Stacy Conradt
The Quick 10: Woolworth’s Five and Dime
by Stacy Conradt - July 16, 2009 - 3:28 PM

q10

On July 17, 1997, Woolworth’s closed their doors for good. Not that there were many doors to close – the company had been slowly selling off pieces of the company and shutting down individual stores for more than a decade. To commemorate the ex-giant, here are a few facts about the company that used to be the biggest department store chain in the world.

FW1. The first Woolworth’s – everything cost a nickel – was a complete and utter failure. It opened in Utica, New York, in 1878, and was closed within a year; some reports say it was so disastrous it failed within weeks. F.W. (pictured) tried a second store, this one in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He added 10 cent items to the list of goods sold and the higher-priced items allowed him to successfully operate the store.
2. There was a little friendly competition in the family – F.W. Woolworth’s cousin, Seymour Knox, ran a similar chain of stores called S.H. Knox and Co.’s 5 & 10 Cent Stores. Knox had more than 100 stores in the U.S. and Canada before agreeing to merge with his cousin in 1911.

NEWYORKbuilding3. The now-iconic Woolworth Building in New York City was finished in 1913 and at 792 feet, it was the tallest building in the world (until 1930). It cost $13.5 million to build, and supposedly Woolworth paid for the whole thing in cash. It’s now only the 15th tallest building in New York.
4. Seafoam salad was popularized at the Woolworth’s lunch counter. It sounds absolutely disgusting to me, but maybe you guys like it: it’s lime Jell-O, cream cheese, pears, maraschino cherries and whipped cream. You can also make it with orange Jell-O, if you prefer, or substitute pineapple for pears and add mayo and nuts. Ugh. The only way you could make it worse for me is by adding coconut flakes to the mix.
5. Although the Woolworth stores have closed, the Woolworth Company remains – it’s just called something different now. You’re probably familiar with it – it’s Foot Locker, Inc. In the ‘70s and ‘80s, the company bought or created a bunch of specialty stores to boost sales and expand the business, from Champs Sports to Northern Reflections to a timepiece store called Best of Times. This included Foot Locker. When it became clear in 2001 that Foot Locker was its best-selling brand, Woolworth changed their name from Venator (which it had adopted upon closing all of its five-and-dime stores) to Foot Locker, Inc.

lunchcounter6. The Woolworth lunch counters were home to some of the most famous civil rights protests during the 1960s. On February 1, 1960, four students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University sat down at some stools reserved for whites only at the Greensboro Woolworth’s lunch counter. They were refused service, so they refused to leave. More people joined them every day, and eventually the owner closed the store for a few weeks because of a bomb threat. That very lunch counter desegregated a few months later on July 26, 1960. A section of the lunch counter, which closed when the store closed in 1993, now resides at the Smithsonian Museum of American History. An International Civil Rights Center and Museum is planned for the spot in Greensboro where the vacated building stands.

7. In 1979, The Guinness Book of World Records declared that Woolworths was the largest department store chain the world.

8. The Woolworth building in New York has been a pretty popular spot for movies and television shows. It can be spotted in Enchanted as the building that Narissa scales with Robert in her clutches, it’s one of the buildings that is destroyed by the Cloverfield monster, and it’s the headquarters for Mode magazine in Ugly Betty, among others.

RF529. Barbara Hutton, Frank Winfield Woolworth’s granddaughter, was sort of the Paris Hilton of her day – a socialite who was famous just because of her family. But there was a lot going on behind the money. Her mother, Woolworth’s daughter Edna, committed suicide when Barbara was just six. Barbara was shuttled around to various family members after that. She inherited $50 million on her 21st birthday and then went through a string of husbands, including abusive ones, freeloaders and Cary Grant (who did not ask for a penny when they divorced, by the way). Her only son died in a plane crash in 1972 and it’s said that she kind of lost it after that; by the time she died seven years later, it’s rumored that she had dwindled away all but $4,000 of her fortune.
10. Brits might be familiar with a Woolworths that is still in operation today; that company used to be owned by the same company as the U.S. Woolworths. Since 1982, it has been operating as its own entity, however, and stayed alive even when the ones in the States closed. That has since changed, though – the company announced last year that it would be closing and shuttered its last windows on January 6 of this year.

