F.W. Woolworth Company

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F. W. Woolworth

F.W. Woolworth was among the first five-and-ten-cent stores, which sold discounted general merchandise at fixed prices, usually five or ten cents, undercutting the prices of local merchants. It was also the first store to put merchandise out for the shopping public to handle, select, and purchase. In earlier shops, customers presented the clerk with a list of items to purchase which were all kept behind the counter. The stores eventually incorporated lunch counters and served as general gathering places, a precursor to the modern shopping mall food court.

Related Topics:
Five-and-ten-cent store - Fixed prices - Food court

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The concept was widely copied, and five-and-ten-cent stores (also sometimes called five-and-dime stores) were a fixture in downtowns in America for the first half of the 20th century, and they anchored suburban strip malls in middle part of the 20th century. The criticisms that the five-and-dime stores drove local merchants out of business would repeat themselves a century later, when discount stores became popular.

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In the 1960s, the five-and-dime concept evolved into the larger discount store. In 1962, the same year as competitors Kmart (whose Kresge stores competed with the F.W. Woolworth five-and-ten stores), Target, and Wal-Mart, Woolworth founded a discount chain called Woolco. The Woolco chain closed in the United States in 1982. It was more successful in Canada, surviving until 1994, when the remaining 144 stores were sold to Wal-Mart.

Related Topics:
1960s - 1962 - Kmart - Target - Wal-Mart - Woolco - 1982 - 1994

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The company also operated a number of other retail chains, most notably Kinney Shoe, Northern Reflections apparel shops, one of which led to the company's change in focus when it started in 1974.

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