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It was 1878 and Frank Winfield Woolworth was working in a general store. The 5-cent merchandise table was set up and staffed by Frank. As he assisted the customers that crowded around the table, Frank resolved to start a store of his own stocked only with 5-cent merchandise.1
By June, 1879 Frank Winfield Woolworth was on his way to make history. He opened his first store in Utica, New York. Though he tried, this first attempt was a failure. Frank did not give up and tried again, this time in Lancaster, Pennsylvania too much success! As the popularity of the 5-cent merchandise grew, Frank added a selection of 10-cent merchandise. This new selection went over quite well and Frank began opening more stores.
In February of 1905 the "F. W. Woolworth & Company" was formally incorporated. In 1909 Frank Woolworth took his stores international opening a chain of stores in England which he referred to as his "Three and Sixes" stores (three and sixpence being the closest currency equivalent to five cents and ten cents).2
The Woolworths corporate office building in New York was completed in 1913. Standing 792 feet tall it was the tallest building in the world until 1929. Today it is still one of the 50 tallest buildings in the United States.3
Expansion began and in Frank merged his stores with 5 other retailers, most of which were former partners, in 1912. This merger brought the total number of stores to 596 operating in 37 states. Expansion continued on the international front as well. By 1914 there were 44 stores in the British Isles,4 then stores opened in Germany (1926), Cuba (1924), Mexico and South America (1954). Stores with the Woolworth name, but no legal connection appeared in Australia (Woolworth Limited) and in 1974 the F.W. Woolworth & Co (Cyprus) Ltd. Was formed and by agreement was able to retain the use of the Woolworth name. More acquisitions expanded the Woolworth Corporation beginning with the Kinney Shoe Corporation (1963), Stylco (1967), Susie Casuals (1968), and Footlocker (1974).
Over time the revenue from the Woolworth's stores diminished as competition from other discount retailers grew and in 1997 the F.W. Woolworth Corp. closed all remaining stores in the United States. According to the 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the fiscal year ending January 31, 1998, the Woolworth Corporation remained active in the following businesses:
Woolworth Corporation became Venator Group on June 12, 1998. In 2001 the company completed the disposition of all non-athletic businesses, keeping just the Athletic Group, and changed the corporate name to Foot Locker, Inc. Foot Locker, Inc. today has 3,129 stores in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand as of February 2020.5
The following titles link to fuller bibliographic information in the Library of Congress Online Catalog. Links to digital content are provided when available.
1879-1929, Fifty Years of Woolworth : over 2100 Woolworth stores celebrate this year in 1500 cities in 5 countries of the world, the fiftieth anniversary of the F.W. Woolworth co., with amazing buying opportunities for your nickels and dimes. Copyrighted by 
Cass Gilbert papers, 1841-1961
F. W. Woolworth and the American Five and Dime by Five and Ten by 
Frank Winfield Woolworth papers, 1859-1980.International Directory of Company Histories by 
The Magazine of BusinessNickels and Dimes; the Story of F. W. Woolworth. by 
Remembering Woolworths: a Nostalgic History of the World's Most Famous Five-and-dime by 
The Skyscraper and the City by Woolworth's First 75 years: the Story of Everybody's Store. by The following resources created or digitized by the Library of Congress can be used to find out more about the people and events of the day.
Digital Image Collections
Chronicling America: Historic American NewspapersThese freely available online resources provide additional information on the topic.
are available to researchers on-site at the Library of Congress. If you are unable to visit the Library, you may be able to access these resources through your local public or academic library.Additional works on this topic in the Library of Congress may be identified by searching the Library of Congress Online Catalog under appropriate Library of Congress subject headings. Choose the topics you wish to search from the following list of subject headings to link directly to the Catalog and automatically execute a search for the subject selected. Please be aware that during periods of heavy use you may encounter delays in accessing the catalog. For assistance in locating other subject headings that may relate to this subject, please consult a reference librarian.
