Is Walmart a winner if Amazon HQ2 skips Texas?

Walmart’s innovation in Texas and its headquarters of Bentonville, Ark., shows companies don’t need to be in coastal metropolitan areas to build a strong tech base, or to grow into the largest retailer in the world with sales of $500 billion last year.

Signs point to Amazon's splitting 50,000 jobs between the power corridor cities of New York and Washington D.C. Dallas and Austin also are among Amazon’s 20 finalists for the coveted $5 billion investment. Some reports describe Dallas as a third city still in the hunt for what now appears to be 25,000 jobs in each of two cities.

While most of the world watched Amazon soak up the spotlight, particularly during its 14-month search, Walmart took action.

Under CEO Doug McMillon, Walmart is becoming a major technology company that decentralized years ago with tech hubs in Silicon Valley, Bentonville and Hoboken, N.J., and now Austin and Dallas.

It plans to hire more than 2,000 tech workers this year, most based at its headquarters in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains in quaint and sprawling Bentonville.

“There’s a cultural shift under way,” said Craig Rosenblum, senior director at retail consulting firm Inmar. “Is it the new Walmart, or the old Sam Walton Walmart, vs. a cool, hip place to work?”

Competition for hires

Jason Norris, who heads Walmart’s Austin tech office, said it’s hard attracting talent everywhere in the country today. If Amazon chose Texas, he said, “sure it would make my job harder, absolutely, but we’re not afraid to compete with Amazon.”

But Walmart’s Texas hiring experience has been a positive one, Norris said. Just last week, he hired an engineer in Austin who also had an offer from Amazon.

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