Nathan P. Morton

Who was Nathan P. Morton?

Nathan P. Morton is best known as a pioneer of the "big box" retail method.

Born in Washington, DC, he grew up near Chicago, Illinois and attended the State University of New York at Buffalo, graduating in 1970. His career in retail began with Two Guys, and later moved to Target, where he was instrumental in that chain's expansion to the West Coast.

He became Executive VP of Operations with The Home Depot, expanding its stores across the nation and is listed in "The Book" about Home Depo's founding and meteoric expansion. He was later recruited to join Soft Warehouse Inc. as its chief operating officer, CEO in 1988, oversaw changing the company's name to CompUSA and taking it public in 1991. He resigned as the company's Chairman and CEO in December 1993.

At the time of his death from pneumonia in Frisco, Texas, he was chairman and CEO of Central Lighting Co.based in Irvine, CA, Chairman of the Board of American Homestar Corp. in Houston, Texas and Chairman of the Board of Starpower Home Entertainment Stores of Dallas, TX. He is survived by his widow Patti Morton and four sons, Jason, Ryan, Logan, and Chase, stepdaughter, Amy Richardson and step-grandson, Grant Richardson. Big-box store is a term of art in the retail trade that refers to a style of retail store, and by extension to the company behind the store. The terms superstore, megastore, and supercenter also refer to these retail establishments.