We stopped at the Walmart Museum in Bentonville, Arkansas, where we got a look at how Sam Walton's little five-and-dime store grew into the retail giant we know today. Lots of history, old-school Walmart memorabilia, and a peek at the beginnings of a company that definitely knows a thing or two about saving money! It's a very interactive museum! We even got to make stickers! Best part..... it's free admission! read more

While visiting Bentonville, Arkansas, we stopped by the Walmart Museum, and it turned out to be a really interesting look at how one small-town store grew into one of the world's most recognizable retailers. Located in downtown Bentonville, the museum takes you through Walmart's history and the story of founder Sam Walton. One of the coolest parts is seeing a recreation/preservation of Sam Walton's office, filled with the everyday items and paperwork that make it feel like you've stepped back in time. There are plenty of nostalgic displays throughout the museum, including old Walmart merchandise, advertising, household products from decades past, VHS tapes and electronics. I especially enjoyed seeing the old Walmart pickup truck and all the little pieces of retail history that show how much shopping has changed over the years. The museum does a nice job of combining Walmart history, American retail nostalgia, and interactive exhibits. There's also a gift-shop area with Walmart-themed souvenirs and retro-style merchandise. If you're visiting Bentonville, this is definitely an interesting stop to add to your itinerary, especially if you enjoy American history, business history, or nostalgic memorabilia. read more

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What an amazing experience. We learned soooo sooo much about the family business and went down memory lane. This place is so well-kept and welcoming. I wish more people could get to experience this amazing museum. read more

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This was a really cool and FREE museum to enter. They have so many items to buy at reasonable prices that brought back a lot of nostalgia. Also the museum is a good size and offers alot of different activities for all ages including an ai Sam Walton you can ask questions too read more

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A super cool experience. So much great nostalgia curated in a very slick way. The Sam Walton hologram was dope. It's a lot bigger than you'd expect. Wild that it's free. read more

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Free museum all about Walmart! Lots to see and read, with plenty of nostalgic items on display. Don't miss the ice cream at the Spark Café after your visit! read more

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Good exhibits and friendly docents. Learned a lot about Sam, his family and business philosophy. The attached Spark ice cream shop features $1.50 scoops! A takeoff on the Costco hotdog deal? Maybe. Only exhibit that we wished we hadn't experienced was the Sam Walton hologram on the second floor. The female proctor was an airhead who claimed "Target has never been a competitor." Apparently the hologram can only answer questions about the contents of Sam's book. We asked two fairly easy questions but were told they couldn't be answered. Other than that it's a very informative museum read more

The Walmart Museum is free and like most museums has a gift store and an added bonus of an ice cream shop. There is plenty of parking around the square if you can find a spot. The exhibit has been updated since my last visit. It is very interesting to see Sam Walton's vision and progressive ideas and how that has evolved and changed to the company it is today. It is worth your time to check out. read more

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I had no idea the Walmart Museum was in Arkansas. I was visiting my daughter and we decided to go visit after finding out it was near the shopping area we were going to. The museum is very informative about how Walmart started and about the family that made it into the business it is today. We had a great time checking it out. read more

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This place is awesome! They did a fantastic job with the remodel. The staff is very knowledgeable. I love how well this place is designed and the collection is very cool! I love taking guests here from out of town. read more

I had a great experience and I'm glad we made time to visit. It's located right on the Bentonville square. The bottom floor features a gift shop, followed by an exhibit on the company's history. On the first floor, you'll find items that have been sold over the years, along with Sam's pickup truck. The top floor showcases more about the current activities of the company. Depending on how much you choose to read or watch, you could get through the exhibits in about an hour. However, we took our time and ended up spending about two hours there. Best of all, admission is free! read more

Currently, sitting at the Walmart Museum Heritage Lab on Main St. until the Museum on the park square is renovated and reopened in the Spring of 2025. The interactive interview with Sam Walton was fun. The data bank of responses are Hunter was an amazing docent. He fired up the kiddos and got them started on their scavenger hunt and then later turned on the interactive Sam Walton hologram. The lab has pulled a few artifacts from the museum, and makes a great representation of what Sam Walton wants for the folks he serves. Wal-Mart believes in the people it serves and the Heritage Lab continues that vision. It believes in its people and appreciates how much they are part of Wal-Marts success. I do miss the ice cream, though. Small break from the summer sun, and FREE. read more

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Such a fun experience to do. They have lots of interactive options on the second floor, and tons of wonderful items to take you down memory lane for each decade that was fun to look at!! read more

