Officials at Ecclesia College in Springdale and NorthWest Arkansas Community College have signed an agreement that provides a seamless, personalized transfer system for NWACC students to complete their bachelor’s degree programs from Ecclesia College. 
           
Two degree programs are currently available for students seeking the transfer option. NWACC students gain maximum benefit from this agreement if they complete an associate degree from NWACC with advisement toward either business or sport management.

Students can transfer 60 associate degree hours with a grade of “C” or above into the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree or the Sports Management degree at Ecclesia College.

“We look forward to collaborating with Ecclesia to better meet the educational goals of students throughout the region,” she said. “It’s a pleasure to join forces and help launch students on their pathway to successful careers in these key areas,” said Dr. Evelyn Jogenson, president of NWACC.

Around 1,000 people applauded the philanthropic contributions of Johnelle Hunt as she humbly accepted the Rogers-Lowell Chamber of Commerce Good Neighbor Award on Friday Night (March 14) at the Hammons Convention Center in Rogers. It was the 92nd Annual Chamber Banquet for Rogers-Lowell and virtually the entire night was dedicated to Hunt.

U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Rogers, presented Hunt with the award saying he was honored to recognize “one of our country’s national treasures, Johnelle Hunt.”

Womack shared some “inside baseball” recalling those first meetings that occurred with J.B. and Johnelle and partners shortly after the turn of the new millennium.

“Something truly remarkable happened, a transformation of a community of unprecedented quality that people will talk about for a long time, indeed forever. It was all possible because of a great partnership between a few stakeholders including this special lady and her late husband,” Womack said.

He said it was June 23, 2003, when talk began about the development of Pinnacle Promenade that would be a 300,000-square-foot shopping district. At that time it was slated to go where the World Trade Center is located today. Womack said in that meeting a man named Dillard told the partners the dream wasn’t big enough. He looked out across the highway toward to the 400 acres of the Rife farm and asked who owned that land. J.B. and Johnelle owned 200 acres of it, zoned residential. Womack said Dillard told the group to dream bigger, and use 1 million to 2 million square feet amid that pasture land.

Womack said that was validation needed to spark the investment that would forever change the face of Rogers from a bedroom community into the retail center it has become.

“We lost Mr. Hunt tragically in 2006, and this dear lady could have cashed in her chips and felt the sand through her toes in Destin, Fla., for the rest of her life. But, she wanted to carry on the work. A lot has happened and much more will happen as a result of her vision and leadership to this community,” Womack said.

'SELLING PENCILS'
“This is truly an honor for me. If Johnny could just be here standing beside me, because he is the one who started it all. I just always tried to follow along and keep it going. ... People in Northwest Arkansas gave us our start, we owe a lot to this region,” Hunt said.

She said in 1960 they were living in Little Rock and he was a truck driver. Johnelle said he drove up here one Saturday and met some of the people and went home and told her that they might have to sell pencils on the corner, but they were going to live here one day.

“It was 12 years later we moved here and there were times starting our trucking company I thought we would be out there selling those pencils. But, it never came to that,” Hunt said.

She recalled the loans J.B. Hunt secured from Northwest Arkansas poultry leaders back in 1960 to launch his first trucking firm.

“People in the region, Bill Simmons, Red Hudson, Gene George, Lloyd Peterson and others stepped up to help to help us start the business years ago. We are forever grateful. We also are thankful to the cities and chambers who continue to work with Hunt Ventures on our development projects. There is still more work to do in this wonderful community,” Hunt said.

MANY THANKS
Head Razorback football Coach Brett Bielema showed up in a leather jacket toting a dozen red roses which he and wife Jennifer presented to Hunt during the dinner.  Bielema said he was out on a date night with his wife, but wanted to stop by and thank Hunt for all the contributions to the University of Arkansas and region as a whole.

He joked that his name was scratched from this year’s honor after last year’s losing record. He then read a statement.

“In all seriousness, UA Chancellor David Gearhart has this say to about Hunt: ‘Johnelle is one of the most gracious and generous people I know. She is thoughtful, very smart, kind and considerate and a joy to be around. Jane and I are so blessed to have her as a dear friend. She loves her community and has been so generous to many charitable endeavors, including the University of Arkansas, where she has an honorary degree. At the same time she is a very savvy business woman who wields considerable influence on the business community throughout Arkansas. She is literally one of the finest people I have ever had the privilege of knowing.  Her legacy as one of Arkansas’ true gems is very, very strong.’”

Hunt’s philanthropy has varied from arts to education, business and health care.

“Ms. Hunt has been a great friend to Washington Regional and a generous supporter of a variety of healthcare projects, events and initiatives through Washington Regional Medical Foundation,” said Bill Bradley, Washington Regional president and CEO. “Her gifts to Washington Regional Cancer Support Home, hospice services and capital projects such as the North Hills expansion campaign have greatly enhanced our ability to provide compassionate, high-quality healthcare throughout Northwest Arkansas. Most notably, the Johnelle Hunt Women’s Center reflects her personal commitment to bettering the health of women and children. We are grateful to Ms. Hunt for her leadership, vision and passion for addressing healthcare needs in our community.”

Peter Lane, president of the Walton Arts Center, thanked Hunt for the generous annual gifts that allow school children to regularly visit the Walton Arts Center. He said the Walton Arts Center was one of the first initiatives that helped the region unite. Hunt’s contributions include land and financial gifts for the new Walmart AMP under construction in Rogers. It will be the state’s largest outdoor music amphitheater. She has also agreed to serve as an honorary chair of the capital campaign for WAC’s expansion of its Fayetteville facility.

“She just keeps on giving,” Lane said. “Johnelle, it seems that you are a porter just like all those J.B. Hunt trucks we see going up and down the highways; and like the tagline for your company, we want to know what is your next move.”

HUNT BACKGROUND, WEALTH
Hunt said in 1972 the company (J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc.) was looking for a place to build it’s corporate offices in Northwest Arkansas. They chose Lowell because it had the cheapest land prices.

“When we did our road show taking J.B.Hunt Transport public people across the world  wanted to know why Lowell? Where is Lowell? Johnny told them it was a universal city. We helped to put Lowell, Arkansas ,on the map,” Hunt said.

Hunt worked for the company in those early years helping to collect payments and keep the finances straight. She served as the corporate secretary until 2008. At her retirement event, company executives applauded her service, crediting her with keeping the firm solvent in those early years.

She admitted that her method of collecting payment from vendors worked. Hunt said when a bill was past due and they didn’t make payment arrangements, she called their mothers.

Much of Hunt’s $2.1 billion of wealth is linked to her stock in J.B. Hunt Transport Services, which she continues to share with Northwest Arkansas through her real estate development of the Pinnacle Hills area in Rogers and numerous philanthropic contributions from the new Amazeum in Bentonville to Washington Regional Hospital.

After more than a year of planning, the Walmart to Go convenience-store format quietly opened in Bentonville on Saturday (March 15), with the grand opening set for March 19. 

Store workers told The City Wire this was a soft opening and it was a busy day with heavy in-store traffic as travelers on the busy intersection near 1300 S. Walton Blvd., sought a look inside what is the first store in a new effort by Bentonville-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to capture a different and growing element of the retail market.

The small store is a hybrid format — part traditional convenience store, part grocery, part quick serve restaurant. Walmart partnered with Bentonville Butcher & Deli, one of the more popular names around in terms of quality meat, to operate a quick serve meat counter in the back of the store. Fresh deli sandwiches or hot barbecue brisket, ribs, smoked chicken and traditional sides were available by the plate or by the pound.

Krispy Kreme has a donut stand between the beverage stations on the right wall of the store. There is a traditional soda fountain, Icee fountain, milk shake option and full coffee/cappuccino area.

Refrigerated food-to-go includes market fresh pizzas, sandwiches and other meat entrees. There is also fresh fruit and a Greek yogurt smoothy station. The center of the store closely resembles a traditional convenience format with cashiers in a corral with a wide range of tobacco products.

The left side of the store is merchandised much like a tiny grocery. Coolers line the outer wall offering wine and beer with a walk-in cooler. Frozen foods can be found in two large freezers along the outer left wall. 

The mini grocery includes five wide aisles that contain hundreds of packaged foods and non-edible items from breakfast cereals to dog food and diapers. Shirley’s Flowers has a fresh floral stand near the front doors next to Hallmark Cards. The store also has magazines, books, and ATM and a seating area near the front of the store.

The convenience store also features six gas pumps out front with a covered awning that sports the Walmart sunburst on the underside. One unusual feature is a large awning that connects the pump area to the front door. Ice, Blue Rhino propane and Red Box are all positioned outside the store under awnings. There is a picnic area outdoors to seat those wanting to eat onsite.

With this new convenience format Wal-Mart hopes to capture some of the $415 billion quick trip marketshare it is losing to Dollar General and other convenience stores. Walmart U.S. CEO Bill Simon said earlier this month that the retailer has just 10% of that marketshare and is vying for more with the hybrid stores that can serve consumer fill-in trips, which Walmart estimates to be 40% of their grocery spend.

Arkansas Economic Development Commission director Grant Tennille says he’s supportive of efforts to raise the state minimum wage to $8.50 per hour, calling it a “jobs creator.”

