The original Walton's Five and Dime on Bentonville's main square is worth an hour, especially if you are curious about how a small-town merchant's ambitions turned into a $500 billion company. The 1945 store interior is preserved intact, and the exhibits are more honest about Walmart's record than corporate museums usually manage. Admission is free. The town square around it has coffee shops and restaurants worth visiting afterwards.
Walmart Museum
A story
The building on the Bentonville town square that Sam Walton opened as Walton's Five and Dime in 1945 is now a museum tracing the rise of the world's largest retail company. The original store has been preserved with its 1950s fixtures and fittings, and the exhibits include Walton's old pickup truck, early store photographs, and a surprisingly candid account of how the company grew. The museum does not shy away from the controversies — supply chain practices, small-town retail impacts — while also making a case for what Walton built. It is more thoughtful than you might expect.