It was the worst retail store I had ever seen. Sam had brought a couple of trucks of watermelons in and stacked them on the sidewalk. He had a donkey ride out in the parking lot. It was about 115 degrees, and the watermelons began to pop, and the donkey began to do what donkeys do, and it all mixed together and ran all over the parking lot. And when you went inside the store, the mess just continued, having been tracked in all over the floor. He was a nice fellow, but I wrote him off. It was just terrible.

David Glass, who later succeeded Sam Walton as Chairman of Wal-Mart, on his first encounter with the brand. Cited by John Lanchester in a nice review of two books about Wal-Mart. It just goes to show that one should never judge by first impressions. Or does it?

En passant… I see that Mr Lanchester, whose writing I admire, is keeping a Blog about the World Cup.