Walmart Museum

The Walmart Museum, located on the downtown square of Bentonville (Benton County), preserves the history and legacy of Walmart Inc., one of the world’s largest and most profitable corporations. The museum offers a variety of artifact exhibitions and other displays in the same space where Sam Walton founded the first retail store bearing a shortened version of his family’s name in 1950.

Walton opened the first iteration of the museum on a rainy day in 1990. He was joined by then Governor Bill Clinton, who spoke and played saxophone at the ceremony.

Walton originally wanted to designate the space as a museum, but after a visit to the Hallmark Visitors Center in Kansas City, Missouri, he decided to call it the Wal-Mart Visitors Center. Walmart employee Betty Holmes played a major role in curating the first version of the space. After Walton’s death, Holmes drove his famous 1979 Ford F-150 pickup into the space to be displayed. Another employee, Carolyn “Boo” Randolph, was a consistent presence at the museum, acting as an unofficial historian until her retirement in 2011.

In 2009, the facility closed to undergo a major renovation and expansion. It reopened in May 2011, just months before the debut of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville later that same year. The 4,000-square-foot center was named the Walmart Museum in 2012.

There is no fee for entry, and the entrance features original non-matching red and green tiles Sam Walton bought at a discounted rate. The tiles signify Walton’s frugality and his stated commitment to passing his savings to customers.

Once inside the space, visitors can view a video featuring Walmart CEO Doug McMillon welcoming them to the space and explaining its significance in the corporation’s history. The museum’s main gallery contains a timeline of Walmart’s origins and progress. Displayed are several artifacts, including Sam Walton’s Presidential Medal of Freedom, his wife Helen Walton’s wedding dress, and the door to a Ben Franklin franchise store in Newport (Jackson County) that was opened by Walton in 1945. A centerpiece of the main gallery is Walton’s office as it appeared during his lifetime. In addition, there is a large model of the redeveloped Walmart campus in Bentonville, which began reopening in January 2025.

The final gallery holds Walton’s 1979 pickup truck, which he drove until his death despite his enormous wealth. Visitors exit through the Spark Café, a 1950s-style diner that serves Yarnell’s ice cream and other concessions.

In November 2022, the museum closed again for further renovation and modernization. The museum’s contents temporarily moved to the Ledger Building in Bentonville during the closure under the name the Walmart Museum Heritage Lab, and the Spark Café began operating in an ice cream truck on the Bentonville square. The Walmart Museum Heritage Lab space features Mr. Sam the Hologram, a life-sized holographic recreation of Sam Walton capable of interacting with visitors in real-time. The Walmart Museum is slated to reopen in its original location sometime in 2025. A virtual tour is available on the museum’s website.

For additional information:
Cromwell, Richard. “The Birthplace of Walmart.” Celebrate Arkansas Magazine, June 2015. digitaleditions.walsworthprintgroup.com/publication/?i=259554&article_id=2012418&view=articleBrowser (accessed February 20, 2025).

Hatfield, Joe Edward. “Branding Public Memory in the Walmart Museum.’” Memory Studies, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1177/17506980241255075 (accessed February 20, 2025).

Lowry, Kent. “Wal-Mart Founder Opens Visitor Center.” Milwaukee Sentinel, May 10, 1990, p. 103.

McAllister, Bill. “Sam Walton and the Temple of Discount; Retailing Giant’s Museum, Like Stores, Draws Crowds.” Washington Post, February 23, 1992. https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/sam-walton-temple-discount-retailinggiants/docview/307487618/se-2?accountid=8361 (accessed February 20, 2025).

Metcalf, Tom. “Welcome to Waltonville, Where the World’s Richest Family Reigns.” Wealth Management, June 27, 2018.

Saccente, Thomas. “Walmart Makes Strides in Museum Redo.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, September 16, 2024, p. 2B. Online at https://www.nwaonline.com/news/2024/sep/16/walmart-announces-exterior-work-finished-on/ (accessed February 20, 2025).

———. “Walmart Prepares to Reopen Original Museum Location.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, December 12, 2024, pp. 1B, 5B. Online at https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2024/dec/11/walmart-museum-to-close-temporary-location-in/ (accessed February 20, 2025).

Schnedler, Jack. “Walmart Museum Logs Walton’s Business Savvy.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, December 28, 2021, pp. 1E, 6E. Online at https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2021/dec/28/walmart-museum-logs-waltons-business-savvy/ (accessed February 20, 2025).

Walmart Museum. https://www.walmartmuseum.com/ (accessed February 20, 2025).

Joe Edward Hatfield
University of Arkansas, Fayetteville