Companies that vanished: Woolworth's, the granddaddy of the five-and-dimes

Don't feel too bad, not only did they buy the retail stores mentioned but they also still own many of the high priced properties that the stores used to be in. Real Estate has become their biggest game now. Renting the spaces that they bought in the early 1900's, prime spots, has become their biggest cash cow. I worked construction for the remodels of the champs and foot lockers over the last 8 years and have picked up info about this.

I remember shopping at Woolworth in the 1970's in Miami and Hollywood, FL. The lunch counter was the greatest! after shopping you could enjoy a real hamburger, fries and a coke in the actual coke glass. Those were the good old days!

We still have woolies in the u.k. Every saturday mum would take us to woolworth so we could spend our pocket money. I used to love the sound of the wood floors and the smell of fresh peanuts!

When I was a girl in the late 50's and into the 60's my little brother and I would walk downtown on Saturdays and go to Woolworths , W.T. Grants, Kresges 5 and 10 cent store, Cussins and Ferns, Moores, Sears Roebucks, and many more smaller but, just as important stores in Newark, Ohio. Our downtown is trying to make a come back but, it will never be the same as it was back then. Great, great memories. Good products (made in the good old USA) and great, fresh food prepared on the spot.

A WALK DOWN MEMORY LANE.......SUNDAES, SODAS, NICE PEOPLE, PLASTIC CURTAINS, MY FIRST LIPSTICK, PANCAKE MAKEUP, RECORDS, BIKES, SHEETS, TOWELS, BATTERIES, BOOKS, HARDWARE, CANDY..IT HAD I ALL FOR THE FOR THE ERA I WAS RAISED IN. IF WOOLWORTHS DID NOT HAVE IT. NO ONE DID..EVENING IN PARIS,TOYS, HULA HOOPS, YO YO'S..BOY DO I MISS IT, AND HATE THE NEW LARGE STORES.. THERE WERE NO HUGE SHOPPING CARTS, NO QUARTERS TO RENT ONE.. THE STAFF TRUSTED YOU..AS TEENI BOPPERS, AND TEENS, WE ATE FRIES, CHEESE SANDS, AND BANANA SPLITS, AND DRANK CHERRY COKES.. BRING BACK THE FUN DAYS.. KATIE

I got my first job, at Woolworth's in Independence, Mo. Working no less at the famous lunch counter. We would be so Very busy - and the employees were just wonderful - At times I wish I would of stayed - But it did lead me to a better job offer from one of the local merchants that I waited on. The unique thing, I liked about Woolworth's was the wooden hardwood floors, and on pay day, you would get your money in cash in a brown envelope. Oh - to relive some of those days.

This is where the War for Equality was fought and Won. This the Beast, and the Beast was slain. I sat my last Lunch Counter at a Woolworth, In a Mall on Central Ave in Phoenix Az. In 1973. When they folded it was a happy good bye. I miss nothing.

This is where the War for Equality was fought and Won. I sat my last lunch counter at a Woolworths in Phoenix,Az in 1973. When they closed I missed nothing. Mostly selling cloth belts for middle aged dumpy women to attach their Big Rags too. Poorly managed and Dirty. So they should do well in 3rd World Countrys. I don't shop in Foot Locker either.

The small five and dime stores were the backbone of the US. Woolworth's was the best of them all. And their lunch counter was second to none. In Pawtucket, RI they made the best ice cream sodas anywhere. Always a good time to be able to swing around on the stool while you watched them make it. Oh, the good old days of downtowns and Woolworth's. A time of simplicity and comfort.

Woolworths could not change with the times. They ceased to exsist because of harding of the artiries above the next. They treated management as the enemy not a partner. The upper management would not listen or attempt to learn what was happening at the store level. The same merchandise year after year. No tech advance and spent more time cutting expenses rather than improving buying systems and merchandise.

I miss alot about the past, including Woolworth stores. Too bad they couldn't grow with the times without compromising their type of store. So many copy cat stores today that add a tiny food area, etc. but not one of any store today, not even the cheap dollar stores, will create the memories that Woolworth did, as a store and as an employer. Feeling safe, friendly workers, a poor person's ability to shop on a dime, buying plastic curtains and cheap tables to decorate a sparse home...what that store meant to those without much money is rarely understood today.

Woolworths shopping, dining and peanuts with candy corn...awesome. Miss that store, especially in Decatur, IL & Chicago on State St.