Tennille, who was a panelist on this week’s “Talk Business & Politics” roundtable, also discussed changes coming to the state’s workforce development efforts and said he’s worried about a low balance in the Governor’s Quick Action Closing Fund.

Tennille said he has signed a petition to include on the November ballot a measure to raise the state’s minimum wage from $6.25 per hour to $8.50 over a three-year period.

“I think there is a lot of benefit behind raising the minimum wage,” said Tennille. “You will hear from some companies who say it’s a job killer. But what creates jobs is customers. People talk a lot about job creators – the ultimate job creator is a customer with money to spend.”

Tennille also said he is worried about a low balance in the Governor’s Quick Action Closing Fund, which with current commitments has a $6.8 million balance. State lawmakers opted not to replenish the fund with more money in the fiscal session.

“I’m worried about it,” he said. “One option that we have – and we’re going to begin to exercise is – there is an amount of money from the Quick Action Closing Fund that has been promised to projects over the course of – some of them a few years old now – and for whatever reason, the companies haven’t moved forward on the projects. We’ve kept the commitment.”

Tennille said those companies are going to have to pony up a plan or risk losing the money the state has promised.

“What we are going to do is begin to communicate to those companies that we need to see a plan for how you’re going to spend this money beginning in this next fiscal year and if you’re not ready, we may de-obligate that money to you,” he said.

Tennille also touched on three accomplishments in the last session that he said would move economic development efforts forward for the state. They included broadband expansion money for schools, charter school facilities funding, and a restructuring of workforce development efforts.

Link here for a video interview with Tennille.

Witchita-based Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers will open its first Arkansas location on Tuesday (March 18) in Rogers. The quick-casual restaurant is located at 4507 W. Walnut St., in the Scottsdale Shopping Center near I-540 and exit 85.

“Enjoying great food doesn’t mean your meal has to be cooked before you order,” franchise operator Tim Rheem said. “Every one of our items is freshly prepared.”

The burger chain has 113 locations across 18 states since opening in 2002. The restaurant features steakburgers, Chicago-style hotdogs and frozen custard made fresh daily.

Quiznos filed bankruptcy on Friday (March 14) seeking to reorganize under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code. The quick-service restaurant chain expects to continue operating in the ordinary course of business during a restructuring process.

The Denver-based sandwich chain has more than 2,000 restaurants, all but seven are independently owned and operated by franchisees, which are not part of the bankruptcy proceedings.

Senior lenders of Quiznos approved a “pre-packaged” restructuring plan designed to reduce the company’s debt by more than $400 million. The company also received a commitment for $15 million in debtor-in-possession financing from its senior lenders, subject to court approval.

“The actions we are taking are intended to enable Quiznos to reduce our debt, execute a comprehensive plan to further enhance the customer experience, elevate the profile of the brand and help increase sales and profits for our franchise owners,” CEO Stuart K. Mathis, noted in the release. “We look forward to continuing to work with and support our global network of franchise owners, who are the backbone of our business.”

Mathis said key elements in proposed plan include reducing food costs, implementing a franchise owner rebate program, making loans available to franchisees for restaurant improvements in certain circumstances, investing in advertising to improve local awareness, and providing new incentives for prospective franchisees.

Arkansas’ jobless rate dipped to 7.3% in January thanks to a more than 2.6% drop in the number of unemployed. However, January marked 60 consecutive months – five years – that the state’s jobless rate has been at or above 7%.

The jobless rate of 7.3% was down from 7.4% in December and down from 7.5% in January 2013, according to the report issued Monday (March 17) by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Arkansas’ labor force was an estimated 1.328 million in January, up slightly compared to December, but down compared to 1.329 million in January 2013. The year-over-year comparison shows an estimated 1,391 fewer Arkansans in the labor force.

The number of employed in Arkansas during January was 1.231 million, above December employment of 1.228 million, and up compared to the 1.229 million in January 2013.

The number of unemployed was an estimated 96,833 during January, down from the 98,484 in December, and down 2.62% compared to the 99,443 in January 2013.

Arkansas’ annual average jobless rate fell from 7.9% during 2011 to a revised 7.5% during 2012. The initial annual average jobless rate for Arkansas during 2013 is 7.5%.

The federal BLS issued this statement with its January labor report: “Effective with this release, nonfarm payroll estimates for states and metropolitan areas have been revised as a result of annual benchmark processing to reflect 2013 employment counts primarily from the BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW), as well as updated seasonal adjustment factors. Not seasonally adjusted data back to April 2012 were revised. Seasonally adjusted data from January 1990 were subject to revision.”

ARKANSAS SECTOR NUMBERS
In the Trade, Transportation and Utilities sector — Arkansas’ largest job sector — employment during January was an estimated 243,400, down from 244,200 in December and ahead of the 240,800 during January 2013. Employment in the sector hit a high of 251,800 in March 2007.

Manufacturing jobs in Arkansas during January totaled 153,500, up compared to 151,800 in December and below the 154,000 in January 2013. Employment in the manufacturing sector fell in 2013 to levels not seen since early 1968. Peak employment in the sector was 247,300 in February 1995.

Government job employment during January was 215,200, down from 215,800 in December and below the 216,100 during January 2012.

The state’s Education and Health Services sector during January had 172,900 jobs, down from the 173,500 during December and up from 171,100 during January 2013. Employment in the sector is up more than 22.6% compared to January 2004.

Arkansas’ tourism sector (leisure & hospitality) employed 109,100 during January, up from a revised 106,900 during December, and above the 104,400 during January 2013. The January employment tally sets a new record for the sector. The number is subject to revision in future reports.

NATIONAL DATA
The BLS report also noted that all states had unemployment rate decreases from a year earlier. The national jobless rate during January was at 6.6%, and was down from the 7.9% in January 2013.

Rhode Island had the highest unemployment rate among the states in January at 9.2%. The next highest rate was Nevada at 8.7% and Illinois at 8.7%. North Dakota again had the lowest jobless rate at 2.6%.

The January jobless rate in Oklahoma was 5.2%, down compared to 5.4% to December and down from 5.4% in January 2013.

Missouri’s jobless rate during January was 6%, unchanged compared to December and down compared to 6.7% in January 2013.

Top executives at Lowell-based J.B. Hunt Transport Services enjoyed big compensation boosts in 2013, with CEO John Roberts III posting an almost 20% gain in base pay, stock awards and other benefits.

The company will hold it’s annual shareholder meeting on April 24 at its corporate offices, according to the company’s annual proxy filing last week with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In accordance with the Dodd-Frank rule “Say on Exec Pay” there is a proposal asking for shareholder approval of Hunt’s compensation packages for its named employee officers.

EXECUTIVE PAY
Roberts earned total compensation of $4.058 million in 2013, an increase of 19.7% from the prior year. His base salary totaled $642,592, with added  bonus pay of $146,050.

The bulk of Roberts’ salary package is deferred compensation and paid in company stock and options which totaled $3.244 million in 2013. The bonus and deferred stock awards are performance based relative to corporate profitability. Roberts also received about $25,000 in other payment such as paid personal benefits, country club dues, financial and tax planning allowances and 401(k) contributions. 

David Mee, chief financial officer, earned total compensation of $2.662 million, compared to $1.242 million in the prior year. Mee’s base salary rose to $401,077 in 2013, an increase of 8.5%. His bonus pay of $90,850 was lower in 2013, but deferred compensation rose to $2.152 million, more than triple the $691,575 reported in 2012. He also received other compensation totaling about $18,000.

Kirk Thompson, chairman of the board, earned $2.160 million in 2013. His pay includes a base salary of $492,308, deferred share compensation of $1.658 million and other benefits worth about $9,400. 

Terrence Matthews, president of the intermodal segment, earned $3.553 million in 2013. Base salary totaled $408,436, with bonuses of $92,000. Deferred compensation stock awards totaled $3.229 million. Other compensation totaled about $26,000. Matthews’ total compensation package increased 195% from the prior year.

Craig Harper, executive vice president, earned $1.726 million in 2013, up 39% from his 2012 salary package. Base salary totaled $375,000, with added bonuses of $86,250. Deferred stock awards totaled $1.255 million and other benefits valued at $9,773.

Hunt notes in its proxy filing that its executive compensation program is incentivized for positive achievement. In the highly competitive logistics industry, Hunt notes that it seeks to recruit and retain top talent and believes its compensation program does that.

In 2013, executives with Hunt helped the logistics giant reach record earnings of $342.3 million on revenue of $5.584 billion. Hunt’s top and bottom lines rose more than 10% from the prior year. 

The company recommends to shareholders to approve its compensation structure, noting that the vote is not binding. The company said its board compensation committee will consider stockholders’ concerns and take them into account when designing future executive compensation programs.

