If there's one company that consumer and analyst alike expect to thrive during a recession, it's Wal-Mart. Its stock up 20% for the year, the big-box discount store edged past its competitors with a wide, affordable selection of products under one roof. With roughly 2500 Wal-Mart stores throughout the country, Americans succumbed to convenience and picked up a bottle of Tide and some tube socks.

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