Woolworths: the Original Five and Dime

The old building still sits in the middle of town. It has been used as a Church, a Plumbing store, an antique store, and just vacant. But before any of those it was a Five and Dime store called Woolworth's.

As a boy, you could always buy a ton of candy for a quarter. They would even collect soda bottles and give you 2 cents a bottle on return. Most times though the money never left the store. Having so much cash to deposit on items before we left, made us feel like we had gotten a bargain.

The Woolworth's store was either the longest or widest on the block. It had to be because they had so much to display. They would always place things that appealed to children in the front window or up on a shelf that encircled the top of the entire store. They always had Red Wagons and Bicycles and Tricycles on display. Needless to say those items didn't cost five or ten cents. However, they did have small toys for those prices.

As a child ,I didn't remember a lot of the adult items. But, I am sure that they had everything an adult could want. They also had items for little girls, too. They had rings, necklaces, earrings, barrette, combs, mirrors, and many different types of ribbons for their hair. Housewives could get hangers, irons, pots and pans, cooking items, threads of all types, needles, yarn, and personal items. The list goes on and on.

Woolworth's first started in 1878 by Frank Woolworth. He opened his first store on a loan of $300. Over the next 100 years it became one of the largest retail chains in the world. In 1980 though, things started to go the other way. Competition from the likes of Walmart,Venture, Kmart, and Target took its toll. In 1997 it converted itself to a sports market. It became known as Foot Locker.

Still some parts of the old chain has managed to survive in other countries. The United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Mexico, and South Africa still maintain stores. The Woolworth supermarkets in New Zealand and Australia have no association with the old type of five and dime stores. They just share the same name.

Woolworth made it big because they had fixed prices. The prices hardly ever changed. People knew what the item would always cost so they could budget accordingly.

The Woolworth building in New York was paid for with cash in 1911. At that time it was also the largest building in the world. It stayed that way until 1930. It also served as the companies headquarters.

In the early 1900's they added a food counter with stools. It was similar to the modern day food court at most malls. It was not unusual to find many workers sharing their lunches at Woolworth's. The lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina became one of the biggest settings for a Civil Rights event. On Feb.1,1960 four African-Americans staged a sit-in at a segregated lunch counter. The sit-in went on for six months. In 1993, that same counter was donated to the Smithsonian Institute. The sit-ins had nothing to do with Woolworth's but, they did with the laws of the town at the time.

Some of Norman Rockwell's paintings featured pictures involving a Woolworth store. For many years, Woolworth's was a part of Americana. Like many other parts of American culture, Woolworth's had it's place and time in our history.