Walmart awards 'golden tickets' at its ninth annual Open Call event in Bentonville

Event lets entrepreneurs pitch U.S. wares

Mollie Thorsen and her father, Bob Thorsen, show off a Burro Buddy on Wednesday — it fits on a wheelbarrow to carry gardening or construction tools — after pitching the product to Walmart associates at Wednesday’s Open Call event in Bentonville.
(NWA Democrat-Gazette/Flip Putthoff)
Mollie Thorsen and her father, Bob Thorsen, show off a Burro Buddy on Wednesday — it fits on a wheelbarrow to carry gardening or construction tools — after pitching the product to Walmart associates at Wednesday’s Open Call event in Bentonville. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Flip Putthoff)

BENTONVILLE -- Happy business owners and entrepreneurs left Walmart Inc.'s ninth annual Open Call event on Wednesday with golden tickets that signified they'd secured deals to get their products in Walmart stores.

After the event was held virtually the last two years because of the pandemic, applicants who were selected to pitch their products to Walmart buyers this year could do so either in person or by video. The in-person event, previously held in Walmart's headquarters, took place this year in the David Glass Technology Center.

Those leaving with a golden ticket -- a yellow placard marked with the Walmart "spark" logo -- included Brian O'Dell with Practical Product Solutions and the company's president, George Zalucki.

O'Dell said he worked in Northwest Arkansas for 18 years on the supplier side for several large companies. He moved to Montana about 18 months ago when his wife found her "dream job" there.

Around that time, O'Dell made a video on how to get products into Walmart. Zalucki saw it and got in touch, O'Dell said, and they've been talking ever since.

Zalucki, who lives in Florida, describes himself as a retired firefighter turned inventor and entrepreneur. He said O'Dell has a great background in merchandising.

"I'm just eye candy," O'Dell quipped.

The product they pitched Wednesday is called the Hinge Hero. The yellow plastic device fits over door hinges and keeps lubricant sprayed on them from getting onto paint or dripping down walls and doors.

The Hinge Hero has been sold online since 2020, Zalucki said, and he wanted to get it into stores.

Zalucki previously had the Hinge Hero manufactured in China, but decided about a year ago to move production to the United States.

Doing so qualified the product for Open Call, which was created to support products made, grown or assembled within the U.S. border. When the application period opened up, Zalucki jumped on it.

"He called me up and said, 'Guess what, buddy, we're going to Bentonville,'" O'Dell said.

"We had a great meeting with amazing buyers, really engaged, really thoughtful conversation," he said. "At the end of the conversation, it was like, hey, let's get you guys into some stores, and they gave us a golden ticket. Now the real work starts."

The merchants will contact them, they said, and the next step will likely be further discussions about specifics such as building out a timeline and workflow.

Other golden ticket recipients included Jeremy Sanchez and Lea Johnson representing a product called NeckSip, a clear pouch that users can hang around their necks on beads or a lanyard and fill with their favorite beverage. The bag has a small hole for inserting a straw.

The Philadelphia residents said seven or eight buyers representing different categories attended their pitch meeting. All were fascinated by the product, Johnson said -- opening it, wearing it, even sniffing it, she said.

Of the four designs they brought with them, Johnson and Sanchez said the merchants immediately want to put the Mardi Gras-themed bag into at least 100 stores in Louisiana and neighboring states.

More than 1,500 meetings with Walmart buyers were scheduled for the day, a Walmart spokesman said. The company did not immediately have figures available for how many of those took place in person or virtually, or were canceled for various reasons.

Walmart will have those numbers later, the spokesman said, as well as how many of the more than 1,100 applicants were offered deals with the retailer.

Open Call was first held in 2014, after Walmart's commitment the previous year to invest $250 billion over 20 years in products made or sourced in the U.S.

Walmart increased that commitment in March 2021, pledging to spend another $350 billion over the next 10 years on U.S.-made or sourced products.

The company has estimated that the funds will create more than 750,000 jobs.

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