BOARD SELECTION
Shareholders will also elect a slate of 11 directors to a one-year term. Each of the following director candidates has previously served on the board for a minimum of four years, according to the proxy filing:
• Douglas G. Duncan
• Francesca M. Edwardson, 
• Wayne Garrison, 
• Sharilyn S. Gasaway, 
• Gary C. George, 
• Bryan Hunt, 
• Coleman H. Peterson, 
• John N. Roberts III, 
• James L. Robo, 
• Kirk Thompson, and 
• John A. White 

Each board member not employed by the company received $140,000 in base compensation in 2013, payable in cash or stock. Additional pay was provided to the directors for their committee service, overseeing audits, compensation and corporate governance. Director compensation totaled $1.603 million in 2013, according to the proxy filing.

PRINCIPAL STOCKHOLDERS 
The company’s largest shareholder is co-founder Johnelle Hunt. She holds 19.354 million shares with an approximate street value of $1.383 billion. Hunt’s shares comprise 16.5% of the company’s outstanding common stock.

Shares of J.B. Hunt (NASDAQ: JBHT) opened Monday (March 17) at $71.96. During the past 52 weeks the share price has ranged from a $79.89 high to a $67.97 low.

Following are the three largest institutional investors holding shares of J.B. Hunt.
• FMR, 10.339 million shares, 8.8%
• BlackRock, 7.893 millions shares, 6.7%
• T.Rowe Price, 6.310 million shares, 5.3%

Realtors in Benton and Washington counties report mixed results during a February plagued with nasty winter weather. The Benton County market is off to another strong start in 2014, while Washington County unit sales and total volume slid again in February against the year-ago period.

Total sales in February for the combined two counties exceeded $78.58 million, compared to $73.17 million a year ago. Benton County sales climbed 22% from a year ago, while Washington County sales fell 11.7%.

Nicky Dou, broker with Keller Williams in Bentonville, said the snow and cold weather did not have a negative impact on her business last month. 

“We wrote 18 contracts in February. I had one weekend that although I didn’t even leave my house due to the snow and ice and I still sold three homes. People that relocate to our area don’t stop looking because of the weather and luckily I have a lot of listings that these buyers have been looking at online for several weeks prior to their house hunting trip,” Dou said.

Harold Crye, president of Crye-Leike Real Estate, said his firm’s sales in the Northwest Arkansas market totaled $26 million in February, up 12% from a year ago. His agents sold 177 units last month, a 7% increase from the year ago period. He said February business rebounded after a sluggish start in January.

Crye-Leike’s total business sales rose 10% in February to $332 million, despite inclement weather. This is a solid metric for the southeastern region of the U.S. given the firm’s marketshare and reach.

Coldwell Banker, the largest firm in two counties, reports an 8% dip in February sales in the two-county area, after a 15% increase in January. 

“Our new written business is moving up nicely year to date, but is still down when compared to 2013.  The weather has had a dramatic effect on the business all across the country, and (Northwest) Arkansas is no exception. There seems to be some pent-up demand in the marketplace, as many buyers have put off their home buying search due to weather conditions. I do not believe closed business in March and April of this year will be as good as in 2013, but by mid-summer, I project that we will be caught up to 2013,” said George Faucette, CEO of the local Coldwell Banker franchise.

SELLER’S MARKET
Jason Smith, a broker with Crye-Leike in Fayetteville, said a flood of activity has hit in the past two weeks as the weather cleared.

“I have picked up five new listings in the past two weeks. I think people stuck at home cleaned up their houses, shopped online and decided it was time to list,” Smith said.

He said an average time on market below 180 days and low inventory levels point to a sellers market.

“The average days on market is 160, and homes in good condition are selling above 96% of asking. Prices are moving up. Good condition homes can be priced 5% higher today and still get ample showings because of the limited inventory,” Smith said.

Dou agreed saying there is less inventory and the list-sell price ratio is much higher than she’s seen in many years which is great for sellers.

“I think 2014 is going to be the best year for sales we have seen in a very long time,” Dou said.

MountData.com reports that of all the 846 homes sold this year, the average time on market — from listing to pending — was 66 days. Paul Bynum, analyst with MountData.com, reports the median sales price across the region rose 2% to $139,000, for an average of $83 per square foot.

HOME SALES DATA
Benton County (January-February)
2014: 545 units, $92.331 million
2013: 489 units, $82.489 million
up 11.5% and 11.9%

Washington County (January-February)
2014: 299 units, $53.527 million
2013: 351 units, $56.156 million
down 14.8% and 4.68%

Attorneys for the family of a Faulkner County woman who died in April 2008 due to what the family alleged was neglect and negligence have added even more fuel to the fire in the case of Circuit Judge Mike Maggio – fuel that could mean trouble for Fort Smith businessman Michael Morton.

Maggio dropped out of a race for the Arkansas Court of Appeals following revelations by left-leaning blog Blue Hog Report about Maggio's anonymous postings to a LSU sports site. The postings included what many considered racist and homophobic remarks, as well as confidential information about court cases, including a Faulkner County adoption by actress Charlize Theron.

Following the admission by Maggio that he made the postings online came another report from Blue Hog Report's Matt Campbell, an attorney with Pinnacle Law Firm in Little Rock, that Maggio had dropped the dollar value of a penalty stemming from a neglect and negligence lawsuit filed against Michael Morton, whose Fort Smith-based Central Arkansas Nursing Center owns Greenbrier Care Center. The jury ruled in favor of the family of Martha Bull and awarded the woman's estate $5.2 million on June 6, 2013.

"On July 8, 2013, Judge Maggio granted Greenbrier Care Center’s motion for a remittitur hearing, because he found that the $5.2M award against the nursing home “shock[ed] the conscience of the court," Campbell wrote, reporting that the judge ultimately lowered the award to $1 million.

He noted that on the same day Maggio granted the remittitur hearing, seven political action committees (PACs) were formed and all received donations of $3,000 from Morton or companies owned by Morton. All the PACs went on to make donations to Maggio's Court of Appeals campaign.

It was the latest revelations by Campbell that compelled Bull's family to instruct their attorneys to file a complaint with the Arkansas Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission on Thursday.

"Based on reports that came out in the Blue Hog Report and also came out in the Log Cabin Democrat and later the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, my clients were extremely concerned about donations to seven PACs with Mike Maggio being the primary beneficiary of those PACs," said attorney Tom Buchanan, who along with attorney Brannon Sloan of Dodds, Kidd and Ryan Law Firm in Little Rock, is representing the family.

Buchanan, in a Monday interview with The City Wire, explained that the complaint was filed because the law stating that candidates for judicial positions are not allowed to fundrais more than 180 days before a judicial election.

"The judicial is May 20," he explained. "If you subtract 180 days, that's November or December. The obvious questions my clients have is why did Mike Morton, who my clients had a verdict (against), write these checks on the same day that the judge reduced the verdict?"

Asked whether the family of Bullock would pursue criminal charges against either Maggio or Morton regarding the allegations reported by the Blue Hog Report, Buchanan said it is a possibility.

"I'm not going to comment on what my clients have told me, but I've been authorized by the family to investigate this and try to find out answers for them," he said. "Everything's on the table at this point in terms of options and we don't even know what all of our options are. We're still in the process of figure that out and making the determination."

An attempt to contact Morton at his Fort Smith office was unsuccessful, with a female employee stating he was out of town and likely would not return any media inquiries about the case.

Executive Director David Sachar of the JDDC confirmed an investigation into the issue was opened, though he said in a statement that he could not discuss details.

"The Judicial Discipline & Disability Commission is aware of the general allegations concerning campaign contributions to Circuit Judge Mike Maggio’s race for the Court of Appeals. Under Rule 7C(3) I can confirm that there is an on-going investigation into this matter by this agency. Judge Maggio will have full due process rights during our investigation. Procedural rules of the Judicial Discipline & Disability Commission will determine the timing of the events in the case, including when more information is released. This office does not anticipate issuing further public statement until the case concludes. Possible conclusions include dismissal, agreed resolution or public charges."

Should public charges be filed, Sachar said "it would proceed to trial" and would be similar to a civil matter, versus a criminal matter.

The entertainment category at Walmart U.S., which consists largely of consumer electronics, has been challenged in recent years by a decline in innovative products and shrinking margins resulting from downward pressure on pricing. The company hopes to boost its entertainment business by offering a new video game service.

Duncan Mac Naughton, chief merchandising and marketing officer for Walmart U.S., told the media Monday (March 17) that pre-owned video gaming is a $2 billion market that Walmart will now enter. The retail giant is launching a video game trade-in service in 3,100 Walmart Stores and Sam’s Clubs starting March 26. Mac Naughton said there are 880 million video games sitting in homes today collecting dust. This buy-back program is fashioned after similar deals offered for iphones, smartphones and tablets which began in September 2013.

Consumers can bring in their used video games for various platforms – Sony Playstation, X-Box, Nintendo Wii, etc. – and trade them for gift cards. Walmart will pay market value for the games based on its partnership with C.E. Exchange. The average payout is expected to be around $35, but the game popularity, age and condition are considered. 

“We expect our payouts to be competitive,” Mac Naughton said during the call. “When we disrupt markets and compete, our customer wins. They’ll save money on video games and have the flexibility to spend it however they want.”

The trade-in games will be sent to C.E. Exchange, refurbished and sold back to Walmart for resale in their stores and online. Mac Naughton said the certified pre-owned games should start showing up in stores by this summer.

“While new releases will remain the focus of our gaming business, we’re glad to give our customers the option to buy pre-owned games,” he said. 