Do any of you remember going to Woolworth’s? I’d love to hear your experiences, so share in the comments if you have any!

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Comments (42)

  1. Of course we went to Woolworth’s! I so wanted to eat at the lunch counter but we didn’t eat out back in the day. Once, when I was the only child along on a shopping trip (I was probably about 10) I convinced my mom to eat at the lunch counter. We got grilled cheese. Yech! It was so hard that you could barely eat it. Now I know why my mom didn’t want to eat there! But she was a sport!

    posted by Hyacinth on 7-16-2009 at 3:55 pm

  2. i enjoy myself a good Green Salad. sour cream, chopped nuts, cool whip, and a can of pineapple mixed in with lime jello chilled and served.

    posted by Steven on 7-16-2009 at 4:02 pm

  3. I’m too young to have ever visited a Woolworth’s sounds like, but your description of seafoam salad rings a bell! I remember trying that once when I was very young, it was probably still the 80′s or very early 90′s. I don’t remember the circumstances, but I bet you it was whipped up by my grandma or a great-aunt because I haven’t seen it since.

    posted by Lynnie on 7-16-2009 at 4:06 pm

  4. I remember a Woolworth’s in Bad Godesberg, Germany (about 15 miles from Bonn) that I came across in 2000. I was amazed — didn’t know they existed anymore. I was studying there for a month, so got lots of \essentials\ at good prices.

    So why did Woolworth’s collapse? It must be quite a story to go from the largest department store chain in the world,in 1979, to closing up all their stores just 18 years later.

    posted by Rachel on 7-16-2009 at 4:07 pm

  5. Yep, been to Woolworth’s as a youngster, shopping with my mother and buying cheap toys. It was a store. Big deal. So what?

    posted by Bubba on 7-16-2009 at 4:10 pm

  6. I was in South Africa recently and Woolworth’s is the high-end grocery story – comparable to a Balducci’s in the US. I had a hard time thinking of Woolie’s as anything but the store where I bought my mini-backpack in 1994.

    posted by Nora on 7-16-2009 at 4:10 pm

  7. There is/was (I haven’t been since 2003) a Woolworth’s in the Thistle Marches Shopping Mall in Stirling, Scotland. I remember it, if for no other reason than it was the first one I had ever seen.

    Living and growing up in Baltimore we just never had them.

    posted by Jon on 7-16-2009 at 4:16 pm

  8. I loved Woolworth’s. Never got to eat at the counter, not in the family budget. I always hung around the candy counter. It was the only place I knew that had candy sold that way, not pre-packaged candy bars but real stuff! And fresh popcorn. Rarely got any of that either unless a grandparent was along!

    posted by Newcastle, CA on 7-16-2009 at 4:35 pm

  9. I have very fond (and early!) memories of the Woolworth’s in Binghamton, NY. When I was in preschool at 3 and 4, my grandpa would sometimes pick me up from school and take me out for a treat. Sometimes we’d go to Woolworth’s. About all I remember is sitting at the lunch counter and drinking hot chocolate, but that’s still a pretty good memory. :o) Thanks for the info–made me nostalgic, and I know my grandpa would’ve appreciated it!

    posted by Lindseydl on 7-16-2009 at 4:53 pm

  10. If it wasn’t for Woolworth’s I wouldn’t be here today!

    The Woolworths in Cerritos, CA had a restaurant inside called the Harvest House. My aunt starting working there and got my mom a job as a waitress and my dad worked as a cook. They have been happily married for 29 years!

    posted by Alicia on 7-16-2009 at 4:54 pm

  11. thanks you for posting this ! my very first job was at Woolworth’s in Philly, PA. back in 1986

    posted by Scott T. on 7-16-2009 at 5:45 pm

  12. I did not know that Woolworth’s & Foot Locker were the same company. I suppose that explains why that was the first store to open in the old Woolworth’s on Alamo Plaza when it closed. It’s some blasted tourist trap now; I get depressed every time I go past there.

