In its heyday, Woolworth stores paved main street America and were the Wal-Mart of its time.
In recent months you probably have heard the news reports that discount chain stores such as Dollar General Store, Dollar Tree, Wal-Mart, and Big Lots have seen a surge in sales due to the fragile American economy. Wal-Mart, of course, is the biggest chain store in the country that famously toots its own horn on "low prices." But did you know that the concept of low prices started with a man named Frank Winfield Woolworth toward the last quarter of the 19th century? He was 26 years old at the time!
On this day in 1879, Frank Woolworth - with a $300 investment - opens "the Great Five Cent Store" in Utica, New York. It was the forerunner of Woolworth's hugely successful five-and-dime chain store that eventually dotted the globe. The Utica store, his first, closed after a few weeks of daily receipts as low as $2.50! However, a second store he opened in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, became a success. Frank Woolworth brought his brother Charles Sumner Woolworth into the business, and together they opened more stores, often in partnership with other business associates. The Woolworth brothers also entered into partnerships with “friendly rivals” to maximize inventory purchasing power for both parties.
By the middle of the 20th century, the Woolworth's concept was widely copied (think Kmart, Target, and Wal-Mart), and five-and-ten-cent stores (also known as five-and-dime stores) were a fixture in American downtowns through the 1960s, and became anchors for strip malls by the mid-1970s. At Woolworth's 100th anniversary in 1979, it was the largest department store chain store in the world.
Woolworth's power and decline started in the late 1980s and on July 17, 1997, the chain store closed its remaining department stores in the U.S. and changed its corporate name to Venator. By 2001, the company focused exclusively on the sporting goods market, changing its name to the present Foot Locker that is a fixture at many malls and shopping centers everywhere.
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