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The Walmart Museum is 100% my favorite thing I did in Bentonville Arkansas, and it was free?!?! We got to do a tour for National Women's Day (I'm not sure if they normally do tours, but it was very informative) Neo, our tour guide, was AMAZING!!! It was so fun to hear about what a great company Walmart is. The best part, in my opinion, was the gift shop. So so so many cute merch options with incredible prices. My fiance and I walked out spending only $30 with SO MANY things!!! read more

It's really interesting to see the start, rise, and eventual worldwide success of Walmart. Although I don't always agree with their corporate policies, I still shop at some Walmarts. Very cool to see Sam Walton's office and truck, and the presidential medal upstairs is nice as well. It is also free, and there's a great taco place across the street highly recommend. read more

We were in town to see the Crystal Bridges museum but popped by The Walmart Museum Heritage Lab on Saturday afternoon. It was interesting and worth stopping in to this temporary Walmart museum but I'm sure it will be a much better experience when it moves back to its original location post renovation. read more

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Plan your visit today. Great location with some really useful technology to get to know the company, culture and history. You will not be disappointed by the innovative museum and really insightful artifacts. Our tour guide Tim and he was amazing. Very personable and kind. Really enjoyed my visit and hope to bring my family by next time. Try the bingo card scavenger hunt for fun! read more

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It was interesting to see the history of Walmart and Sam Walton's vision. Free and fun for kids and nostalgic gift shop that my grandkids enjoyed. read more

On old square with stree parking. Busy. Spend fifteen minutes or several hours reading history in detail. Self paced. Great restrooms! Adults seam to enjoy most kids showed little interest. Associates only in gift store. Couple of Wheelchairs were available. Two levels with elevator. Interesting and FREE. read more

Free museum in Bentonville, Arkansas at the original Walmart. Went there a week ago. It's like North Korea levels of corporate propaganda here. You know what you WON'T learn at this museum? Walmart is one of the companies with the most workers on federally-funded social safety net programs such as SNAP (food stamps) & Medicaid to help pay for healthcare and food assistance, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office. You, the tax payer, are subsidizing the OG Welfare Qween, Walmart's, poverty wages. They keep prices low by using sweatshop made goods and not paying their employees a livable wage! You won't hear about that at this museum, but you will hear every alt-right crypto bro libertarian talking point about how people like Sam Walton are magical American heroes who are just playing within the rules. The museum even has his Presidential Medal of Freedom (yeah) on display. Walmart, pay your workers a livable wage. Your Walton family allegedly owns a $200k exotic wood staircase in one of their local mansions, so you can obviously afford it. read more

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Doing tourist things after hearing that NW Arkansas was a must visit for people with small kids. This was on the list of to-do's as we had a short weekend visit to the Bentonville area. .....Great place to see all of the Walmart information!!!! .. Not a bad time at all. We got to see play and do so MANY things Walmart and the girls loved the candy shop out front and the ice cream stop at the end. The bathrooms were clean. I was pleasantly surprised. The parking is close!...& I liked the exercise...our girls napped so hard after the visit. I am in firm belief that the overall planning and logistics of this place are professionally done & handled well! This venue is a must visit if in the area. The girls had a blast and that is what matters most!! 10/10 times I will return.. for the price I paid (free) I could see myself doing this again with a longer stay in the area! Sidenote the people in guest service station were super awesome!. It was well worth it! We will be back. The ice cream prices in the ice cream shop...family of 4 for under $10... couldn't be beat! Respectfully, Bryan and family (We love Walmart) Oklahoma City read more

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Such an informative and amazing, fun museum! A nice blast to the past with wonderful memories!

What a great and free Museum to learn about the history if Walmart. The staff here is amazing and the history was awesome. I can't wait to go back because there was so much more history I could've read about, but we got there too late and they were closing. read more

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The museum is a small place with some nostalgic feel. What's really good though was their ice cream store right beside it. It's affordable and portions are wonderful. I sure wish businesses were like this so families could eat out more. read more

The Walmart Museum - Art Museums Near Me - Bentonville, Arkansas

The old school store in the front is okay and a cheap travel back in time with affordable items to buy (Made in China). Save yourself the self loathing of the "museum". Heating the 'tour guide' tear up about the 1990's screamed cult. Don't forget Walmart stores have destroyed small town America local stores and they're also anti union importing most products from China. read more

The actual museum was closed for remodeling in late December. They have a temporary one setup a couple blocks away. The temp one is small and pretty lame. It will take you 5 minutes to check it out. It's not worth going out of the way to visit. read more

The Walmart Museum - Art Museums Near Me - Bentonville, Arkansas

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What a well put together museum! The information was interesting, the displays were engaging, and they did a fantastic job with their story telling! Well worth a visit! Time well spent! Be sure to take time to hang out in the hologram room for an interactive experience with Mr. Sam. read more