Walmart said their customers have asked for this service for several years, and while the company piloted a similar program back in 2009, they hadn’t found the right partner. C.E. Exchange also refurbishes iPhones, tablets and other items for Walmart.

Jason Long, CEO of St. Louis-based Shift Marketing Group, applauded the move by Walmart.

“This program sounds similar to that of Game-Stop. As a parent of a kid who plays video games, we love Game-stop because you never have to worry about getting a dud as you can return it. Also, if the game is too violent, etc., it's easy to return. These games are often $50 or more, so (they are) not cheap,” Long said.

ATTRACTING MILLENIALS
Walmart said it would not align trade-ins to a set loyalty program, but it expects the payout will be competitive and the resale prices to be low. This service is aimed at attracting new gamers to the market who might have been prohibited because of high entry-level prices.

Long said the service could attract more Millennial consumers to Walmart and Sam’s Club because the demographic is known for being gamers. He said video games are expensive and a trade-in service lowers the risk of purchasing a “lemon.” Lastly he said it should help to drive footsteps into the store to return video games that will also lead to incremental sales as consumers use their credit for merchandise.

“As long as the price paid is competitive to Game-Stop, I think this will be a winner for Walmart,” Long said.

Mac Naughton said new game releases drive heavy traffic into the store, and the buyback program will allow more gamers to trade-up over time and increase the overall size of the $2 billion market.

“Wal-Mart has led the way in forging entertainment exclusives, bringing streaming services and other intangibles into its portfolio and it makes sense to continue exploring these (service) options,” said Carol Spieckerman, CEO of NewMarketBuilders in Bentonville.

ELECTRONICS CONUNDRUM
The consumer electronics category has been a stinker for most retailers in recent years. There have been spurts of growth in mobile phones and services, as well as as tablets early on, but the category overall is in decline.

NPD Group reports that gaming sales were down 17% over the recent holiday period, typically a busy time for the category. In the recent quarter that includes holiday sales, Walmart U.S. reported negative comparable sales (mid single digit) in its entertainment category, which includes toys. Wal-mart noted in the recent earnings call that it was pleased with its marketshare performance, but it continued to face challenges related to ongoing entertainment industry contraction.

One of the main items in decline – big screen televisions – also gobbles up the most store space. This continues to present questions about how long mega TVs will be sold in physical stores and what Wal-Mart might do with all that space should they move TV sales online, like their chief competitor Amazon.

“In consumer electronics, determining which space-hog SKUs such as televisions to keep in-store and which can be moved online is an ongoing conundrum, particularly given the low margins,” Spieckerman said.  “Even though consumers increasingly think nothing of buying large items, I don’t see Wal-Mart clearing out the back of the store just yet.”

But what if they did?

POSSIBLE APPLIANCE PUSH?
Retailers Best Buy and h.h. gregg have already pondered whether to dedicate more consumer electronic space to large home appliances. Spieckerman said h.h. gregg has made a concerted effort to reduce its reliance on consumer electronics in favor of home goods. 

Wal-Mart already has the supplier relationships with top appliance brands through Sam’s Club. Given its buying power, Spieckerman said Wal-Mart could negotiate competitive prices against Home Depot, Lowe’s Home Improvement and Sears — the major players in kitchen appliance sales.

There are also add-on service fees for home delivery and set-up which could pad overall margins in this category. As more Millennials seek to set up new households, it would also be an opportunity to cater to those needs.

“For Wal-Mart, it would represent a new business that shoppers aren’t used to seeing in its stores. At this point, Wal-Mart would have a difficult time completely removing these units from stores, particularly given its new focus on tethering small formats to more well-stocked supercenters,” Spieckerman said.

She adds that the television walls create a visual “pull” to the back of the store without compromising the sight lines where large appliances would shut them down.

“I can definitely see how Wal-Mart could compete aggressively in large appliances as part of its overall technology portfolio, particularly given smart home technologies and ‘internet of things’ concepts that are set to gain traction,” said Spieckerman. “Given its rapid acceleration and expansion of product delivery options, site-to-store connectivity and its growing marketplace of online-unique items, Wal-Mart should be looking at ways to showcase expanded product offerings in its stores without dedicating space to inventory or even representative samples. Rather than making trade-offs between categories, this is the real opportunity, particularly as Wal-Mart accelerates its small format rollout. Out of sight, out of mind.”

The new Walmart to Go convenience store opened recently in Bentonville is not the retailer’s first experiment with the small-store format. Wal-Mart historians and former corporate officers told The City Wire that the first convenience store for the company was located in Springdale in the 1990s.

Also, the first Walmart Express was built in Flippin, Ark., and catered to campers, fishermen and outdoor enthusiasts visiting Bull Shoals Lake. The original express store featured a few freezers, convenience store fare and a drive-through McDonald’s.

Andy Wilson, a former executive officer for Wal-Mart Stores, said testing new ideas is part of the corporate culture. 

“Sam’s model was ‘Try it, fix it, then do it.’ he fostered a learning environment and back then we tried lots of ideas. Of course we were able to keep it quieter than they can today,” Wilson said. “The Wal-Mart culture has a low resistance to change and to stay relevant they are constantly testing and tweaking ideas to align with what customers want.”

One of the reason’s Wal-Mart abandoned the early test in convenience formats was because the one store in Springdale was located at the entrance to a former Sam’s Club on Thompson Avenue, according to Wal-Mart historians. The largest customer of Sam’s Club during the 1980s and 1990s were small convenience store operators and it was deemed a conflict of interest for the large retailer to compete with its largest customer base. The convenience store was sold in the late 1990s.

In 2003, Wal-Mart sold its McLane Company division to Berkshire Hathway for $1.45 billion. McLane is a distributor of cigarettes, tobacco and candy to convenience stores and other retail outlets.

Wilson said today selling convenience is a big deal to all businesses – retail and otherwise.

“You look at what Kum & Go and Casey’s General Stores have done to reinvent the C-store experience and it’s logical that Wal-Mart would try and tweak it’s own version,” Wilson said.

STORE PLANNING
Walmart to Go is roughly 5,000 square feet and contains around 3,500 SKUs (items), with 14 employees, according to Betsy Harden, Wal-Mart corporate spokeswoman.

Harden said Walmart to Go is not open around the clock, store hours range from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Competitor Casey’s General Store located three blocks way is open 24 hours a day. She said there are no other Walmart to Go stores in the pipeline or planned. A former insider has told The City Wire that a second Walmart to Go store is being prepped in Orlando, Fla.

Wilson said the merchandising team likely spent a year planning for this one unique format. He said they studied marketing data to determine what products needed to go in store, designed the layout, evaluated competition and worked to reinvent what’s already there.

He said figuring out operational structure and replenishment and then tying those systems into the supply chain and ramping up efficiencies with the use of technology all goes into the store planning phase.

“It’s like building a puzzle, one piece at a time,” Wilson said. “A lot of planning went into this format and when the ribbon is cut on Wednesday (March 19), you can bet the learn and fix it modes will be activated.”

LEARNING LAB
One of the benefits of having a new format just a stone’s throw away from the corporate offices is the constant study possible within the various retail divisions. Wilson said executives will no doubt frequent the format, study the shopper behavior and learn as much as they can about consumer habits and preferences.

It can be a price-study lab, given that the products are branded, not private label and smaller portion sizes than what may be available in a supercenter or smaller grocery format. The retailer could also test higher prices – a trade-off for the convenience factor – in this small format.

Millennials are a demographic Wal-Mart wants to attract as they are often willing to pay more for convenience. The Walmart to Go offers quick meal solutions, prepared food and fresh fruit, all within a few steps of their car. With major pressure on drug store chains to discontinue tobacco sales, convenience stores could see a bump in volume, although this is declining category overall.

“It’s clear that Wal-Mart is keenly aware of what it’s losing in sales to more convenient formats. Let’s face it, it takes time to go to supercenter, it’s a commitment,” Wilson said. “Wal-Mart is exploring several ways to capture more of the fill-in dollar spend and the convenience format is just one of them.” 

He said Wal-Mart may find some new lessons in this c-store experiment that they may apply to other formats around the globe. Such lessons could drive more sales and reduce overall costs.

One month does not make a trend, but January hospitality tax collections in Fort Smith and Van Buren took a turn higher in January after both cities reported less than impressive collections in 2013.

January hospitality tax collections in Van Buren were $33,253, up 3.6% compared to January 2013.

Collections in Van Buren during 2013 totaled $423,221.83, remarkably close to the $423,222.91 during 2012. December collections were $32,071, down 1.2% from the $32,451 in December 2012. The city collects a 1% tax on lodging and a 1% prepared food tax.

The increase in Van Buren comes with mixed emotions for Maryl Koeth, executive director of the Van Buren Advertising & Promotion Commission.

“Following the pattern for the last year, lodging numbers are up significantly from January 2013 with restaurant collections lagging by 1.79% over the same period last year,” Koeth explained.

During 2012, Van Buren hospitality tax collections totaled $425,554, up 5.2% compared to the 2011 collections. Hospitality tax collections in Van Buren during 2011 totaled $429,561, up 2.34% compared to 2010. The 2011 collections ended a two-year skid in Van Buren.