    I spent a lot of time & money at that store as a child. It’s where I bought the book from which I taught myself how to crochet, definitely a formative experience in my life! It was a wonderful store, two storeys, and the tourists almost never went to the bottom (below street-level) store. The lunch counter was long gone by the time I came around though.

    posted by Sabra on 7-16-2009 at 6:23 pm

  13. Woolworth’s was THE best store to shoplift. I started my nail polish collection there and got a pair (purchased!) of awesome bright yellow knee socks that I sorely miss. Best store ever. Totally disorganized, crazy layout, disinterested staff.

    I’m probably part of the reason they ended up closing. Sorry, y’all.

    posted by A.nony.mouse on 7-16-2009 at 6:55 pm

  14. Sea foam salad sounds like Ambrosia… Gross… Well Ambrosia with jello…

    Even more gross.

    posted by Chrystani on 7-16-2009 at 8:01 pm

  15. I live in a tiny town in Mexico and there’s a Woolworth’s down there. I had always figured it was some random leftover from the American chain, it never occurred to me that it could be from England. That’s pretty awesome. I don’t go in there much though, the selection is pretty wimpy. Mostly clothes.

    posted by identity_crisis on 7-16-2009 at 8:24 pm

  16. I used to go to the Woolworth’s that was near my house when I was a kid, if I had enough money, I’d go to the lunch counter, I only remember ordering breaded shrimp. I used to wander the store and watch people shoplift.

    They had huge open displays with bunches of inexpensive things, and a big huge candy counter in the middle of the store.

    This was in San Jose, California.

    posted by Dianne on 7-16-2009 at 8:55 pm

  17. WOOLWORTHS is one of the largest Supermarket Chains in Australia (Coles being the other). They are both hugely successful and have recently branched out into Petrol Stations as well.

    posted by Jason on 7-16-2009 at 9:13 pm

  18. I worked at a corner department store on the courthouse square in high school. There was a Woolworths on the other corner. On my lunch break, I would go to the Woolworths lunch counter and have a tuna melt sandwich and pineapple shake, and then play a few rounds of Tempest.

    posted by Stevan on 7-16-2009 at 9:19 pm

  19. Woolworth’s was the first place I was allowed to walk to on my own. I was nine, and I walked from the church to the store, about three blocks. I felt so grown-up!

    I have never had yummier popcorn than I got at Woolworth’s back when they had that awesome candy counter. We got all our gerbils there. I adored the lunch counter. Later on, when I really was more grown-up, I bought all my supplies and things there (needle and thread, stationery, etc.). Everyone I know still misses Woolworth’s. No other store feels right for getting those things.

    posted by Gus on 7-17-2009 at 12:01 am

  20. My husband’s first job was at a Woolworth’s. He was a janitor and worked there through high school and two years of college.

    On one of our first dates he took me to Woolworth’s and we ate cheesecake at the lunch counter and he introduced me to all his co-workers.

    posted by Shannon on 7-17-2009 at 2:37 am

  21. I grew up in Germany and they had one in the local mall. I never even knew they were in trouble until I read this post.

    posted by Travis on 7-17-2009 at 3:28 am

  22. Woolworths the most succesful largest supermarket chain in Australia, also owns a department store (BIG W), liquor stores, petrol stations, and owns Tandy/Radio Shack Australia (having bought Radio shacks competitor Dick Smith Electronics years ago)

    The Australian “Woolies” as its commonly called, is fully Australian owned company and not in any way associated with the American Company of same name.

    I wonder how it got its name?

    posted by Jem on 7-17-2009 at 4:54 am

  23. In my eariy teens, during the Forties, I would go to the store in Louisville, KY. I went mainly to listen to the piano music played at the sheet music counter.

    posted by Stephen on 7-17-2009 at 6:50 am

  24. My mother makes that nauseating seafoam salad, with the lime jello, pineapple, cream cheese, mayo and nuts. It disgusts me. A few years ago, my cousin flew in from the midwest for a family gathering, ran up to the buffet and shouted, Auntie’s lime jello salad, Hooray. We never did have much in common.