Museum was nice and informative. However, I purchased a mason jar at the gift shop. Staff wrapped it up and upon unboxing at home I found out they did not put the reusable straw back in my jar which is a little disappointing. read more

We had a great time at the Walmart museum! Probably spent 1.5 hours walking through and reading each of the exhibits, then shopped in the store and had some yummy ice cream. Would highly recommend to any tourist passing through! read more

These corporate historical stores are generally too self serving for my and I was not expecting to get much out o fit. I was wrong, I enjoyed the tour, the look back at history and the Sam Walton time line and the little store out front with nostalgic treats and gifts was fun to explore. Inside is what seems to be a replica of Sam Walton's office and it looks very authentic for the time period. It seems most if not all of it was taken from the actual office and I'm impressed that someone thought to save it and put it all back together. The rest of the museum ties the Walmart history to the history of the US, retail, and department stores. Some things that are important to my and my own career. Next store is an old fashioned ice cream and soda fountain. It all sits on a lovely little square surrounded by other charming stores, antique shops, art galleries and restaurants. We were thinking we'd stop in for a minute while we were waiting for our reservation at a nearby Italian restaurant. We ended up exploring th square for several hours and could see coming back in the future. If you're nearby, take 30 minutes to go see the museum and stay and hour or two enjoying the very accessible shopping and novelty shops and restaurants. read more

The Walmart Museum - Art Museums Near Me - Bentonville, Arkansas

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Very interesting; beautiful structure with well planned areas for people of all ages. I loved the walking paths there and all over Bentonville. Very interesting stories of AR history. read more

The whole town has a museum feel but there is an actual Walmart Museum that is a real stroll through the years of Walmart. There is lots to see and a bunch of videos that explain the history. We started at the Walton's 5-10 after doing a little shopping. There is a museum entrance next to the cash registers. The museum takes about 30 minutes and there was no one else but us in the museum as it was near closing time on a Wednesday evening. I enjoyed seeing Sam Walton's preserved office as it reminded me of what my father's office looked like back in the 70's. At the end of the museum exhibits, we ended in the Spark soda shop. There too we made a few purchases and had a very enjoyable visit to the museum. read more

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Super interesting museum with lots of historical data and artifacts (even Mrs. Walton's wedding dress). Free parking was easy to be found when visiting on a weekday and admission was free. There's a cute candy & gift shop just before the entrance. Their soda collection even featured Moxie from Maine! The museum also had a couple sets of clean bathrooms which was a bonus. Mr. Walton's office was recreated and included all the original family pictures. There was even an interactive screen that allowed you to select room items (cane, family pic, etc.) to find out their meaning and history. I was happy to find a machine that printed out my name on a visitor sticker as well as a wall of returned items with their justification. The "possessed" hand blender was all too funny. Would definitely visit again. read more

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Such an interesting history with many artifacts of old products that I remember from my childhood. Worth a stop.

The Walmart is the success company that was born in this city. If you like to know how empire business started and developed, you will learn from the Walton's family. You will see the first store, and the end you can eat an ice cream in a 50's small dinner. read more

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I'm not a Walmart person, but when in Rome, right?! Fairly interesting free museum about the history of the Walton family and Walmart. Of course they only tell you about the good stuff and none of the controversies. A lot of reading- definitely not young kid friendly. The best part is the close by old fashioned soda shoppe. The young kids working there were sweet, and they made us a yummy phosphate- blackberry & coconut with Dr. Pepper. read more

The Walmart Museum - Art Museums Near Me - Bentonville, Arkansas

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This is cool. It's hard to believe a person could start with this one little store in Bentonville, and basically take over the U.S. with your department stores. Hard to believe he had the vision to do so. The museum is free, so why not take the tour while here. read more

The Walmart Museum - The original "Walmart", crazy. - Art Museums Near Me - Bentonville, Arkansas

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We went to the Walmart Museum today and we had a great time. It's free and you get to make stickers to take home. A big bonus was the penny press machine in the gift shop that only cost a penny! Great place to take the whole family. read more

Walmart's everywhere Museum parked on Town Square Sam's Red Pick-Up Truck #NOLA_Haiku #Bentonville #Downtown #RedTruck #SamWalton #NaturalState #Haiku #FordF150 #Arkansas @walmart @walmartmuseum @samsclub read more

The Walmart Museum - Walmart's everywhere Museum parked on Town Square Sam's Red Pick-Up Truck #NOLA_Haiku #Bentonville #RedTruck #SamWalton #FordF150 - Art Museums Near Me - Bentonville, Arkansas

The people were amazing. The museum is being renovated so the location is a block away(renovation should be complete in 2024. The staff were so amazing and helpful with personal care and interesting stories. Made the experience so much better. Great insight to the foundations of Walmart and it's free! read more