FedMart
company on 4 shows · 15 statements across 5 episodes · said 180 times in 12 episodes since 2022
Acquired 92 
the Knowledge Project 42 
Founders 36 
the Y Combinator Startup Podcast 10
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Acquired 92the Knowledge Project 42Founders 36the Y Combinator Startup Podcast 10
2026 11 mentions in 2 episodes 6 per episode
2025 41 mentions in 4 episodes 10 per episode
2024 36 mentions in 3 episodes 12 per episode
2023 88 mentions in 2 episodes 44 per episode
2022 4 mentions in 1 episode
every mention on every show, scene by scene, with the transcript →
15 statements about FedMart, every show
Ries: FedMart went bankrupt within seven years of ousting Saul Price
“In branch A, FedMart's investors got what they wanted. They got Saul out of the way. They converted FedMart to traditional business practices. It was bankrupt within seven years.”
Robert Price: Fewer SKUs drastically cuts massive retail payroll costs
“He said, 80% of a retailer's cost is payroll. Fewer items means less labor, less time ordering, less time stocking, less time checking out.”
Sol Price's pro bono legal clients became his first FedMart investors
“Those charity connections, they'd become his first investors when he needed capital for FedMart in 16 years, too.”
Sol Price launched FedMart in 1954 with $50,000 in total capital
“He put in 5000 dollars of his own money, which was serious money for him back then. His law firm chipped in 10,000. Seven friends invest 5000 each. 50,000 dollars total.”
Sol Price Prohibited Below-Cost Sales and Loss Leaders at FedMart
“He makes a rule that nothing in Fedmark Can ever be sold below cost. There's no loss leaders, period.”
FedMart Generated $3M in First-Year Sales Against a $1M Projection
“In the first year, he projected they would do a million in sales, but the actual first year sales were three million.”
Sol Price: Retail Margins Must Come from Efficiency, Not Raising Prices
“Although we are interested in margin, it must never be done at the expense of our philosophy. Margin must be obtained by better buying, emphasis on selling the kind of goods we want to sell, operating efficiencies, lower markdowns, greater turnover, etc. Incre…”
Paying double market wages slashes retail employee turnover and internal theft
“Pay double, and you get your pick of the best workers. Turnover disappears. Theft becomes almost non-existent. People start treating your business like it's their business.”
FedMart paying double competitor wages in 1957 resulted in lower operating costs
“The San Antonio retailers paid 50 cents an hour in 1957. Saul paid a dollar. Let's look at what happened. Employees could afford health care and dignity. Communities got stable families, not desperate workers. FedMart attracted the best people with near zero t…”
Senra: Sol Price Forced Lender to Remove Segregated Bathrooms Clause
“Sol was negotiating mortgage for the property with a major insurance company when he noticed that the mortgage agreement stipulated that FedMart must maintain separate bathrooms based on race.
Sol told the lender that the separate bathrooms provision was unacc…”
Senra: Sol Price opened the first pharmacy in a discount store
“He opens the first pharmacy inside of a discount store ever.”
Sol Price used the membership club model to legally bypass pricing minimums
“Saul kind of stumbles into figuring out that if you are a membership club, you're not open to the general public, so you can skirt these laws and sell below the manufacturer's minimum price.”
Sol Price ranked customer value and employee wages above investor profit
“As Saul is running the company during these first few years, he starts to codify some retail management philosophies, and he famously sort of canonizes these as FedMart's four priority order principles, and he teaches every new employee throughout the whole co…”
Walmart and Kmart carried around 50,000 SKUs during Price Club's launch
“So at the time, Walmarts and Kmarts had on the order of about 50,000 SKUs and even FedMart had Probably close to that many at the time.”