F. W. Woolworth Company
Pioneering American five-and-dime retailer that helped establish fixed-price variety stores and later evolved into the corporate predecessor of Foot Locker, Inc.
Last updated August 21, 2026
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Overview
The F. W. Woolworth Company was an American retail conglomerate best known for creating and popularizing the five-and-dime store. Its stores offered inexpensive general merchandise at standardized prices, initially five cents and later ten cents, allowing customers to browse and select goods directly rather than ordering through a shop assistant. The format helped transform American retailing and became a model for later variety, discount, and department-store chains. Frank Winfield Woolworth opened his first store, Woolworth's Great Five Cent Store, in Utica, New York, on February 22, 1879. That location failed after roughly three months, but Woolworth opened a second store in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on June 21 of the same year. The Lancaster operation became the foundation of the business. His brother Charles Sumner Woolworth joined him, and the brothers developed a repeatable merchandising system through further stores in Pennsylvania. The Scranton store opened in November 1880 and became the first durable expression of the Woolworth five-and-ten model. Expansion initially took place through a network of affiliated chains operated by Woolworth, Charles Woolworth, Fred Morgan Kirby, Seymour H. Knox, Earle Charlton, and other associates. These businesses retained individual identities while coordinating purchasing and merchandise supply. In 1912, 596 stores were consolidated under the F. W. Woolworth Company, creating a large integrated retailer with operations in the United States and Canada. International expansion followed: the company entered the United Kingdom in 1909, Ireland in 1914, Germany in 1927, and Mexico in 1956. Woolworth broadened its assortment over time. It introduced a 20-cent merchandise line in 1932 and abandoned formal price ceilings in 1935. Stores added lunch counters, household goods, toys, clothing, seasonal merchandise, cosmetics, and other everyday products. The company also became associated with major urban retail architecture through the Woolworth Building in New York, completed in 1913 and used as its headquarters for decades. During the 1960s, Woolworth responded to changing retail conditions by developing larger discount stores under the Woolco name and by entering footwear through the 1963 acquisition of Kinney Shoe Corporation. Kinney later produced Foot Locker, launched in 1974. The company subsequently added specialty concepts such as Champs Sports, Afterthoughts, Northern Reflections, Rx Place, and Woolworth Express. This diversification produced important sporting-goods businesses but weakened the identity and competitiveness of the traditional Woolworth department-store division. From the 1980s, American Woolworth stores faced intense competition from discount chains, supermarkets, shopping malls, and specialty retailers. The U.S. Woolco chain closed in 1983, while the British operation was separated and became Woolworths plc. A restructuring announced in 1993 closed approximately half of the remaining U.S. general-merchandise stores. The final U.S. Woolworth department stores closed in July 1997. The company sold or exited remaining general-merchandise operations in Canada, Mexico, and Germany and concentrated increasingly on athletic retailing. The corporate entity changed its name to Venator Group in 1998 and then to Foot Locker, Inc. in 2001. Foot Locker is generally regarded as the legal corporate successor to the original Woolworth company, although the Woolworth retail brand itself disappeared from the United States. Woolworth-branded businesses continue independently or through regional operators in some markets, including Mexico, but they are not the same operating chain as the former U.S. department-store company.
History
Frank Winfield Woolworth's first retail experiment opened in Utica in February 1879 and failed within months. He repaid his financial backer and tried again in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where the second store opened in June 1879. The Lancaster store demonstrated that a shop based on a narrow fixed-price assortment could generate rapid turnover without relying on traditional high margins. Woolworth's brother Charles joined the business, and the brothers refined the system through stores in Harrisburg, York, and Scranton. The Scranton location, opened in 1880, became the first lasting success and helped establish the five-and-ten format. The early Woolworth enterprise grew through a cooperative network of affiliated merchants rather than a single unified chain. Charles Woolworth, Fred Morgan Kirby, Seymour H. Knox, Earle Charlton, and others operated related stores, shared purchasing resources, and used similar layouts and signs. This arrangement provided scale while permitting individual operators to manage local businesses. By 1904, six affiliated chains operated in the United States and Canada. The corporate consolidation of 596 stores in 1912 created the F. W. Woolworth Company, which then became one of the largest retailers in the world. Woolworth's commercial innovation involved both price and store design. Goods were displayed openly for customer selection, a significant departure from counter-service retailing. Standardized prices simplified purchasing, while centralized buying and high sales volume supported low margins. The stores sold practical household merchandise, toys, clothing, stationery, personal-care goods, seasonal products, and small gifts. Christmas ornaments became an early success, and lunch counters later became important social spaces within many stores. The company also invested in prominent real estate. The Woolworth Building in New York, designed by Cass Gilbert and completed in 1913, served as a visible symbol of the company's prosperity and housed its headquarters. After Frank Woolworth died in 1919, Charles Woolworth became chairman and Hubert T. Parson assumed the presidency. The business continued to expand, reporting substantial sales during the 1920s and gradually moving beyond its original five- and ten-cent restrictions. A 20-cent range was introduced in 1932, and the company ended formal selling-price limits in 1935. Woolworth's stores became part of the social and political life of American cities. Their lunch counters were segregated in parts of the American South. In 1960, students began sit-ins at the Woolworth lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, and similar protests occurred in Nashville and elsewhere. These demonstrations became important events in the U.S. civil-rights movement and contributed to the eventual desegregation of such facilities. In the postwar period, suburbanization and the rise of shopping centers encouraged larger formats. Woolworth founded Woolco in 1962 as a discount-store chain, competing with emerging mass merchants such as Kmart, Target, and Walmart. The 1963 purchase of Kinney Shoe Corporation gave the company a substantial footwear platform. Kinney's Foot Locker concept, introduced in 1974, ultimately became more successful than the traditional Woolworth operation. The company continued experimenting with specialty retail in the 1980s and pursued a mall-focused multi-format strategy in the late decade. Concepts included women's accessories, cold-weather apparel, pharmaceuticals, sporting goods, and small convenience-oriented Woolworth Express stores. The strategy did not produce enough successful formats to offset the deterioration of the core business. Competition from large discount chains, supermarkets, specialty retailers, and changing shopping habits eroded the five-and-dime model. The U.S. Woolco chain closed in 1983. The British business was separated from the parent company in the aftermath of the 1979 Manchester Woolworths fire and continued as Woolworths plc. In 1993, Woolworth announced a major restructuring that involved closing roughly half of its U.S. general-merchandise stores and converting or selling parts of its Canadian operation. Most Canadian Woolco stores were sold to Walmart in 1994, while other locations were closed or converted to different banners. The company acquired Eastbay, a mail-order athletic retailer, in 1997 and closed its remaining U.S. Woolworth stores that July. The company changed its corporate name to Venator Group in 1998, sold or exited its remaining non-athletic operations, and became Foot Locker, Inc. in 2001. The legal corporate succession means that Foot Locker retains the predecessor company's corporate history, but the original Woolworth retail chain is defunct in the United States. Woolworth-branded businesses remain in selected countries through separate regional operators, including Mexico.
