Relocating / Retiring to Bentonville/Rogers area - need advice (Marshall: co-op, neighborhood)

[BeckalaB]

My hubby is considering retiring, and I may either join him or work part-time. We're both in our mid 40s and have healthy nest eggs, which we don't plan on tapping till our mid 50s. His old college roommate lives in Bentonville, and has 3 kids (like us). We recently visited and were pleasantly surprised by the low cost of living and access to outdoor venues and activities. We're both New Yorkers (Brooklyn, Queens) and currently reside in the Town of Ramapo in Rockland County (suburbs). We like the diversity of our current Airmont neighborhood, but would like to stop working. There seem to be enough leisure activities to keep us busy, but we're not too sure about the diversity. It seems that folks in the NWA area shy away from recommending the Hispanic and Marshallese section of Rogers area, so I want to hear from folks who actually live there. My kids go to public school in East Ramapo, which has a much undeserved bad rep, so I'm always suspicious of high minority areas where most of the hype is based on unwarranted racial anxiety. I'm also big on organic and co-op stores, so I'd like to know the areas where they have such stores. Last - I'm not a Wal-Mart shopper, and don't plan to patronize them ever, so their presence is more a downer for me, but I understand they practically own the area. I am glad they at least provide or subsidize a good deal of the community activities - Crystal Bridges museum, parks - I just wish their human resources / rights policy were more solid.