Walton's five and dime opened in Bentonville, Arkansas in 1950. It is the birthplace of Walmart (formerly Wal-mart) Stores Inc. It is situated on the west side of the square in downtown Bentonville. Today it is a museum honoring the founder and his retail empire. Inside you will find Mr. Walton's office, which has been relocated from the corporate offices, just as it was the last day that he occupied it. You will also find his red and white Ford pick-up truck. I met Mr. Walton once. I got the impression that wealth was never his ambition. His ambition was to create the best retail business possible. Money just happened to be the way you kept score.
One of these days I will take you on a tour of the remainder of the downtown square. You will swear that you have been to Mayberry RFD and that Sheriff Andy Taylor, Barney, Opie and Aunt Bea used to live here.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Ruby Tuesday
Posted by DrillerAA at 4:45 PM
Labels: Ruby Tuesday, Walmart
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
25 comments:
Wow, DrillerAA! Mr. Walton's store is amazing and so well-kept and decorated with RED! I love it! Happy Ruby Tuesday! :)
Neat! Enjoyed reading about the first Wal-Mart. Great red...isn't Target now the one that's red?
Ahhhh the 5 & 10. I miss those stores.
Not playing, but wanted to comment. How cool and I'd love to live in Mayberry. Just saying. Have a great day. :)
That is great! Love all the red on the building...
The awning is striking, and what draws me to the store. It is so bright on the outside that you expect brightness on the inside, or at least you want to find out for sure.
The square looks wonderful to those of us who live more in the 'burbs, or with a downtown that has seen better days as far as retail goes.
Must have been a different era...
That's a great piece of history I just learned. Thanks for sharing!
Mine's HERE. Happy Tuesday!
I wonder what he would think of how his stores are ran today.
The old dime stores from the 50s and 60s were such fun to shop in.
Well I guess even Walmart had to start with ONE store. What an empire it is today!
I don't think I've ever seen a picture of the original Walton's before. It certainly suits the Ruby Tuesday theme. Thanks for sharing.
Interesting post. I suspect you are right about Mr. Walton. Looks like a lot of love goes into maintaining the original store/museum.
How very cool!
This so reminds me of my hometown growing up.
Wonderfully captured image.
Not a fan of Walmart for many reasons, but I do remember 5 and 10 cents stores from when I was a child..
Wow - an interesting building and good pics!
This blog-way of travelling round the world is really interesting - I get to see places I probably never will see in reality (or even come to think of visiting) and learn a lot of interesting bits of local history!
Very interesting post and pics, I enjoyed reading it.Visited America in '95' & '96' and was amazed when I first encountered Walmarts :-)
That's got a very quaint, hometown feeling to it.
Tink *~*~*
My Mobile Adventures *~*~*
I love the small town atmosphere, beautiful photos.
Mr. Walton sounds like a good man. Not many of those are around nowadays. Have a wonderful Tuesday!
I worked at Wal-Mart in high school (my feet still involuntarily head for the front of the store when they call for a shopping cart round up) and got to shake Mr. Walton's hand once when visited our tiny little store (Lindsay, OK sports the smallest floorplan Wal-Mart ever built... there are others just as small, but none smaller). He passed away not long after that. I will always remember the kindness reflected in his eyes when I met him, even as a young kid it really had an effect on me.
When we took our trip to the Buffalo River, we stopped at the Supercenter in Harrison. For some reason I expected the Wal-Marts that close tot Bentoville to be... I don't know... different, somehow. It was just another walmart (although without beer! dry counties! yearrrgh!).
Now there's a slice of Americana. I am glad it is still thriving somewhere. I miss that old hometown feeling, not even my old hometown has it anymore.
Very interesting history and it makes me long to have been around during the time of the five and dime store era!!!
Great post!
Great historical shots. Love hearing the story behind things.
That's pretty cool!
Hey Driller, I've been to Bentville quite a few times, on the way to Nebraska. But I've never been to the museum.
Thank you for peeking in on my baby quilts. This is a nice project for us.
..
Wonderful photo! I love your previous post, also. Love the firefighters pictures! Hope you're enjoying your day!
Post a Comment