FORT SMITH
January hospitality tax collections in Fort Smith totaled $56,025, up 13% compared to January 2013. The city collects a 3% tax on lodging.

Claude Legris, executive director of the Fort Smith Convention & Visitors Bureau, said much of the growth was attributed to a Baldor corporate meeting and a multi-state volleyball tournament sponsored by Fort Smith Juniors. Legris said January business was up 43% at the Courtyard by Marriott and the Holiday Inn City Center saw a 38% jump in January sales.

Collections in Fort Smith during 2013 totaled $731,057, down 2% compared to the same period in 2012. The gap in collections improved through the year with first quarter collections were down more than 6% compared to the 2012 quarter. For the fourth quarter, collections were up 0.62% compared to the 2012 quarter.

During 2012, Fort Smith hospitality tax collections totaled $746,182, up 5.37% compared to the 2011 period. The 2011 collections were up 4.3% compared to 2010.

ARKANSAS COLLECTIONS
Revenue from Arkansas’ 2% tourism tax set a record in 2013 by reaching $12.716 million, and the state’s tourism chief is predicting that 2014 could be even better for Arkansas’ tourism and travel sector.

The 2013 collections were up 2.5% compared to the $12.405 million in 2012, and well ahead of the $11.378 million slump in 2009 when national economic conditions proved tough on Arkansas’ tourism industry.

Richard Davies, executive director of the Arkansas Parks & Tourism Department, said the recent spell of cold weather around the country may result in people wanting to get outdoors when temperatures rise. Combine that with what Davies said is an improving consumer confidence, and the state could see more travelers in 2014.

Arkansas’ tourism sector (leisure & hospitality) employed 109,100 during January, up from a revised 106,900 during December, and above the 104,400 during January 2013. The January employment tally sets a new record for the sector. The number is subject to revision in future reports.

There’s hardly a single minute of downtime in a busy Walmart distribution center (DC), so the the three minutes it takes to recharge a forklift battery is not wasted because the retail giant works with Waterloo, Ontario-based Axonify to reinforce safety education through a gaming application.

Ken Woodlin, vice president of compliance, safety and asset protection for Walmart Logistics, said the retailer has used gamification to train its 75,000 workers on safety procedures over the past year. The results have been good enough for Wal-Mart to expand the program to its transportation department and broaden the scope from workplace safety to now include people-based safety.

Woodlin said it began slow, but now that the entire logistics team is acclimated the retailer is adding the next layer of training which entails safety around the clock.

“If you think about it, we want our associates to practice good safety procedures at all times, even at home because if you have an accident at home, you are still likely to need time off for recovery. We are also going to use the application to assist our truck drivers with their training for driver championships, which require a lot of tests,” he said.

PILOT TEST
Bentonville-based Wal-Mart Stores first began testing the use of game application to reinforce safety training in 2012. Carol Leaman, CEO of Axonify, a educational technology company, said her firm’s educational software platform works well in retail, particularly distribution warehouses that employ large numbers of dispersed workers.

“We built a software application that helped Pep Boys address safety issues with their workforce in 2012 and was introduced to Dave Gorman, a retired Wal-Mart loss prevention exec who thought Wal-Mart might have an interest,” Leaman said in a phone interview.

In mid 2012, Axonify began a six-month pilot with 5,000 Walmart logistics workers in eight distribution centers.

Wal-Mart declined to provide numbers relating to reduced incidents over the past year that the software has been used. But during the 6-month pilot the retailer had a 54% decrease in incidents among the eight DCs using the system, according to Leaman and Woodlin.

GAMING APPROACH
“Because of turnover and widely dispersed workforce it’s difficult for DC managers to know exactly what safety procedures employees are applying on the job. Our software gaming application takes just three minutes and provides a burst of information with two multiple choice questions intertwined with a game of their choosing,” Leaman said.

For those who don’t want the game there is a question only option. The game options include:
• Curvy Loop, which involves connecting two points with longest possible line;
• Quiz Show, which uses image hints to help solve a word puzzle; and
• Simon Says, just like memory sequence game of the same name.

Leamon said research shows repetitious learnings in short intervals tend to be retained much longer than 30-minute webinars or other formats that can provide information overload. By adding the gaming option with the brief tests, the user has the ability to do something fun, which also aids in memory retention. She said the competitiveness that is also part of gaming can help companies keep safety conversations going longer, which serves to reinforce the culture.

Woodlin said the effort to incorporate gaming in the safety training was an innovative approach as the retailer has a diverse workforce among four distinct groups — Traditionalists, Boomers, Gen Xers and Millennials.

Shanda Nickson, the human resource officer at the DC No. 6094 in Bentonville, said the gaming aspect has resonated with many of the users. 

“They accumulate points from the games they chose when they take three minutes each day to Axonify. It’s been fun to see the competitiveness come out when they discuss point totals and rankings. The games have also sparked more conversation around safety protocol,” Nickson said.

Nickson said the software application is accessible on multiple computers throughout the DC. There is one next to the battery charging station, that is commonly used by forklift drivers.

“It takes three minutes to charge the battery, and while that’s happening, they step over to the computer, log on to the Walmart wire and start the program. In other areas of the facility like loading, they log on after their break. They can test just one time per day. As an administrator I can pull data anytime to see what questions are missed most often, so they we can try and reinforce those areas when needed,” Nickson said.

The questions come from a data base and focus on core safety procedures. The software is intuitive and will repeat questions periodically if the user gets the wrong answer. The software also tracks the progress of each user.

AXONIFY
Leaman said since Pep Boys and Wal-Mart have each found value in their software other retailers have signed on.

“About half of our business is retail. We just signed a deal with Bloomingdales and two large grocery retailers who want to use the product for workplace safety training.” Leaman said.

The other applications for Axonify is industrial manufacturing and pharmaceutical sales training.

“Workplace accidents are a drain for retailers and manufacturers. Depending on the severity they can cause lost work hours, workers compensation claims and OSHA fines. Our system works to modify behavior and reinforce learning. Every minute in retail is critical given the thin margins of operation. Retailers are looking to cut costs anywhere they can,” Leaman said.

She founded Axonify in 2011, her fourth technology venture. The third venture she sold to Google in 2010.

Leaman’s grown Axonify from two to 35 employees in the past 2.5 years, adding 10 software developers and five project managers. She expects business to double this year as the company adds more customers.

When Ralph Overstreet bought a watch repair shop on Bentonville’s town square in 1948, the city had less than 3,000 residents, no one had ever heard of Sam Walton, and outsiders weren’t particularly welcome.

“Actually, when I moved here, they seemed to resent any new person that came in. … It was a small town,” he said. “Apparently, they didn’t much want to grow.”

Overstreet, 97, who still works six days a week repairing watches at Overstreet’s Jewelry, has watched a lot change since then. What was once a sleepy rural town is now a community of about 40,000, with lots more on the way, for lots of reasons.

Bentonville’s story starts, of course, with Walmart. In 1950, Walton opened his Walton’s 5 & 10 on the Bentonville town square, not far from Overstreet’s shop, and became a fixture in the community, eventually serving as Chamber of Commerce president. After opening his first Walmart in Rogers in 1962, he opened the company’s first distribution center and home office in Bentonville in 1971.

Today, Walmart employs more than 2.2 million people globally, including 1.3 million Americans and tens of thousands in Northwest Arkansas. In addition, approximately 1,250-1,400 of the company’s vendors have offices there, according to Tom Ginn, Chamber of Commerce vice president of economic development.

“Most of the larger ones are here, obviously, the ones that do the most business … If you have somebody that has a lot of SKUs on the shelf, then more than likely they’re in the area,” he said.

Walmart’s impact can be felt in many other ways, starting with the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Funded by the Walton Family Foundation under the leadership of Sam Walton’s daughter, Alice, the 200,000-square-foot museum exhibits about 500 pieces of art at any one time, all free to the public. It has welcomed more than 1.2 million visitors since it opened on Nov. 11, 2011. About 120,000 visitors saw a traveling exhibit of Norman Rockwell paintings in 2013.

Diane Carroll, interim director of communications, said about 60 percent of the visitors have been from Arkansas and another 20 percent from touch states, which means the other 240,000 have come to Bentonville from farther away. The museum counted 220,000 visitors who walked its beautiful outside trail last year.

The museum, which employs 150-200 full-time and part-time employees, hasn’t tried to estimate its economic impact, but its cultural impact is immeasurable. A wide range of art-making classes and programs are offered to the community. A program sponsored by the Walker Family Foundation pays all expenses for Arkansas schoolchildren to visit the museum. As of late January, 39,000 students have come. Meanwhile, artwork by Bentonville schoolchildren is displayed around the museum’s education area. Fellow museum professionals, art teachers and students converge at the museum to study, learn and collaborate.

The museum is in the third year of a four-year art-sharing partnership with the Louvre and two other museums. One of Crystal Bridges’ portraits of George Washington is currently in France. The museum’s culinary department brought New York’s James Beard Foundation to Bentonville to sample the Southern cuisine. In return, its chefs were invited to New York to display their craft. “It really elevated our regional cuisine to a national spotlight,” Carroll said.

