- Currently, Wal-Mart operates a slew of more than 20 smaller office buildings for its associates throughout the state.
- CEO Doug McMillon said that has become "expensive and inefficient to maintain."
- Wal-Mart expects the construction process to take five to seven years to finish.
Sam Walton's original Bentonville variety store.Gordon Huggins Jr. | Getty Images
Times are changing, and Wal-Mart says that calls for a major office upgrade.
The Arkansas retailer is planning to build a new, central headquarters in its hometown of Bentonville. And the announcement comes only days after Wal-Mart's biggest retail rival, Amazon, announced its plans to open a second U.S. headquarters.
"For some time now, we've been concerned that this ad hoc office network actually inhibits our ability to compete in the rapidly changing retail landscape," Wal-Mart CEO Doug McMillon wrote in a note to employees on the company's website.