The new campus will include 12 uniquely designed office buildings, a food hall, fitness center, and a hotel.
BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Walmart unveiled its new Home Office in Bentonville on Friday.
Walmart said what started as a vision in 2019, is now a 350-acre sustainably designed workplace that will “serve as the heartbeat of the world’s largest company.”
“We’ve unveiled the office to our Associates today and the rest of the world,” Senior Manager of Global Communications for Walmart Raven Washabaugh said. “We’re just thrilled to be able to be an extension of downtown Bentonville.”
In a press release, Walmart said that the project comes after extensive associate feedback.
Walmart said the new campus includes 12 office buildings, a food hall with seven coffee shops, a fitness center, seven miles of pedestrian paths and bike trails, and at its heart, Sam Walton Hall, a 200,000 square-foot auditorium.
The company said this investment “establishes a new standard for corporate headquarters that prioritizes worker well-being, environmental stewardship and public accessibility.”
“We listened to our associates first when designing the concepts and asked questions like ‘What did you want to see?’, ‘What would you like to know?’” Washabaugh said. “If you’ve been to the current Walmart Home Office, you know, probably a simple standard of, we want natural light, we want great parking, and we want good food. And I think that we’ve met those needs.“
In addition the new Home Office comes with a welcome center, retail stores, and an on-campus childcare center.
The company added that the campus helps reimagine the corporate workspace for the future of retail.
“We believe we’re better together, and we know that bringing associates together is something that we’ve always been proud of,” Washabaugh said. “Whether that’s in our stores, in the field, but here on campus, at the corporate office, so thinking through the community, the leaders that put this building together were thoughtful in the design.”
While this campus could have been anywhere in the nation, President and CEO of Walmart Doug McMillon made it clear where the home of the global corporation lies.
“They didn’t ask us to go shop the construction of a new campus around the country to see whether Dallas or Chicago or Atlanta or some other place would pay us to come,” McMillon said. “They didn’t take 10 seconds to decide we’re going to be here in Bentonville. This is our home.”
Commitment to Sustainability
A focus of the new campus, Walmart said, was sustainability.
According to a press release, Walmart said 50% of the campus is covered in green space, with over 750,000 native plants, including 500 planted trees.
In addition, the 12 office buildings were built with the largest application of mass timber in the U.S. and they add that they are expected to run on renewable energy as well as “designed to achieve LEED Platinum certification.”
Walmart said the new Home Office has 1,000 bike parking sports and 300 EV charging stations for transportation needs of visitors and associates alike.
The press release added that there are more than 13 lake reservoirs to assist in water management and LED lighting throughout the campus.
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