DOWNTOWN REBIRTH
Crystal Bridges has been a catalyst for a rebirth of the downtown area.

The 21C Museum Hotel, part of a small chain of upscale hotels that display contemporary art, recently opened a 104-room facility just off the town square. Last year, the website TripAdvisor declared it the country’s number one “Hot New Hotel.” Anticipating a runoff effect from Crystal Bridges, the city has designated a downtown arts district where it expects galleries to open.

The museum was announced in 2005. Realizing how close it would be to downtown, Mayor Bob McCaslin and the city undertook a campaign to renovate the town square. In 2007, Bentonville voters easily passed five initiatives to raise the city sales tax by one cent to pay for a $110 million bond issue, part of which paid for the renovation. With its new look and the Crystal Bridges attraction nearby, the downtown area has gone from two or three restaurants to about 14 eateries counting food trucks, according to Kalene Griffin with the Bentonville Convention and Visitors Bureau.

More retail shops have opened, and the Walmart Museum, located in the old Walton’s 5 & 10 building, has undergone a major renovation.The new Midtown Shopping Center, built by Walmart, will feature retail spots including a Walmart Neighborhood Market grocery store as well as offices and a parking deck.

The city offers many other cultural amenities, with more on the way. Proceeds from the bond issue and other contributions are funding a $16 million, 80,000-square-foot recreation center. Just off the town square is a splash pad that converts into an outdoor ice rink during the winter months. There’s also a Museum of Native American History, and a new interactive children’s museum, the Amazeum, is opening in two years.

The fortunes of the city and the fortunes of the region are interconnected. Northwest Arkansas consists of a string of suburb-sized cities without an urban hub that work well in concert.

Mike Malone, president and CEO of the Northwest Arkansas Council, an economic and community development agency that supports the region, said the council developed a five-year plan in 2010 that included 56 projects. Of those, 53 have been completed, or work is underway. Among its goals was the widening of Interstate 540 from four lanes to six, which is happening because of the half-cent sales tax passed by Arkansas voters in 2012. Work is being completed on the Northwest Arkansas Razorback Greenway, a 36-mile walking and biking trail meandering through six downtown areas. Wayfinding signs pointing to attractions will have a consistent look city to city.

Moreover, Northwest Arkansas cities accept that an employer that locates in one community benefits all of them, so economic developers usually compete as a region, Malone said. The region will get on more potential employers’ radar screens when the population tips past 500,000, which is only 17,000 residents away. The area’s visitors bureaus share that spirit of cooperation. While there is friendly competition, Griffin said cities don’t suffer from “Friday night syndrome” – historical rivalries that get in the way of progress. After all, it’s hard to tell where one city ends and the next begins.

“If somebody calls me about a meeting that we can’t service, that’s too large for us, my goal is to pass it on to Rogers and Springdale and Fayetteville,” she said. “If it’s going to come, I want it to come into Northwest Arkansas because the city of Bentonville will benefit from it.”

GROWTH MODE
Bentonville’s population has doubled since 2000, which means that the Bentonville School District educates a student population that grows by 500 students a year. Voters last year approved a 2.9-mill increase to build a second high school. A larger request was rejected in 2012, but the school district scaled back plans to a smaller facility and arranged that both schools will share one football field – an appropriate Walmart-like efficiency. In fact, Walmart helped the district pass the millage.

Superintendent Mike Poore and school board member Becky Koontz visited then-Walmart president and CEO Mike Duke at the start of the effort asking for support. That led to a luncheon meeting with about 30 executives who, Poore said, “picked us apart for over an hour.” Poore later spoke to a larger Walmart audience, and the company sponsored a community survey that helped supporters tighten their message.

Poore, who came to Bentonville from Colorado, said leading the Bentonville School District involves a unique set of challenges and rewards. The district must assimilate many transient students, some from other countries. It educates executives from Walmart and its vendors, so expectations are high.

So, however, is the support the district receives. The Indian conglomerate Tata is helping the district with technology. Each month, the community hosts a First Friday event that brings booths, activities and musical acts to the town square. One month, the school partnered with Nickelodeon. Not long afterwards, Poore received a call from Disney asking why it hadn’t been involved.

“There’s things like that that happen on a pretty cool and regular basis here (with) people reaching out to us to say, ‘We’d like to partner with you and we want to support you,’ and I’ve never been a part of a community that gives more,” Poore said.

BLUEPRINT FOR OPPORTUNITY
Graduating Bentonville High students can drive half an hour south to the University of Arkansas, or they can stay in town and attend Northwest Arkansas Community College. Dr. Evelyn Jorgenson, the chancellor, said the school serves as a feeder for the university as well as a “safety net” for UA students who don’t thrive in the large freshman classes there. NWACC has created a track for students to transfer smoothly to the UA’s Sam M. Walton College of Business, and the two colleges have matriculation agreements in a number of other areas.

Credit enrollment is down about 6 percent to 7,546 students – a drop Jorgenson said was caused by an improving economy that attracts people to the workforce instead of college. However, non-credit enrollment has reached 6,000. Students in this program train for specific skills needed by employers. A retail analyst program, unlike any in the country, requires 45 weeks of classes to learn to run a proprietary software system used by Walmart and its vendors. Students who complete the program don’t get college credit, but they do get job offers.

Mayor McCaslin arrived in Bentonville in 1996 during a 30-year career moving from city to city with Kraft Foods and was elected mayor in 2006. He said getting elected without deep roots in the community wasn’t a problem. He guesses there were more residents from without than from within by about 2000, when the city was half the size it is today.

“Most people that come in, they’re looking for friends, they want to establish relationships, and it’s been our experience that the friendliest communities often are the transient communities. … It just seems like a lot of people are hungry for friends,” he said. “I will tell you it’s been my experience that I’ve never seen a region that assimilates outsiders any better than Northwest Arkansas.”

The city is finishing a strategic economic development plan known as the Bentonville Blueprint. The objectives are to increase the livability of the area and target businesses and industries that complement existing entities as well as fill in holes.

Among the city’s challenges is land. Scattered subdivisions have been built to accommodate new residents, reducing the space for commercial properties. Meanwhile, the city is a bit landlocked, with Rogers to the south and east and Bella Vista to the north and west. There are corridors to the northeast, but also some hilly terrain. Moving forward, the city will have to fill in the empty areas, which it can do with planning. In fact, the Chamber of Commerce’s Ginn said it could more than double in size and still have the same population density.

Traffic will be a problem then, just as it is now. In fact, the entire Northwest Arkansas region suffers from a lack of roadways. Mayor McCaslin acknowledges that’s an issue. However, there are worse problems to have.

“Where you have traffic,” he said, “there’s something going on to cause that traffic to be there.”

Home sales in Crawford County more than doubled in volume in February compared to the same month last year, while Sebastian County totals fell nearly a quarter percent.

According to real estate agent Vickie Davis with Sagely & Edwards Realtors in Fort Smith, the reason for Crawford County's strong numbers have to do with the renewal of the Farm Bill, which continued the Rural Development Loan program.

"When they apply for a loan, they don't have to have the down payment," she said in explaining the loan program. "The down payment can be worked in. They're able to just get a better deal as far as financing."

She said that is why Crawford County's sales volume of $4.458 million  on 36 homes last month was 126.01% larger than in February of last year, which only saw sales of $1.972 million on 23 homes.

In Sebastian County, sales last month total $9.981 million on 77 homes, while February 2013 saw $12.676 million on 91 homes, a 21.26% drop.

Numbers for the first two months of the year show Crawford County continuing its strong showing, while sales in Sebastian County are flat.

For January and February, home sales in Sebastian County were $19.159 million from 151 home sold, only increasing 0.72% from the same period last year, where 143 homes were sold on volume of $19.022 million.

North of the river, Crawford County clocked a 78.25% increase in sales volume during the first part of this year — $8.348 million on 74 homes sold in 2014 versus $4.683 million on 50 homes sold during the same period in 2013.

Davis said home sales in Sebastian County should increase in the next few months, while Crawford County's numbers may slow down slightly.

"I think they'll fade just a tiny bit (in Crawford County)," she said. "I don't think it will be a bottom out situation, but they'll come down just a little bit because everybody was trying to beat that (deadline) to receive the (Rural Development Loan) financing."

She said individuals in the real estate and the finance business should expect sales to increase as temperatures warm.

"Spring and Summer are really good times, as far as home sales. It’s because the weather is good and people are trying to get settled in before the school year starts. People don't like to move their kids in the middle of the school year."

While economic recovery and job growth have been happening in Fort Smith, Davis said foreclosure activity has and will continue to be a drag on the housing market.

"A lot of people are upside down right now and letting the homes go back to the bank," she explained, adding that while some people expect to get steals when purchasing foreclosed homes, it is not often the case.

"A lot of times you don't get the good price you'll think you'll get. Yes, they're reduced, but a lot of times when you get foreclosed homes you're just purchasing it (as is). If you're buying from someone, the person will fix the repairs. When you get a foreclosed home, you have to repair yourself. …If you look around, it's not as good a deal as you think. Usually, you're going to have to go in and do a lot of extra work."