- 2001
Corporate successor becomes Foot Locker
[1]Venator Group changes its name to Foot Locker, Inc.
- 1998
Corporate name changes to Venator Group
[1]The former Woolworth company adopts the Venator Group name.
- 1997
Final U.S. Woolworth stores close
[1]The traditional U.S. department-store chain ends operations, and the company emphasizes athletic retailing.
- 1983
U.S. Woolco stores close
[1]The company shuts its Woolco chain in the United States while the Canadian business continues temporarily.
- 1974
Foot Locker introduced
[1]Kinney launches the Foot Locker sporting-goods retail concept.
- 1963
Kinney Shoe Corporation acquired
[1]The acquisition expands Woolworth into footwear and ultimately leads to the Foot Locker business.
- 1962
Woolco launched
[1]Woolworth creates Woolco, a larger-format discount-store chain.
- 1956
Entry into Mexico
[1]The Woolworth name expands into the Mexican market.
- 1913
Woolworth Building completed
[1]The Woolworth Building in New York is completed and becomes the company's headquarters.
- 1912
Affiliated stores consolidate
[1]596 stores are brought together under the F. W. Woolworth Company.
Products and positioning
Accessible, low-price variety retailing built around standardized prices, broad merchandise selection, convenient locations, and self-service browsing.
Variety retail · 1879
Woolworth five-and-dime stores
The core Woolworth format sold a broad range of inexpensive everyday goods at standardized prices. Open displays, centralized purchasing, high turnover, and convenient urban and shopping-center locations made the stores accessible to mass-market customers. Merchandise included household supplies, toys, stationery, clothing, small gifts, seasonal products, and personal-care goods.
Discount department stores · 1962
Woolco
Woolco was a larger-format discount chain created to address the growth of suburban shopping and increasingly price-focused competition. It operated in the United States and Canada, but the U.S. chain closed in 1983. Most Canadian Woolco stores were sold or converted during the 1990s.
Sporting-goods retail · 1974
Foot Locker
Foot Locker began as a Kinney Shoe Corporation concept under Woolworth ownership in 1974. Its specialization in athletic footwear and apparel eventually made it the leading business of the corporate successor, which adopted the Foot Locker, Inc. name in 2001.
Controversies
1960
Lunch-counter segregation and civil-rights sit-ins
Segregated Woolworth lunch counters in the American South became targets of nonviolent sit-ins. The Greensboro protest beginning on February 1, 1960, and later demonstrations in Nashville and other cities helped make retail desegregation a national civil-rights issue.
Brand decisions
1998
Adopt the Venator Group nameOtherBackground
The company had closed its U.S. Woolworth department stores and was concentrating on specialty and athletic retail.
Action taken
The corporate entity changed its name from F. W. Woolworth Company to Venator Group, Inc.
Aftermath
The Woolworth corporate identity was replaced before the successor adopted the Foot Locker name in 2001.
1993
Major U.S. restructuringStrategyBackground
The traditional general-merchandise division was losing ground to discount chains, supermarkets, malls, and specialty retailers.
Action taken
Woolworth announced a plan to close about half of its more than 800 U.S. general-merchandise stores and reorganize the Canadian business.
Aftermath
The restructuring accelerated the retreat from traditional Woolworth stores and preceded the final U.S. closures in 1997.
1962
Launch WoolcoProduct launchBackground
Large discount stores were emerging as a major competitive response to suburban shopping and mass merchandising.
Action taken
Woolworth established Woolco as a larger discount-store format.
Aftermath
The format operated in North America but failed to secure a lasting U.S. position and closed there in 1983.
1935
End formal selling-price limitsStrategyBackground
The company was broadening its assortment beyond the historic five- and ten-cent proposition.
Action taken
Directors voted to discontinue the company's formal selling-price limits.
Aftermath
Woolworth increasingly operated as a general-merchandise retailer rather than a strictly defined five-and-dime chain.
1932
Introduce merchandise above the original five-and-ten rangePrice changeBackground
The original fixed-price model had become restrictive as merchandise costs and consumer expectations changed.
Action taken
The company added a 20-cent line of merchandise.
Aftermath
The move preceded the later abandonment of formal price ceilings and a broader department-store assortment.
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