"Changing the American Landscape, Eighty Seven Acres at a Time"

Walton Bernie Biography Page

Walton Bernie was born in Tupelo, Mississippi on April 1, 1949. He was the only child in a family of six. His father was a blues singer, making a meager living traveling the Canadian wilderness, singing at parties and weddings. His mother died just ten months before Walton was born, and this event more than any other helped mold the man who would go on to found America's largest retailer.

With a father who was always out of the country, and a mother who died before he was born, little Walton had to become independent almost from the day he was born. He watered down his formula bottles, and then sold it to other children in the neighborhood. He saved the contents of his diapers, selling it as manure to local farmers and government officials.

The death of his mother instilled in Walton a great fear of disease and infection. As a child, he refused to play outside for fear of getting dirty. He washed his hands several times an hour, going through bars of soap by the case. In interviews, he has mentioned that this mass consumption of hygiene products probably influenced his later decision to feature these same products in case and pallet quantities in his Big Box stores.

Walton dropped out of school at the age of fifteen... he later would say "Everything I learned, I read on the back of a dollar bill." He went to work at a local Sears, but after several months he quit. "I wasted so much time helping customers, answering questions, talking... time I could have spent making more money." He started a home business, mailing out letters to friends describing his method to "Make Money Fast!" Soon, he was receiving several thousand dollars a week. He decided to move his business north, as local postal authorities had begun to question him about his fund raising letters. With the money he earned from his letter writing campaign, he bought ten acres in Eastchester, NY, and on April 1, 1971, the first Big Box store opened its' gates.

Walton met his wife, Winifred, while she was shopping the aisles of his Eastchester store. She was looking for disinfectant products in 55 gallon drums, and immediately Walton knew he had found the woman of his dreams. They were married on April 1, 1974 in a private ceremony at the Bernie Compound in East Hampton, NY. Walton and Winifred divide their time between the Bernie Compound and the Bernie HealthDome in Eastchester, NY.

Winifred Bernie

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