As more development continues to pop across the region, bringing jobs with it, she said it is likely that many of the homes sold in the region would be newer homes while older homes are likely to sit on the market long.

"You have people moving in for these jobs and you have people wanting to move into the new subdivisions for the matter of resale. If you have a development they're still building in, they'll have good resale. …New homes are still going pretty good. I'm having a harder time selling the older ones. The new ones seem to sell easier."

Home Sales Data
(January - February)
• Crawford County
Unit Sales
2014: 74
2013: 50

Total Sales Volume
2014: $8.348 million
2013: $4.683 million

Median Sales Price
2014: $101,000
2013: $89,000

• Sebastian County
Unit Sales
2014: 151
2013: 143

Total Sales Volume
2014: $19.159 million
2013: $19.022 million

Median Sales Price
2014: $104,500
2013: $111,250

There are $415 billion reasons Wal-Mart is testing its first convenience store just three blocks from its home office and Walmart Store 100. The big box titan is determined to win more than the 10% marketshare it has for the quick-trip spending consumers do mid-week or when they are crunched for time.

Walmart to Go celebrated its grand opening on Wednesday (March 19) and though it’s been more than a year in the making, the real works starts now, according to Kelly Williams, manager of the hybrid convenience store.

Williams has spent the past decade as an assistant manager for a nearby Walmart Supercenter. Williams said he’s comfortable seeing lots of management in the store. He’s accustomed to it having worked so long in store 100, which is directly across the street from the home office.

TETHERED TO THE SUPERCENTER
Scott Swenson, store manager of Store No. 100, said this 5,000 square-foot convenience format is like his son. The junior is tethered to the senior store in that all products going into the convenience format are replenished from Swenson’s supercenter down the street.

“We have about 10 drivers who actually bring the products from the supercenter in a temperature controlled van restocking the convenience store every night. They are my overnight crew. Before the convenience store closes at 10 p.m. they send over a pick list, my group pulls the items and then restocks the convenience store around 4 a.m. before it opens at 5. During the day, we can also get product down here as needed,” Swenson said.

The cash registers in the convenience store are tied into the replenish system at the supercenter and Swenson said so far restocking the convenience store hasn’t been challenging.  

“For now we are closely monitoring the product mix to make sure we have the items our customers are looking for ... the market fresh and bakery items have been big movers along with the coffee and the F’real blending bar. The Bentonville Butcher & Deli has also been a big draw to the store,” Swenson said.

The Bentonville Butcher & Deli staff said they serve breakfast items until 10:30 a.m. each day and they then switch to lunch and dinner and feature a daily special entree. The deli closes at 8 p.m. daily, which is an hour later than its flagship deli/market down the street. These employees do not work for Wal-Mart.

PRICE CONSISTENCY
“The one differentiator we have against other convenience competitors is low pricing, said Deisha Barnett, Wal-Mart corporate spokeswoman.”The product mix may change from time to time, but the prices will be consistently low.”

The City Wire conducted a basket price comparison on Tuesday (March 18) of 15 items sold at the Walmart to Go, the nearby supercenter and a Neighborhood Market located 1.8 miles away.

Walmart to Go carries roughly 3,500 SKUs, or individual items, and many of those are consumer packaged goods. The City Wire shopping list included:
• Sara Lee white bread
• Tide Pods
• Angel Soft toilet paper
• Huggies diapers
• Jiff peanut butter
• Smuckers jelly
• Starkist tuna
• Miracle Whip mayo
• Classic Lays potato chips 
• Blue Bell ice cream
• 2% Milk - gallon 
• Cheerios
• Raisin Bran 
• Beneful dog food
• Glade aerosal spray
• Nestle bottled water (28 count)
• Duct tape

It took 10 minutes to find and fictionally purchase these items at Walmart to Go. There are no grocery carts, but there are handheld shopping baskets, but store attendants said they are available to help customers get items to their car.

At the Neighborhood Market less than 2 miles away, the same shopping list took 22 minutes to locate and fictionally purchase. That included securing a parking spot and using self check-out with no waiting.

The same experience took 35 minutes to accomplish at the supercenter just three blocks north of the convenience store. Just like at Neighborhood Market there was no waiting for self-check out, but the difference in time spent was the longer distance to the back of the supercenter for the milk and then having to go to the other side of the big box for the duct tape. Parking at the supecenter was also twice as far away as the two smaller venues. During this shopping trip the distance walked was slightly more than a half-mile.

The items were consistently priced at all three formats — 14 items were priced exactly the same, the bottled water at the supercenter did not have a price listed on the shelf, but it was $3.48 at the other two stores. Total spend, excluding the water was $47.60 at all three formats. 

The retailer looks to be selling convenience in this new hybrid format. The real savings came in time, something there never seems to be enough of for most consumers today.

If time-strapped consumers shop more often at the convenience store for their grocery items, keeping the small store replenished could prove challenging. Barnett said there are plenty of eyes watching that issue.

The old saying “whistling by the graveyard” may have new context for anyone who has seen a cemetery but never thought about how one makes money.

According to Kelly Lowell, manager of Benton County Memorial Park in Rogers, the days of stand-alone private cemeteries have been largely replaced by a business model where a cemetery and funeral home are partnered.

“For us, it’s really been about having the funeral home here on the premises. That’s the long-term aspect of it. I think having it where we can work both places is an important part of it,” Lowell said.

Having funeral home staff work the cemetery business is what allows Benton County Memorial Park to not run into overhead issues, including staffing and grounds maintenance.

“For us, our (customers) expect a cemetery that is well taken care of as opposed to a country cemetery (maintained by volunteers). It helps with the manpower situation. It takes a lot of time and a lot of resources to maintain a cemetery. For a funeral home, we can share staff. For us, that’s what makes us different. With the amount of work that goes into it, you really need people that can work both places,” he said.

As a result of the level of care required to maintain the cemetery to Lowell’s standards, plots can run as high as $360 for the least expensive plot on site, while others can run as high as $600.

But included in those prices is a fee required by the State Cemetery Board of Arkansas.

“They are what are called perpetual care cemeteries. People might say that they’re in the business of making money, for-profit cemeteries,” Lowell said. “What happens is if you’re not governed by a cemetery board or you’re not a city-owned cemetery, or if you’re not affiliated with a church, then you have to be perpetual care. With everything that sells, a percentage of that money has to go into the perpetual care fund. It is then held at a bank and overseen by the state cemetery board.”

In the case of Benton County Memorial Park, the fee ranges from $60 to $100 and is included in the sale of the plots. Should the cemetery go broke, the State Cemetery Board will then tap into the banked perpetual funds for maintenance of the cemetery.

“The only way it can be touched is with permission from the government,” Lowell said. “It’s also a positive thing for a family because they know whatever happens, there will be money set aside for a nice place to come to. They’ll never have to worry about weeds growing up or leaving messages and not getting a return call. That’s the advantage of it.”

Cemeteries also profit through the opening and closing of grave sites, typically charging as much as the plot itself to dig the grave and then again to bury the remains. The fee can run higher if the burial takes place on a weekend or holiday.

ALTERNATIVE CARE
An alternative to perpetual care cemeteries are non-profit or public-owned cemeteries.

One public-owned cemetery is Oak Cemetery in Fort Smith, which charges a flat $400 for each plot regardless of location or size — standard, infant, or cremains. As a result of the flat rate, Fort Smith Parks and Recreation Director Mike Alsup said the cemetery has become heavily subsidized.

“In our case, Oak Cemetery doesn’t make money. It doesn’t break even. We operate with money from the tax base in order to stay open.”

In 2013, Alsup said the city had spent $148,940 on the cemetery upkeep, maintenance and staffing while only bringing in revenues of $80,712, a little more than half of the operating cost.

Alsup said with the high costs associated with running a cemetery, he’s “not sure why cities got into the cemetery business.” He said the difference between a public or non-profit cemetery and perpetual care cemeteries was essentially the cost.

“I’d say it was to offer a more affordable funeral for people who couldn’t afford it. It’s a good service the city offers,” Alsup said.

Lowell said while cost is a very likely concern for some, he said for those looking for a permanent resting place perpetual care was the way to go.

“We’re probably on the higher end in terms of cost, but we tend to have a lot more personal attention for a family.”

And Lowell said the ultimate goal at Benton County Memorial Park was to break even, using the funeral home to help prop up a business that often is unprofitable.

“Our goals are a bit different than the average cemetery. We want to maintain it nice and have it compliment the funeral home,” he said. “That’s the wave of the future. You can’t just do one thing anymore. You need to diversify. It helps the funeral home, too, to have prices lower for people. The old days of having a funeral home, you’d see people working a crossword puzzle if they weren’t doing something. Those are the days of the past. If they have that kind of overhead, they won’t be that successful in the future.”

Recent news from Trane and the Pernod Ricard (formerly Hiram Walker) operations in Fort Smith exemplify a recovery struggle within a regional economy hit hard in the past decade by significant manufacturing job losses.

Trane, which operates a residential and light-commercial air conditioning equipment manufacturing plant in Fort Smith, has in recent months added jobs to a plant that once was feared to be near closure.