    posted by BBB on 7-17-2009 at 7:21 am

  25. We had a 2-story Woolworth’s in my hometown, during the 60s and 70s, complete with lunch counter (they sold parakeets and goldfish in the back, too). They had a game at the lunch counter: You paid a certain amount (probably 25 cents) and got to pop a balloon. Inside the balloon was a piece of paper that would indicate a discount on a banana split. I won a free banana split that way!

    posted by Will on 7-17-2009 at 7:25 am

  26. I remember going to Woolworth’s as a young child back in the late 60′s. At the time RC Cola had a promotion going on that under the cork of the bottlecap (yes, CORK and BOTTLECAP) you might find 5¢ or 10¢ that you could cash in at places like Woolworth’s. I (as the baby in the family) would always get the winning bottlecaps to spend at Woolworth’s. Fond memories!

    posted by Gordon Daily on 7-17-2009 at 9:21 am

  27. Since I grew up in Utica, NY, Woolworth’s was a regular stop in my mother’s weekly shopping trips. Loved looking at the toys, and Seafoam Salad was a staple in out household.

    posted by Dave on 7-17-2009 at 9:25 am

  28. We used to visit Woolworth’s often when I was little. I can still conjure the memmory of the musty odors and the squeaky wooden floor. My older sister took me to the lunch counter one day and treated me to what was to become my (still to this day) favorite meal of a cheeseburger, fries and a chocolate malt. I never had their seafoam salad, but it sounds like something I have encountered at various family gatherings. Lots of memories! Christmas shopping, with my very own money: a tiny Nativity scene for my aunt and uncle (25 cents), a cobalt-blue bottle of Evening in Paris cologne for my mom (a whole dollar!), and a glittering, snowball-shaped candle for my sister – and there was enough left over to buy myself a toy! Good times, good times…

    posted by Mama9cats on 7-17-2009 at 10:21 am

  29. Yup Woolworth’s was a regular shopping spot for us. My mother, brother and I spent many a Saturday afternoon perusing the aisles. Our local one was small with no lunch counter. But it had a small pet area with fish, gerbils, and parakeets. I spent most of my time in the store staring at the animals and wanting to bring them all home.

    posted by awessendorf on 7-17-2009 at 10:31 am

  30. I had the pleasure and honor working for Woolworth’s under the Footlocker banner. I was a store manager in Texas in the 90′s. What a great job! Kinney was the parent company of Footlocker. When Kinney celebrated it’s 100 year anniversary in ’93(?) the company shipped EVERY division manager to DisneyWorld! The celebration cost millions, reportedly. Soon after a stock scandal emerged within corporate headquarters in NYC. Corporate crooks over stated the stock value and all billy-hell broke loose! Stock values dropped from $60(?) to a lousy five bucks. The company was disgraced and dismantled. Vendors like Reebok and Nike almost stopped shipping product! One investigator stated upon witnessing procedure in NY that many people were duplicating the same procedures. “It’s a god***n men’s club up there” he reportedly remarked. The last store I was assigned was an old Woolworth’s in Dallas transformed into a World Footlocker. I made some lifelong friends with that company and learned a lot about business…

    posted by PT on 7-17-2009 at 10:32 am

  31. Ah the Seafoam Salad is a favorite at holidays with my family. AND YES it is grotesque. It comes out to a mint green color and is gelatinous but not as firm as jello…more like a jelly + whipped cream consistancy.

    And I’m pretty sure my mom adds coconut flakes to it too.

    posted by Ashley on 7-17-2009 at 11:34 am

  32. On an academic trip to Mexico in 2003 I was fined $80 by the airline because my lone bag was oversized (not weight, but dimensions). Rather than pay another $80 for the return trip, I gave that bag away to a lady I met and then found a Woolworth in the city of Puebla, Mexico. For $59 I bought a 3 piece set of rolling luggage that I still use today. I was happy to find that Woolworths.

    By the way, what’s the difference between Woolworth’s and Woolco?

    posted by Tex on 7-17-2009 at 11:37 am

  33. “By the way, what’s the difference between Woolworth’s and Woolco?”

