My first visit to Walmart's hometown in Arkansas was in the '90s. I remember a classic southern small-town square and a Walmart buyer who turned a 15-minute timer on me when our meeting started and said, "Speak." I've visited many times since, most recently last week for a conference of consumer product companies with social missions.
Northwest Arkansas (Fayetteville/Bentonville/Rogers) is unique. An F-350 pickup truck with a shotgun rack sits at the red light next to the BMW wagon with a family of five dressed up for Wednesday evening church service. Sam Walton's original 5&10 store is a museum just down the street from Walmart's latest "store of the future" test concept. Modern subdivisions are plopped amid horse and family farmland—all dichotomies representing past and present.
A culture war talking head would see a company town with Walmart as monolith oppressor (left) or deified force for good (right). I saw a normal blend of capitalism and democracy:
- The conference's opening speaker is both a Walmart executive vice president and a bootstrapping entrepreneur who opened a bike store downtown 20 years ago.
- Other business owners in their 30s and 40s told stories of "Bentonville USA"—a local economic development turnaround story on the level of Boulder, CO and Austin, TX.
- An ex-felon founder of an outdoor clothing brand (www.livsndesigns.com) spoke of returning to his hometown to recover from addiction, then starting his business.
- All great marketing stories require a signature theme. Bentonville seeks to become "The Mountain Bike Capital of the World." Northwest Arkansas now boasts bike makers, bike shops, and hundreds of miles of trails through their beautiful hills.
- The Walton family is investing billions in its home region in education, economic development, and the arts, including $100 million in bike trail construction and over $1 billion in the Crystal Bridges Art Museum.
Alice and I got lost three times, and each time we asked for directions, the locals didn't point—they escorted us. Then we drove past Walmart HQ and were intimidated by its size.
My point? If you'd like to see a fabulously interesting, fast-growing, still lovely area, Bentonville's a great place to visit.
Peace,
Tim McCarthy
Quote of the Month: Raffaello Palandri
"With discipline, we become the architects of our own growth, forging a path where inner development is not a consequence of circumstance but a deliberate journey toward wisdom and fulfillment."
---Raffaello Palandri
Song of the Month: "Money, Love and Change" by Trey Anastasio Band
Editor’s Note: This "new to me" guitar superstar will get a lot of my attention in the coming months. "Money, Love and Change" made me think of my favorite jam band of all time - Allman Brothers adding a horn section. Great musicians—check. Great singers and harmonies—check. Jamming—check. Longtime Phish fans, forgive me for pretending this guy is "new." I didn't know what I didn't know.
Favorite lyrics:
"Some live their days hidden from themselves
Afraid of money, love and change"
Book of The Month: "My Friends" by Fredrik Backman
Editor’s Notes: Thanks to my pal, Joe Gibson, for the heads-up on this one. While reading, I highlighted dozens of humorous and poignant quotes—it's that kind of book. Any Backman book is a delightful adventure, but this one is, for me, his best yet.
Favorite Excerpt:
The artist, dying at 39, said, “It doesn't matter if you live to be eighty, that's just lots and lots of nows; and one single good now is enough."
"I've had lots and lots of nows. Millions.” Joar says gratefully.
Truly Funny: Colonoscopy
My son was wheeled into recovery from an anesthetized colonoscopy. As he returned to consciousness, he looked up at the nurse, asked her for a date, then proceeded to fart four times very loudly. With his wife as witness, after the last one, he announced, “I won!”
