Postcard view of the F.W. Woolworth store at 1041 Canal Street, about 1940

We're traveling back in time (R.I.P. Linens 'n Things, W. T. Grant 25 Cent Store, and KB Toys).

ALBANY -- In a time before shopping malls and big-box stores, downtown Albany was alive...

Trade House Tackle, Part 20:F.W. Woolworth’s Frank Winfield Woolworth founded a true American iconic institution, and changed the way American business conducted their affair. The company he founded, F.W. Woolworth & Co., also sold a ton of fishing tackle, some of it branded. Born in upstate New York in 1852, he began working in a [...]

Sept 1997, across from Macy's

1. One of the last fully functioning former Woolworth’s luncheonettes On Feb. 22, 1879, 141 years ago this weekend, F.W. Woolworth opened his first five-and-dime store, in Utica, New York. At its peak, Woolworth’s would have around 5,000 stores, and become a symbol of America, before the end

Rhea (DeLaBarre) Mills sent us us some excellent photos of and nostalgic comments about the F. W. Woolworth Store on Central Avenue in Valley City. Its lunch counter and soda fountain were popular with many of us from the three high schools, back during the time we were teens. And she included a scan of the menu from the lunch counter during that same era. "Going to the dimestore," i.e., Woolworth's and/or the Ben Franklin "5 & dime" store were special treats I looked forward to during my early childhood, many years before I became a "Hiliner." The photos (along with the shot above), together with comments by Charles (Chuck) DeLaBarre (Rhea's brother), and the menu, can be found here in a PDF version of a brief PowerPoint slideshow. Rhea and Chuck's father was the manager of Woolworth's and your Blogmeister can still see him greeting customers and moving around keeping the store ship-shape. Two shots of a 1951 Ford round out this collection. Rhea adds that she remembers many of the stores in Valley City. She says, "I loved going to Sheppard's (for records, I imagine!), I loved the bakery; loved Ben Franklin's 'cause they had things Dad didn't have in Woolworth's. Loved the Dairy Queen 'cause it was on the way home from the swimming pool where we would always get a nickel cone; loved hanging out at your drive-in, Colleen (Bryngelson, now Zick), and at the A & W. Straus Clothiers was where Dad got so many of his suits, and the list goes on and on!" Thanks, Rhea, and thank you, Chuck, for your excellent essay and photos everyone can view (and/or print) on the PDF.

155-156 Commercial Street, Newport NP20 1UE Woolworths opened their 185th store in Newport, Wales, in 1925. It originally opened at number 155 to 156 Commercial Street. You can see it below in the …