    I think that Woolco is(was) the Canadian arm of Woolworth’s. We never had an actual Woolworth’s store where I’m from (Calgary) but we did have Woolco. For some reason I remember as a kid seeing Woolworth’s tags on merchandise in Woolco.
    Woolco closed down here about 15 years ago or so (could be longer). Right around the time that Walmart opened up.

    posted by Muerte Del Toro on 7-17-2009 at 1:47 pm

  34. I grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, where one of the last Woolworth’s to close was on 5th Avenue, downtown. It was a 2 story with a lunch counter. My mom and grandmother and I would go downtown to “play tourist”. We would find all the cheap stuff in the basement and have lunch. The food was terrible but it was always fun.

    posted by Cindy on 7-17-2009 at 6:16 pm

  35. I’m 27, grew up in Delaware, and have very fond memories of Woolworth’s. It’s where I got my first hamster. I loved Halloween when they would put out the boxed plastic costumes.

    posted by Shannon O'Connell on 7-21-2009 at 10:46 pm

  36. I remember frequently going to Woolworths in the Boulevard Mall in Las Vegas, Nevada. My mother bought me my first backpack there. It was SO cheaply made – blue plastic with pink hearts everywhere and pink zippers – but it was one of my favorite things in the world. My friend and I went there once to buy nail polish and I’ll never forget the quality of that stuff. We ended up getting it all over our hands and even industrial strength nail polish remover wouldn’t deteriorate the polish!
    As a little kid I loved browsing that place – they seemed to have everything under the sun!

    posted by pinkler on 8-29-2009 at 3:02 pm

  37. It didn’t get any better then having a rootbeeer float at the lunch counter followed by hours of entertainment in the pet department

    posted by anne on 10-30-2009 at 11:17 pm

  38. I have fond memories of going to the local Woolco (the Canadian extention of Woolworths–I think) as a child with my mom. We never had a lunch counter or anything like thst at our Woolco, it wasn’t small, but I guess it wasn’t quite big enough for a lunch counter.

    And every now again, we would cross the border and go to the Woolworths in Bellingham (I think that’s what the city is called) WA.

    I remember I was in the 12 grade riding hoe after my convocation ceremony when I saw that the Woolco sign had been replaced with Wal-Mart.

    posted by Nividita Kapoor on 1-6-2010 at 4:06 am

  39. I remember going to the Woolworth store in Temple, Texas as a child. I too remember the candy stand selling rootbeer barrell candy, and lemon drops by the pound made with pure cane sugar. I liked to go to the lunch counter and sit and spin around on the stools. As a young teenager i loved the record department and perfume isle. Oh Blue Waltz perfume. We drank coke at the lunch counter. Blue Waltz is still my favorite perfume. It can still be bought at a store in Fredericksberg, Texas. (not a Woolworth store). And oh the smell of the inside of the Woolworth store. Brings back so many wonderful memories.

    posted by Janet on 1-18-2010 at 12:31 am

  40. What fond memories I have of Woolworth’s! My first job in Lexington, KY in the late 50′s, first in toy’s, then promoted to the candy dept which I loved.

    posted by Wilma on 10-31-2010 at 8:44 pm

  41. Hi, i’m from Mexico city, and i work for Woolworth, not Woolworths, the owners bought the chain in 1992,and they just keep the name and identity. Mexico’s Woolworth don’t have anything to do with the woolworths stores in the rest of the world. =)

    posted by Yuna on 11-21-2010 at 12:48 am

  42. Worked at Woolworth’s in high school and college, was a cook…learned a lot of great recipes and still make them today for my family :)….even the beloved fluffy cheesecake …. and the great soups. Miss those days. We used to be so busy, (my mom was the lunch counter manger) we had people standing in line to get in on weekends and during holidays. I have nightmares still about trying to make hundreds turkey clubs and can’t keep caught up … lol. And all the hot dinners we used to make, Chicken fried steak on Tuesdays, Fish dinner with mac and cheese on Fridays, Salisbury steak with mashed potatoes and veggies, hot beef or hot turkey sandwich … yummy miss those days. And geez did I make a ton of shakes, lime freezes, ice cream sodas, root beer floats and banana splits. Nothing like that now to take your kids to with a fish department, candy counter, jewelry counter, music department and good ole sit down lunch counter …. our kids and grandkids are missing out.

    posted by Denise Heilbrun on 5-7-2011 at 11:06 am

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