Between 1908 and 1910, Samuel Skaggs brought his family from Missouri to Idaho. As a minister of a small group in a small frontier town, American Falls, Idaho, he needed additional support for his large family. He opened a small grocery store, but to compete with the few that were already operating, he changed its business model from one of credit accounts, which were tailored to the sporadic and seasonal income of farmers, to a cash-only basis. Attracting customers to this simpler arrangement would make sense if he could sell for much less than his competitors. While the margin would be lower, he avoided the risk of non-payment of accounts. To drive down the wholesale price of the groceries he sold, he bought them in larger lots than competitors. In those days large lots were defined by some fraction of a railroad carload, and because American Falls was a stop on the Union Pacific Railroad, this afforded Sam Skaggs an opportunity to buy and sell for less. Perhaps more important to his expansion-oriented sons than to Sam, the savings of large-lot buying increased as more stores came on line.