Wal-Mart Party Rolls On In NWA

By Skip Descant

Posted: June 4, 2009 at midnight

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FAYETTEVILLE — The slumping economy may be turning down the lights of corporate convention junkets, but Wal-Mart's shareholders meeting is expected to hold all the glitz and glam of years past.

"We're expecting the same or larger," said Jeff Wright, owner of Pinnacle Car Service in Rogers, a limousine company.

"And it may both be that more people are coming in," Wright remarked. "But we're picking up people we've done business with before and then picking up new customers."

"We are keenly aware of the recession, and obviously, it's been a challenging year for our customers," said Greg Rossiter, a spokesman for Wal-Mart's corporate office in Bentonville. "At the same time, this is a celebration, and financially, our course is very strong."

Industry watchers agree, and say since Wal-Mart is not hurting as severely as other retailers, it has less reason to scale back its annual party. And Wal-Mart could take advantage of reduced airfares, as many airline cut prices to fill planes.

"I don't know how it works, but I would guess that the associates don't pay their own plane ticket up, and if the cost of sending people to meeting is down, then I would only guess they might send more people up here," said Jeff Cooperstein, an analyst with the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Arkansas. "I guess the big thing is who pays the airfare."

Because the shareholders meeting is an official Wal-Mart gathering, the company pays travel expenses for its employees, Rossiter said.

Also, Cooperstein said, a company like Wal-Mart may not want to send a message to either its workers or stockholders that the company is struggling.

"So there's a Wal-Mart culture there to keep in mind," Cooperstein remarked.

Even though the shareholders meeting is at Bud Walton Arena and a number of visiting Wal-Mart employees are housed in University of Arkansas dorms, many attendees and others connected with the event stay across the region.

"We do feel the impact from shareholders," said TJ Angeleno, general manager of the Courtyard Marriott in Fayetteville. "Since they have events held throughout Northwest Arkansas, it does not have the impact on Fayetteville like a home football game or Bikes, Blues & BBQ, but we do consider this a high demand period.

"We are not seeing the volume that last year's event produced; which is most likely due to the economic downturn," Angeleno continued. "However, I do know of at least two Fayetteville hotels that are sold out because of set up crews for this event; which may result in additional last minute pick up for us, and others that still have rooms. We expect to run close to capacity for the peak days of this event."

Wright, of Pinnacle Car Service, said most of his Wal-Mart related business heads to Benton County.

"The majority will stay in the Bentonville-Rogers area," Wright said. "Some will stay in Fayetteville based on proximity to the Bud Walton Arena.

"But about 70 percent stay in the Bentonville-Rogers area, and then 30 percent will stay in Fayetteville."

And like in years past, a large number of the traveling Wal-Mart employees will be in the University of Arkansas dorms.

"We are expecting to house approximately 4,000 associates for this year's shareholders (meeting), which is about what we normally house during this event," said Heather Schneller, coordinator of conference, research and administrative programs in the University Housing Department.

Wal-Mart pays $25 a night per person. Last year, the retailer paid the university $341,880, Schneller added. The amount this year is expected to be much the same. All told, Wal-Mart will pay more than $1 million to the university for costs associated with the meeting. The university does not charge Wal-Mart rent for the use of Bud Walton Arena, said Steve Voorhies, manager of media relations at UA. But Wal-Mart does pay operational expenses.

Wal-Mart wouldn't give any firm numbers regarding how many employees it's sending from each store, because the number varies annually. But this year, Northwest Arkansas can expect large crowds of Chilean Wal-Mart workers after the retailer's aggressive moves into Latin America.

"So that will be a new experience for them as well as us," Rossiter remarked. "Expect to see a lot of Chilean flags in Bud Walton arena."

BY THE NUMBERS

Wal-Mart Tab at the University of Arkansas

• Housing: $400,000

• Security: $170,000

• Parking: $143,000

• Transportation: $22,000

• Meals: $400,000

• Other Expenses: $15,000

Source: University of Arkansas

Wal-Mart Shareholders

For updates throughout today's meeting, nwaonline.net

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The Morning News' Lana F. Flowers and Skip Descant will be tweeting from shareholders meeting today. Follow twitter.com/NWALana for information from inside the meeting. Follow twitter.com/NWASkip for the buzz outside the home office.

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