Remembering Woolworth’s?

 A brief history of the F. W. Woolworth Company

Trading name

Woolworth’s or Woolworth & Co

Former type

Publicly traded

Traded as

Publicly traded, NYSE: Z, 1912-1997

Industry

Retail

Fate

Department stores closed. Name changed in 1997 to Venator Group, and in 2001 to Foot Locker

Successor

Foot Locker

Founded

February 22, 1878

Utica, New York, United States

Founder

Frank Winfield Woolworth (President)

Defunct

July 1997 (said division only)

Headquarters

Woolworth Building, New York City, New York, United States

Key people

F.W. Woolworth (Founder/CEO)

Charles Woolworth (Chairman)

Products

Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, consumer electronics and housewares

Owner

Independent

Parent

Woolworth Corporation, LLC.

Subsidiaries

Woolworths Group

F. W. Woolworth Ireland

Woolworth Canada

Woolworth GmbH

Woolworth Mexicana

Kinney Shoe Company

Woolco

Woolworth Athletic Group

Richman Brothers

Website

www.footlocker-inc.com

The F. W. Woolworth Company (often referred to as Woolworth’s or Woolworth) was a retail company and one of the original pioneers of the five-and-dime store. It was arguably the most successful American and international five-and-dime business, setting trends and creating the modern retail model that stores follow worldwide today.

Frank Winfield Woolworth opened the first Woolworth store on February 22, 1878, as “Woolworth’s Great Five Cent Store” in Utica, New York. Though it initially appeared to be successful, the store soon failed. When Woolworth searched for a new location, a friend suggested Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Using the sign from the Utica store, Woolworth opened his first successful “Woolworth’s Great Five Cent Store” on July 18, 1879, in Lancaster. He brought his brother, Charles Sumner Woolworth, into the business.

The two Woolworth brothers pioneered and developed merchandising, direct purchasing, sales, and customer service practices commonly used today. Despite its growing to be one of the largest retail chains in the world through most of the 20th century, increased competition led to its decline beginning in the 1980s, while its sporting goods division grew. The chain went out of business in July 1997, when the company decided to focus primarily on sporting goods and renamed itself Venator Group. By 2001, the company focused exclusively on the sporting goods market, changing its name to the present Foot Locker, Inc., changing its ticker symbol from its familiar Z in 2003 to its present ticker (NYSE: FL).

Now I’m a sucker for a good bargain, the same as you, but this store used to bug me for various reasons we will now explore.

Growing up in the 50’s, the “5&Dime” that were the offshoot of the general store were fading to the expansion of strip malls and department stores. There was a ‘5&Dime’ a few blocks from me (where http://stellasrichmond.com is now) across the street from the Lafayette Grocery and Pharmacy. When we would require another can of Chicken Noodle soup or a steak that wasn’t brought home from the club, we’d stop into the grocery and after reading all the comics at the pharmacy I’d be rewarded with a tin whistle on a ring or a pack of baseball cards with a sheet of bubblegum inside.

Most of the stuff in there was junk, but it was cheap, thus the ‘5&Dime’ name.

Downtown, where the ‘real’ shopping was, there was a Woolworth’s (and also a Murphy’s similar but the same). G.C. Murphy was a chain of five and dime or variety stores in the United States from 1906 into the 1990s. By 1976, the G.C. Murphy Company had grown to 529 stores.

In April 1985, the company was acquired by Ames Department Stores Inc. Ames rebranded many of the larger “Murphy’s Mart” stores. In 1989, Ames decided to sell the variety stores (while retaining the former Murphy's Mart), and sold the division to the McCrory’s chain. McCrory’s rebranded some and closed others. The McCrory’s chain filed for bankruptcy in 1992, closed many of their stores (including former G.C. Murphy’s outlets) in 1997, and ceased its remaining operations in 2002.

These stores would be passed by for my white-gloved mom would only shop at Miller & Rhoades or Thalhimer’s. Even the Woolworth’s and Murphy’s out at the mall were avoided due to the quality of items even with the reduced cost.

In college, where money was scarce, these ‘discount’ centers were a blessing for kitchen items and even linen. None of it lasted very long but it was cheap. Even the lunch counter’s sandwiches weren’t very good. I don’t know why they wanted to sit-in there?

My wife loved these stores. I still have things in the back of the kitchen drawers that came from times of ‘2for1’ bargains. The big box stores took over and these bargain basement ‘5&Dimes’ disappeared.

So it seems the move from brick and mortar establishments displaying items to try on and test out, to touch, feel, smell and have a customer service representative persuade in a purchase are long becoming the past.

I walked by those stores every day for over three decades. I watched the exterior crumble and the interior fade away. Like the rest of the downtown retail, it has all disappeared, but it will be remembered.