Four Propellers

On this day in 1878, Frank Winfield Woolworth opened his “Woolworth’s Great Five Cent Store” in Utica, New York. Although the first few weeks looked promising, the store failed in its first year. A friend suggested he might have better success in a new location, so Woolworth pulled down the sign from his Utica store and set it up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The “five and dime” store quickly became an American icon. It’s hard to imagine a 20th century town – large or small – without one. Most of them disappeared at the beginning of this century. There was a Woolworth’s in operation in Harrogate, North Yorkshire early in 2009, but by Easter it, too had vanished. I’m told you can still shop at Woolworth’s in Germany, Austria and Mexico. Or you can visit the store’s successor right here. You see, Wooworth’s didn’t go bankrupt. It switched to sporting goods and changed its name to Foot Locker.