Northwest Arkansas is home to Walmart, the world’s largest company by revenue — but you wouldn’t know it by driving past its current corporate headquarters in Bentonville. That’s about to change.
What’s happening: The company is building a new 350-acre campus-of-the-future for approximately 15,000 employees who work at HQ — a project it hopes will help attract and retain top-level talent, said Cindi Marsiglio, Walmart’s senior vice president for corporate real estate.
Why it matters: Offering modern, comfortable workspaces with plenty of amenities may help companies in their quest to entice workers back to their offices in the post-pandemic era.
Zoom in: The new campus, just a few miles from the old one, will include several office buildings and parking decks, as well as a hotel, a child care center, a fitness center, outdoor spaces, restaurants and stores (see a map here).
- The child care center will be open only to corporate employees, but the fitness center will be available to all Walmart workers, including retail.
- The campus, including the stores and restaurants, will be open to the public.
- Walmart’s existing 1970s-era headquarters are comparatively dated and dull — notably lacking in windows, for instance.