International employees visit Walmart's birthplace in Bentonville

Walmart employees from Argentina cheer Tuesday outside the entrance of the Walmart museum in downtown Bentonville. The group is in Northwest Arkansas for the annual shareholders meeting. See special section inside today’s edition. For photo galleries, go to nwadg.com/photos.
Walmart employees from Argentina cheer Tuesday outside the entrance of the Walmart museum in downtown Bentonville. The group is in Northwest Arkansas for the annual shareholders meeting. See special section inside today’s edition. For photo galleries, go to nwadg.com/photos.

BENTONVILLE -- There was a party on the downtown square's west side Tuesday.

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NWA Democrat-Gazette

Maria Flores, a Walmart employee from Mexico, dances her way Tuesday into the Walmart museum in downtown Bentonville. For photo galleries, go to nwadg.com/photos.

It was 66 degrees as the sun shone about 9:30 a.m. Music played and Walmart Museum employees danced as they high-fived and greeted employees from around the world for Walmart shareholders week.

New Website

The Walmart Museum launched its new website last week. Its digital features allow visitors to see everything that’s in the museum, plus more. The new website can be seen at www.walmartmuseum.c…

Source: Staff report

International employees, some decked out in the colors of their countries, waved flags and sounded noisemakers as they got off tour buses.

A couple of employees from Mexico sported wigs colored green, white and red, the same colors as their country's flag. Employees from Brazil wore bright yellow shirts. Some had tall hats checkered green and yellow. Others had their country's flag draped over their shoulders.

Each group from each country gathered for group photos in front of the Walton 5&10. They then enthusiastically did the Walmart cheer -- their own country's version -- before heading into the museum.

Alan Dranow, senior director at the Walmart Heritage Group, estimated about 1,000 international employees would visit the museum Tuesday.

Sam's Club employees will visit the museum today followed by Walmart U.S. employees Thursday.

Ludwig Fourlong was one of the 132 employees from a Central American group that had representatives from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Nicaragua.

The visit to Bentonville has been amazing because he and his Central American colleagues have been able to experience Walmart culture in the place where Walmart started, Fourlong said.

"It's one of the most wonderful experiences," he said.

Natalia Lopez from Mexico has coordinated the Central American group for three years, so she has experienced the Walmart Museum, Bentonville and shareholders week a few times.

Now, it's fun to see how exciting it is for everybody to see Walton 5&10 for the first time, she said.

Groups had about 30 minutes for self-guided tours through the museum. The Walton 5&10 and the Spark Cafe were open for photos but not for sales. International employees took photos with the store's and cafe's employees.

Tables were lined up outside the building with giveaways, including a 25th Walmart Museum anniversary pin, for visiting employees.

A Spark Cafe employee offered to trade his cafe hat to a Brazilian employee for his tall, checkered hat.

"I can't because I need it for the meeting Friday," he said, referring to the shareholders meeting at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville.

Having employees from around the world visit the museum confirms its purpose, Dranow said.

"Our purpose has always been to inspire, educate and engage our visitors and associates," he said, adding that it's special when employees are the visitors because they are the heart of Walmart.

The energy in and around the southwest corner of the square is infectious with the employees' enthusiasm during shareholders week, Dranow said.

"They're just so happy to be here, and we're just so happy to be welcoming them," he said.

Melissa Gute can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWAmelissa.

NW News on 06/03/2015

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