CSA Recruits Top Korean Retailer to NWA

Have you heard that an international retailer is about to set up shop in Bentonville?

Where several domestic retailers have considered such a move in the past, word is the first to pull the trigger will actually be the top retail outfit from Korea.

E-Mart is putting a buying office in Benton County and will staff it with 10 local candidates. Cameron Smith & Associates recruited the company here and Whispers hears similar discussions are ongoing with retailers from Saudi Arabia, China and the United Kingdom.

For some of these retailers, it’s the only way they will be able to source U.S. products for their stores.

CSA has as many as five of its senior recruiters working on this full time.

A job offer went out from CSA last week for the first official hire, a person to head up the office and get it up and running.

E-Mart is Korea’s largest discount store chain with nearly 450 store outlets. It outlined a new strategic direction in May to become a bigger player on the global stage.

In 1997, the company became the first retailer from Korea to enter China and currently operates 25 outlets there.

So why would the company want an office here? Because the suppliers are here – 1,248 of them to be exact, and all within a 27-mile radius of Bentonville.

Connecting with the top-flight suppliers like Procter & Gamble or Johnson & Johnson has never been difficult for international retailers. But having a sourcing office here should open a huge door to the mid-level and smaller suppliers.

The Walmart supplier base isn’t exactly set up for international buying, but E-Mart shouldn’t have any problems getting started here.

Broyles Update

We recently told you about Fayetteville developer Hank Broyles filing a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition. The list of amounts owed to individual creditors was due to be filed June 13, but a judge has granted Broyles’ request to extend the deadline to July 1.

Broyles is scheduled to meet with his creditors on July 19.