My Unpopular Walmart Opinion
I’ll never look at my local supercenter the same way again
The Waltons are the richest family in the world, with an estimated net worth of $247 billion.
I’m staying at an Airbnb in Bentonville, and I just got through with the golf cart tour, led by Bob. Maybe I’m gullible and Bob is highly persuasive, but a few things about the Walmart dynasty jumped out at me within the first hour of landing in this alt-reality.
Bentonville is where Sam Walton got his start and home of the international Walmart corporate headquarters.
The Walmart kids — 3 out of 4 are still living — aren’t weird or mutated. One of them, John, died in a small plane accident in his 50s, but the rest are living relatively normal lives, which is a testament to Sam and Helen Walton’s child-rearing skills.
The kids were raised to be grateful, humble, and interested in their community — even though they knew they’d be billionaires.
Disclaimer: I don’t work for Walmart, but I am a frequent shopper.
Bentonville, Arkansas — Ground Zero
In the early 1960s, before Walmart took off like a red-white-and-blue rocket ship, this little corner of northwest Arkansas was Hicksville, USA.
When you visit Bentonville today, your mind will be blown by the free art galleries, community spaces, and designer dogs.
Alice Walton is building a new medical center and a medical school, which will host the Cleveland Clinic and focus on blending holistic and traditional medical treatments. That is one of her projects, but there are many others.
Alice also champions art and education, and a few years ago built Crystal Bridges, an internationally renowned American art museum.
The other two Walton kids are into mountain biking and are focused on opening a mile of mountain biking trails each week in northwest Arkansas.
I don’t mountain bike because I’m older, but even my untrained eye can appreciate the gnarly curves winding through the forests, like muddy ribbons cut in the hillsides, all over town.
Sam Walton’s vision was similar to Henry Ford’s: create stores that sell items cheap enough to support a comfortable, middle-class existence for Americans in rural areas.
While many will argue there is a dark side to Walmart, I’m here to lay out the opposing case.
The main complaint against Walmart is the low wages paid to most of their workers; however, that is the competitive business model in American retail. (Dollar Stores are worse. For example, in Arkansas a Dollar Store employee will start at $8/hr whereas a Walmart Associate will start at $12/hr.)
Dollar Tree has the lowest starting wages in Arkansas, at $7.25/hr.
As far as I know, neither Dollar General nor Dollar Tree has built art museums and mountain biking trails free to the public.
Art Museums
Crystal Bridges was built by Alice over budget, at $2 billion-plus. She created the space in an area she loved playing as a child.
The architecture straddles Crystal Spring, and is located down a 1/2-mile paved trail (parallel to a mountain biking trail) if you want to hoof it.
You can drive up and park outside, too, but I recommend taking the trail, which is dotted with interesting sculptures, including a spider the size of a tall house.
Inside, American art from the 1600s up to contemporary pieces hangs on the walls. The beautiful interior offers views of the spring and plenty of natural light. Near the entrance, an outdoor sculpture garden pays tribute to Bucky Fuller with a geodesic dome and more modern “tiny house” architecture.
We the People is on tour this summer and displays the original Declaration of Independence, Emancipation Proclamation, and other founding documents.
Down the street is the 21C Museum, filled with contemporary (21st century) art.
The Momentary, a huge space housing contemporary art including audio displays and live music, is around the corner.
Yesterday, we checked out the Native American museum, which had an extensive assortment of arrowheads and other weaponry, textiles, clothing, and pottery.
That’s a smattering — there is plenty more art throughout town.
Kid’s Stuff
Bentonville has a museum called Amaze, sponsored by a non-Walmart company, with a focus on STEM education and interactive displays.
It’s free to everyone, but most patrons are families with younger children.
The local fitness center isn’t free, but it has incredible facilities for kids including a pool area and basketball courts.
The city’s Walmart-built daycare has a long waiting list, but as the new healthcare complex is being constructed, the Walton dynasty is planning at least one more huge complex to provide more daycare.
I don’t have kids, but you can’t help but notice all the facilities for children here.
Alice Walton has stated her three priorities are art, education, and healthcare.
Healthcare
Walton has stated she has a particular interest in changing the (failing) US healthcare model. She would like to see doctor’s visits changed from:
“What’s the matter?”
US healthcare could shift the paradigm, so doctors ask:
“What’s important to you?”
The healthcare center under construction is a joint venture with another millionaire, Deepak Chopra. The campus will center around a medical school, the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine, originally announced a year and a half ago. In addition to a teaching hospital, the site will include housing for medical students.
New doctors will master skills in both holistic and allopathic medicine.
Currently, one of the parking garages is under construction, with medical school construction set to begin in a few months.
Walmart v. Google
Walmart is using all the concrete it can lay its hands on to build a new corporate campus in Bentonville, with a projected completion of 2025.
The idea is to create a bike-friendly, walkable space so the company can recruit the best and brightest.
Walmart must compete with other cutting-edge companies like Tesla and Google to find top talent; therefore, they are starting from scratch to remake an old, outdated campus.
The old Walmart campus was full of one-story brick buildings, with an endless cubicle farm inside, according to our tour guide Bob, who used to do business there before retiring to a life of golf-cart bliss.
The new campus will be open for anyone in Bentonville, with miles of paved bike and walking trails.
Bicycling
The Walmart heirs are extremely into cycling and are committed to turning Northwest Arkansas into a mountain biking paradise. Most riders would agree they’ve already succeeded.
The area — which includes Rogers, Fayetteville, Springdale, and Lowell — boasts 500 miles of mountain biking trails. They are no-cost and set in some of the best scenery in the US.
This is Ozark country, with old, mixed forests and plenty of hills.
Bentonville has bike shops on every corner and “free air” is easy to find.
A paved bicycle Greenway Trail connects Fayetteville (south) to Bella Vista (north).
Final Unpopular Walmart Thoughts
Walmart has its share of problems. The family has consolidated vast wealth, and they may be grounded but they own plenty of properties and toys.
Wages at most Walmarts are near the bottom: in Arkansas, our local store pays $12/hr to start. A recent article in The Guardian notes that even long-term workers with over a decade working at Walmart only make $12.85/hr. At Sam’s Club (Sam Walton’s answer to Costco), wages begin at $15/hr but that policy has only been in effect for about a year.
Recently, Walmart, CVS, and Walgreens lost a $165 million judgment over the sale of opioids. All three companies are appealing.
If I worked at Walmart, I wouldn’t be able to afford to visit Bentonville, eat overpriced bistro food, stay in an Airbnb for $150/night, and observe all the designer dogs who live here.
On the other hand, none of the Walton kids or grandkids are nuts, and frankly, I think we should all be very grateful for that. They aren’t into big game hunting or drugs, and as far as I know — they aren’t involved in major cover-ups or crimes.
The company has responded to the reversal of Roe v. Wade by expanding healthcare and travel coverage for its female employees.
I do wish they would raise the starting wage for retail workers, though, and provide better health insurance.
I have a feeling many of the doctors at the Alice L. Walton Medical School will go on to practice boutique medicine but then again, maybe I don’t know Walmart.
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Jean Campbell recently started her first Substack newsletter to laser focus on getting her book, City of Lies: A Street Hustler’s Omaha Journey published.