Beginning in late 2009 and early 2010, a Trane plant which once employed more than 500 began to lose production as the effects of the national housing downturn hit the air conditioning industry. More than 200 jobs were cut in 2010. In early 2012, the company announced that 59 more jobs would be lost with “transfer coil production” moved to Columbia, S.C.

By the summer of 2012, the company employed just under 200 hourly and around 25 salaried workers.

BETTER TIMES AT TRANE
But that picture is changing, according to Chris Farnsworth, Trane’s plant manager in Fort Smith. He’s been with the company more than 23 years, with seven of those in Fort Smith and 16 in a Trane plant in Tyler, Texas.

“We were at 135 (employees) in March (of 2013), and we’ll be up to 212 by the end of this month,” Farnsworth told The City Wire in a recent interview. “We’re in a growth mode. ... Things here are going in a much more positive direction.”

With around 25 salaried workers, Trane will employ about 100 more than it did this time in 2013. Farnsworth said plant officials and workers are “in the midst of transforming” the operation by “clearing up the floor space” in a manner that results in increased productivity and lowered production costs. And after “not spending a dime in the plant for years,” the company has invested more than $800,000 in improvements since August 2013.

“The result of all that is that we could bring in some other work ... some new lines,” Farnsworth explained, adding that national economic conditions which look good for the industry include hope for plant expansion.

While he notes that there are no guarantees in any business, Farnsworth said he does not see Trane leaving Fort Smith anytime soon.

“The message I’d like for you to tell in your story is that we’re here and we’re committed to being in the community,” Farnsworth said. “You don’t spend the kind of money we have and do the things we’re doing if you’re just going to do that (leave town).”

WILD TURKEY JOBS
What is leaving town are 14 jobs related to the bottling of Wild Turkey being moved from  the Pernod Ricard plant (formerly Hiram Walker) in Fort Smith to a recently constructed bottling plant in Lawrenceburg, Ky.

Fortunately, the plant will remain with about 216 jobs.

Pernod Ricard, a liquor bottling and packaging company that moved to Fort Smith in 1981 under the Hiram Walker moniker, had around 240 jobs in early 2012. The company also operated with 40 to 100 temporary employees each day, depending on the work load, according to a December 2011 speech by Plant Manager Melissa Hanesworth.

She said in the 2012 speech that the plant came critically close to shutting down when “major players” in the liquor industry began to consolidate. In the consolidation, Allied Domecq, a United Kingdom company that owned Hiram Walker, was bought by competitors Pernod Ricard and Fortune Brands. The two competitors divided up the assets of Allied Domecq, with Pernod Ricard now owning the Hiram Walker plant.

The plant’s future was again uncertain in 2010 when the Wild Turkey bourbon brand was sold to another company. Hanesworth said the Hiram Walker plant was already operating at about 50% capacity, and the Wild Turkey brand represented about 15% of the capacity. The company that bought the Wild Turkey brand decided in 2012 to build a plant to bottle Wild Turkey. That move resulted in Wednesday’s (March 19) announcement of the 14 job losses.

Hanesworth noted in the press release that loss of the Wild Turkey production had been anticipated.

“As part of that process, some employees who left the company over the last 18 months were not replaced. Regrettably, however, some job loss was unavoidable,” she said in the statement.

Hanesworth said no further job losses are expected. The plant also produces Pernod Ricard’s Seagram’s Gin, Kahlua and Hiram Walker Liqueurs.

THE MANUFACTURING JOBS PICTURE
Preliminary estimates from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show 18,200 manufacturing jobs in the Fort Smith metro area in January. That’s down from 18,400 in December and down from 18,300 in January 2013.

The estimated January manufacturing employment also is down 36.1% compared to January 2004 employment of 28,500. The January employment is the second-lowest employment level in the sector in modern history. The lowest level was 18,100 which was recorded in February 2013.

Average annual employment in the sector in 2013 was at a multi-decade low of 18,300. The record average annual sector employment was 31,700 in 1999. The average fell below 30,000 in 2002, fell below 25,000 in 2009 and fell below 20,000 in 2012.

Recent sales have grown 180% for Oh Baby Foods, and officials with EcoVet and DataRank report positive momentum as they work to grow their respective businesses. The three companies are among the five emerging or young companies The City Wire is following in 2014.

One of the common challenges reported by the entrepreneurs involve finding the right people to help push and manage the growth.

OH BABY GROWS
Fran Free and her all-natural baby food company are off and running after picking up 25 new stores while attending the Natural Products Expo West trade show in early March.

“We made the trip to California for this big trade show and also met with our suppliers out there face-to-face because we plan to expand our product line by this summer adding bite-size snacks for toddlers and squeeze snacks for big kids,” Free said.

Free returns to California late next month to meet with her manufacturer because the company has sold through its inventory more quickly than anticipated. She said Whole Foods’ sales per store have grown five-fold in recent months.

“Sales grew 180% from February to March and we continue to bring on new stores. While a large part of our business is in the West, we went ahead and expanded east because we were getting so much interest from the North Atlantic region,” Free said.

She said finding a broker for the Northeast region has been a challenge, because four out of the five she has interviewed already represent a baby food line. 

“I continue to look for the right broker. We know we need one. We got into the stores just fine through one main retailer. But getting in is just half the battle. A broker on the ground is key to make sure our products are actually out in the stores and products get replenished,” Free said.

Small suppliers often have to carry the brunt of their manufacturing and inventory storage costs, which can challenge cash flows, Free said. 

“It costs us about $250,000 for us to go to production. In the past we have paid on demand up front with no terms finance available,” she said. 

Free recently secured a line of credit through Arvest for her production and storage expenses. She said the company is now getting some payable terms offered as they have been in business longer and continue to grow sales. 

“It is very capital intensive to run a full production line and then have to store and transport that product across the country. We are picking up two additional manufacturers and sourcing more raw products because of the product expansion. This is giving us a little diversification, but it will also be more to manage,” Free said.

In the meantime, she has put her food scientist consultant to work at 20 hours a week formulating the new products.

“We go to so much trouble to win the loyalty of our customers we don’t want to lose that business as the kids grow older, which is why we are back to product development again,” she said.

ECOVET HITS THE ROAD
Inventory isn’t a problem for EcoVet. It’s finding the right retail channels to feature the company’s handcrafted wood furniture products that has co-founder Drake Vanhooser busier these days.

Vanhooser said EcoVet recently participated in a Sam’s Club grand opening event in San Antonio, Texas. EcoVet is working with Shopper Events on several road show opportunities hoping to sell its wares and find additional retail outlets for the handcrafted furniture pieces that are made from reclaimed wood products by U.S. veterans.

“We are learning as we go. Shoppers in San Antonio bought out our supply of cutting boards, but the furniture really did not fit that club demographic. One new club in Austin, Texas is on our radar when it opens,” Vanhooser said.

This week EcoVet is set up in the Fayetteville Sam’s Club. Joseph Forman, a supervisor at EcoVet told The City Wire he has sold about 20 of the cutting boards over the past two days. Forman said people who hear the EcoVet story want to help, most buy the cutting board as it’s the lowest price point at $17.58. He has been with EcoVet since June 2013 working full-time, while also pursuing his business management degree at University of Phoenix.

The other furniture on display at Sam’s Club this week is the company’s contemporary and farmhouse lines. Vanhooser said in recent days he has held several meetings with local furniture retailers, large and small.

“We are working on building some floor samples for several furniture stores and hope we can strike a deal for some of our handcrafted products. We have even considered sourcing other wood to expand the price points,” he said.

Last week, Michelle Gloeckler, senior vice president for home at Wal-Mart Stores Inc., blogged about an upcoming initiative to source U.S. made patio furniture and find suppliers who can also assemble patio furniture as part of the company’s commitment to supporting U.S. jobs.

Vanhooser said EcoVet was excited to hear about Gloeckler’s plan. He said becoming an assembly partner or fashioning new products are exactly the kinds of opportunities EcoVet is exploring.

DATARANK ON PAR
This week DataRank is attending the GigaOM big data conference in New York City, seeking out brands and retailers trying to cut through clutter and make sense of big data possibilities.

“We have an employee on the ground in New York now. He is representing us there. We attend these conferences looking for companies lost in the big data noise. Our job is to show them how our company can help them use the data they need grow their businesses,” said Ryan Frazier, one of the startup founders.

Frazier said DataRank recently added a couple of new clients. One of those is Foot Joy, a golf shoe manufacturer. The other is a consumer packaged goods supplier. 

“Golf season is underway and we are working with Foot Joy and Calloway Golf at this time,” Frazier said. 

Frazier said he recently hired another developer who will revamp the company’s website and mobile application. This brings DataRank up to 10 full-time employees, most are based in their office in downtown Fayetteville, but they also have employees based in San Francisco and New York City.

Frazier said he and the other founders continue work on maintaining their corporate culture as they are also expanding their team. 

“Right now we are focused on getting our new hires up to speed, because business is growing a little faster than we projected,” he said.

On the horizon, he said the firm will have a redesigned website and mobile application will also continuing to grow its list of clients.

The City Wire will publish March 22 updates on Silicon Solar Solutions and Overwatch, the other startups followed in 2014.