Tyson Foods Inc. this month acquired a former Walmart call center in Springdale, Ark., as it prepares to move about 1,000 employees to its hometown starting early next year.
Tyson paid $19.34 million for a 130,000-square-foot building that previously served as a call center for Bentonville, Ark.-based Walmart, according to Washington County property records. The building provided office space for about 1,000 Walmart workers and at one point was a Sam’s Club before being remodeled in 2019 to include a fitness center, café, training facilities and outdoor patios, according to a report from Talk Business & Politics. Walmart closed the facility soon after the COVID-19 pandemic took full hold in early 2020, the report added.
In October, Tyson announced plans to move 1,000 corporate employees from offices in Illinois and South Dakota to Arkansas as part of a program dubbed “One Tyson.” The program also includes an expansion of the company’s corporate headquarters and is intended to allow for faster decision-making in running Tyson’s sprawling protein businesses, the company said at the time of the announcement. The relocation is expected to roll out in phases starting early next year.
