He Has Proven His Point

(Bentonville AR) Now here is a town on the move. This is my third visit here and each time I come into this area I get more impressed with the company we all know as Walmart.

When you come here you cannot helped but be awestruck by this company. My understanding is that Walmart requires all its vendors to have a presence here. I guess when you are Walmart you can require whatever you want to require. To say that Walmart’s little requirement has caused this area to boom would be quite an understatement.

I landed at Northwest Arkansas Airport Monday and was reminded that it is literally in the middle of nowhere but only about fifteen minutes from the home office of this giant corporation. It is not difficult to understand why they built an airport here. And as you drive into town, you see the footprint of Walmart every direction you look.

Let me bore you with a few facts about this company. Their annual revenues are in the neighborhood of $345 Billion dollars. Their net income (profit) was around $12 Billion last year. That is a whole lot of money. They have over 1.8 Million employees.

Good Lord.


We ate lunch today at a little hamburger diner next door to Walton’s 5 & 10 in Bentonville. This store, where it all began, is a museum of sorts now that tells the Sam Walton story.


I found out today that the Walton’s live just a little ways from that store so after lunch I asked my friends to drive me by the house. We were able to drive up to the gate but that is as far as we could get. Sam Walton died in 1992 but his wife still lives there.

But his legacy continues.

Last year the Walton Foundation announced that they are building Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art within walking distance of the old Walton 5 & 10. The $50 Million facility will be built on 100 scenic acres donated by the Walton family and will include 100,000 square feet of gallery, library, office and meeting space as well as sculpture gardens and walking trails. The Museum is expected to draw 250,000 visitors annually.

If you enjoy art you may want to put Bentonville AR on your places to visit in the next few years. The museum is expected to open in 2009. And this town will keep right on booming.

Sam Walton once said, “There is a lot more business out there in small town America than I ever dreamed of.”

I think he has proven his point.