Walmart to move its Bentonville call center, 700 jobs to Springdale

The Bentonville contact center that handles customer and store calls for Walmart Inc. will close in the spring of 2019 to make room for the company’s new headquarters, according to Kory Lundberg, corporate spokesman for Walmart.

Walmart said it will relocate the approximate 700 employees to a 130,000-square-foot building at 2008 S. Thompson St. in Springdale. The building is now a layout center for Sam’s Club, the warehouse club division owned by Walmart. But a new layout center is under construction on a 10-acre site at 1400 S.E. S St. in Bentonville, directly across from Sam’s Club headquarters.

Walmart told employees of the pending move this week.

“We expect the new building [in Springdale] to be ready for all associates to move into by next spring,” Lundberg said in a statement. “We think associates will really enjoy the new workspace, which will include a number of new amenities including a 24-hour associate fitness center, full-service café, training rooms and outdoor patios.”

Walmart announced in September 2017 its plans to build a new home office in Bentonville. The new corporate campus will be built on the east side of Southeast J Street, bordered by Arkansas Highway 102 to the south and Arkansas Highway 72 (Central Avenue) to the north.

The project will be built in phases, and Walmart initially said the company anticipates construction will take between 5 to 7 years. The company has made no additional announcements regarding the project.