sister Ann Walton Kroenke inherited a stake in Wal-Mart now worth over USD$6 billion. She is president and founder of a New York City dance company called Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet. She and her husband Bill, major contributors to the University of Missouri–Columbia despite neither having attended the school, … - Alvah C. Roebuck
Alvah Curtis Roebuck, was a manager, businessman, and the founder of Sears, Roebuck and Company with his partner Richard Sears. Alvah Roebuck began work as a watchmaker in a Hammond, Indiana jewelry store at age 22. On April 1, 1887, Roebuck answered an advertisement for a watchmaker in the Chicago Daily News, and two days later he received a reply—Richard W. Sears wanted to hire him. - John Wanamaker
John Wanamaker (July 11, 1838 - December 12, 1922) was a United States businessman, civic and political figure, considered the father of modern advertising. Wanamaker was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. - Masatoshi Ito
Masatoshi Ito (1925-) is the owner and honorary chairman of $30 billion (sales) Ito-Yokado retailing group, which includes more than 10,000 7-Elevens in Japan and the U.S. - Sebastian S. Kresge
Sebastian Spering Kresge, American merchant and philanthropist, was the founder of the The S. S. Kresge Company (later Kmart), now known as the Sears Holdings Corporation. - Ann Walton Kroenke
Ann Walton Kroenke is, indirectly, an heir to part of the Wal-Mart fortune. Along with her sister, Nancy Walton Laurie, Kroenke inherited stock from father, Bud Walton (d. 1995), who was an early business partner and brother of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton. Her husband, Stan Kroenke, is a real estate developer and a billionaire in his own right; he is a part-owner of the St. Louis Rams (NFL) and majority owner of the Denver Nuggets (NBA) and Colorado Avalanche (NHL). - Harry Gordon Selfridge
Harry Gordon Selfridge (January 11, 1858 - May 8, 1947) was an American-born retail magnate, who founded the British department store Selfridges. - John Moores
Sir John Moores (25 January 1896 - 25 September 1993) was a British businessman and philanthropist. - Bob Ulrich
Robert J. Ulrich (born 1944) is the chief executive officer and chairman of the Target Corporation, the sixth-largest retailer in the United States. Ulrich is considered to be a significant force in business, and is credited with crafting Target's unique brand and marketing image and focus, which is widely considered to be a key contributor to the company's success in the challenging retailing industry. - Potter Palmer
Potter Palmer (1826 - 1902) was a Chicago businessman who was responsible for much of the development of State Street. Potter Palmer founded a dry goods store on Lake Street in Chicago in 1852, eponymously named Potter Palmer and Company. Unlike many stores of the time it focused on women and encouraged their patronage. Palmer also instituted a "no questions asked" returns policy, which served to nurture the goodwill and patronage of Chicagoans. - Michael Otto
Michael Otto is the head of Otto Group, the world's largest mail order company, with $24 billion in sales in fiscal year 2003. Thanks to a 30% rise in Internet sales last year, Otto also maintains its position as the Web's second-biggest retailer, behind Amazon.com. They were the former owners of Spiegel, Inc., (the parent company of Eddie Bauer and former owners of Spiegel catalog), which filed for bankruptcy on March 17, 2003. - Ricardo Salinas Pliego
Ricardo Benjamín Salinas Pliego is a Mexican businessmen and one of Forbes "World's Richest People" since 2000. He serves as President and CEO of Grupo Salinas and Grupo Elektra, two holdings with interests vested in telecommunications, media and retail stores, among those TV Azteca, Elektra, Iusacell, Unefon and Banco Azteca. - Isaac Wolfson
Sir Isaac Wolfson, 1st Baronet FRS (September 17, 1897 - June 20, 1991) was a businessman and philanthropist. He was chairman of The Great Universal Stores Limited 1947-1987 and established the Wolfson Foundation. Isaac Wolfson was the son of a Jewish cabinet maker, an immigrant from Russia who settled in the Gorbals in Glasgow, Scotland. He was educated at Queen's Park School, Glasgow. His significant fortune was based on a very successful mail order business, … - Erivan Haub
Erivan Haub is the one-time owner of Tengelmann Group, Germany's largest food retailer. - Aaron Montgomery Ward
Aaron Montgomery Ward (February 17, 1844 - December 7, 1913) was an American businessman notable for the invention of mail order. The mail-order industry was started by Aaron Montgomery Ward in 1872 in Chicago. Ward, a young traveling salesman of dry goods, was concerned over the plight of many rural Midwest Americans who he thought were being overcharged and under-served by many of the small town retailers on whom they had to rely for their general merchandise. - Bernard Marcus
Bernard Marcus is a co-founder of Home Depot and philanthropist. He was born to Jewish-Russian immigrant parents in Newark, New Jersey. He grew up in a tenement and wanted to become a doctor. He couldn’t afford the tuition, so he worked for his father as a cabinet maker through Rutgers University to earn a pharmacy degree. Later, he worked at a drugstore as a pharmacist but became more interested in the business and retailing part of the business. - Samuel H. Kress
Samuel Henry Kress (July 23, 1863-September 22, 1955) was a businessman and philanthropist, founder of the S. H. Kress & Co. five and ten cent store chain. - Julius Rosenwald
Julius Rosenwald (August 12 1862 - January 6, 1932) was a U.S. clothier, manufacturer, business executive, and philanthropist. He is best known as a part-owner and leader of Sears, Roebuck and Company, and for the Rosenwald Fund which donated millions to support the education of African Americans and other philanthropic causes in the first half of the 20th century. - Betsy McLaughlin
Betsy McLaughlin (Born 1962 in Orange County, California) is the current CEO of Hot Topic, Inc. and founder of Torrid. She originally graduated from University of California, Irvine. During Betsy's time with Hot Topic, the corporation made "Fortune's 100 Best Places to Work in America' list. It was Betsy who came up with the concept for the second Hot Topic division called "Torrid", a plus size woman's chain for younger females.
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