Rapidly growing Bentonville, AR - home of Walmart

On May 9, 1950, Sam Walton opened the original Walmart on the downtown Bentonville square; it now has 11,500 stores with annual revenue in excess of $514 billion

Bentonville is the fastest growing city in Arkansas (thanks to Walmart) with almost 55,000 people; unlike most of the state, the small downtown area is thriving

The Walmart Museum was surprisingly dry with lots of information to read but little explanation on how the company was able to grow so successfully; it was free and there wasn't even a gift shop

Making Change, 2015; this 1962 Fleetwood Cadillac was inspired by Sam Walton's Five and Dime and is covered in thousands of dimes, nickels and pennies

This is what Sam Walton's office looked like on the day he died; the office was usually unoccupied since Sam preferred to be visiting his stores (he was a licensed pilot too)

President George H. W. Bush awarded Sam Walton the Presidential Medal of Freedom shortly before his death in 1992; Walmart is the largest private employer in the country with 1.5+ million employees

This flag stood at the entrance to the Walmart in El Paso on August 3, 2019 when a racist gunman killed 22 customers; afterwards Walmart announced that it would stop selling all handgun ammunition and certain short-barreled rifle ammunition

Everywhere in Bentonville you see the wealth created by Walmart from the $450 million Crystal Bridges Museum to the perfectly manicured and decorated city parks

This 1979 Ford F-150 was Mr. Sam's favorite vehicle and he would often take it to go to hunting; Asa Hutchinson, the current governor of Arkansas, is also from Bentonville

Northwest Arkansas is home to 3 Fortune 500 companies - Walmart, Tyson Foods and JB Hunt Trucking; the University of Arkansas is in nearby Fayetteville

Mountain biking is extremely popular with 28 miles of trails in the city; Bentonville's culture is a combination of a small, Southern city and a global business hub

This was about the only mention in the Walmart Museum of how the company sped the demise of the small town merchant; Bentonville is probably the only small town in America that has actually benefitted from Walmart

Descendants of Sam Walton are now the 10th, 11th and 12th richest Americans with net worth of roughly $62 billion each; Walmart has been criticized for its lack of diversity which is noticeable in Bentonville which is less than 1% Black