Vanguard Packaging plans to relocate Bentonville office

by Paul Gatling ([email protected]) 2,103 views 

Vanguard Packaging owner and CEO Mark Mathes says the company will move into its new Bentonville office in a couple of months. Vanguard has had a sales and design office in Bentonville since 2005.

A Missouri-based manufacturer has paid $1.16 million for a vacant commercial building in Benton County, and is planning to relocate its Bentonville office.

Vanguard Packaging, which makes point-of-purchase displays, signage, retail packaging and corrugated boxes, acquired the building at 2700 S.E. G St. Haizen Investments, led by Bentonville businessman Patrick Byrd, was the seller.

Butch Gurganus with Colliers International and Ed Belto with Newmark Grubb Arkansas helped broker the deal.

Vanguard owner and CEO Mark Mathes said the relocation will take place later this fall, following some minor retrofitting of the 10,922-square-foot building.

Right now, Vanguard operates from two buildings at 502 S.W. A St. Mathes bought the property, as well as an undeveloped 0.25-acre lot, in 2013 for $1.3 million.

“There were two things that came about that made this [G Street] move something we should do,” Mathes said. “The first is to be more efficient, being in one building instead of two. We’ve grown from two employees to a dozen, and we’ll be adding more.

“The other is the upward spiraling value of the property where we are at. We were at the right place at the right time. We knew the property would get snatched up, and it has. And at the same time the G Street building suits our needs.”

Mathes said his A Street property, situated in the city’s Arts District and adjacent to Pedaler’s Pub and Bike Rack Brewing Co., is under contract with a buyer and scheduled to close this fall.

Mathes said another advantage of being on G Street is proximity. Vanguard is managing the displays for Wal-Mart Stores’ Black Friday promotions in 2017, and the new building is adjacent to one of the retailer’s layout centers.

“We spend a lot of time in there already, so that’s definitely a side benefit, being so close,” he said.

A family-owned business founded in 1975, Vanguard is headquartered in Kansas City. The company established its first Bentonville office in 2005 and has relocated four times previously to meet growth demands.

Jarrett Dunn, Vanguard’s southern regional manager, heads up the company’s Bentonville location.

Vanguard’s Bentonville office now houses a dozen full-time employees. The company has a combined 150 employees in Kansas City and St. Louis.

The Bentonville and St. Louis offices are sales, graphic design and structural design locations. In Kansas City, Vanguard operates a 600,000-square-foot manufacturing, assembly and fulfillment space.