Frank Winfield Woolworth
1852 - 1919
Frank Winfield Woolworth, American merchant, was a pioneer in
retailing methods. He established the great chain of
"five-and-ten-cent" stores which bear his name.
a poor farm family in upstate New York, F. W. Woolworth began
his career by clerking in a general store in the local market
centre. Impressed with the success of a five-cent clearance
sale, he conceived the novel idea of establishing a store to
sell a variety of items in volume at that price. With $300 in
inventory advanced to him by his employer, Woolworth started a
small store in Utica in 1879, but it soon failed. By 1881,
however, Woolworth had two successful stores operating in
Pennsylvania. By adding ten-cent items, he was able to increase
his inventory greatly and thereby acquired a unique
institutional status most important for the success of his
The growth of Woolworth's chain was rapid. Capital for new
stores came partly from the profits of those already in
operation and partly from investment by partners whom Woolworth
installed as managers of the new units. Initially, many of the
partners were Woolworth's relatives and colleagues.
Convinced that the most important factor in ensuring the success
of the chain was increasing the variety of goods offered,
Woolworth in 1886 moved to Brooklyn, New York, to be near
wholesale suppliers. He also undertook the purchasing for the
entire chain. A major breakthrough came when he decided to stock
candy and was able to bypass wholesalers and deal directly with
manufacturers. Aware of the importance of the presentation of
goods, Woolworth took the responsibility for planning window and
counter displays for the whole chain and devised the familiar
red store front which became its institutional hallmark.
The success of the chain between 1890 and 1910 was phenomenal.
The company had 631 outlets doing a business of $60,558,000
annually by 1912. In that year Woolworth merged with five of his
leading competitors, forming a corporation capitalized at $65
million. The next year, at a cost of $13.5 million, he built the
Woolworth Building in downtown New York, the tallest skyscraper
in the world at the time.
By 1915 Woolworth spent much of his time in Europe. When he died
in 1919, the F. W. Woolworth Company, with over 1,000 stores,
was perhaps the most successful retail enterprise in the world.
Franklin Winfield Woolworth (April 13 1852 – April 8 1919) was
an American merchant. Born in Rodman, N.Y., he was the founder
of F.W. Woolworth Company, an operator of discount stores that
priced merchandise at five and ten cents. He pioneered the
now-common practices of buying merchandise direct from
manufacturers and fixing prices on items, rather than haggling.
The son of a farmer, Woolworth aspired to be a merchant. In
1873, he started working in a dry goods store in Watertown, New
York. He worked for free for the first three months, because the
owner claimed "why should I pay you for teaching the business".
He remained there for six years. There he observed a passing
fad: Leftover items were priced at five cents and placed on a
table. Woolworth liked the idea, so he borrowed $300 to open a
store where all items were priced at five cents.
Woolworth's first five-cent store, established in Utica, New
York on February 22 1879, failed within weeks. At his second
store, established in Lancaster, Pennsylvania in April 1879, he
expanded the concept to include merchandise priced at ten cents.
The second store was successful, and Woolworth and his brother,
Charles Sumner Woolworth, opened a large number of
five-and-ten-cent stores. His original employer was made a
In 1911, the F.W. Woolworth Company was incorporated, uniting
586 stores founded by the Woolworth brothers and others. In
1913, Woolworth built the Woolworth Building in New York City at
a cost of $13.5 million in cash. At the time, it was the tallest
building in the world, measuring 792 feet, or 241.4 meters.
Woolworth's wealth also financed the building of his mansion,
Winfield Hall in Glen Cove, New York in 1916. The grounds of the
estate required 70 full time gardeners and the 56 room mansion
required dozens of servants just for basic upkeep. The home's
decor reflected Woolworth's fascinations with Egyptology,
Napoleon and spiritualism (a huge pipe organ that Woolworth
learned to play late in life combined with a planetarium style
ceiling to provide an intentionally eerie effect) and was built
with no expenses spared: the pink marble staircase alone cost $2
million to construct. In 1978 the abandoned and largely gutted
mansion became the home of Monica Randall, a squatter who wrote
a memoir of her experiences there entitled Winfield: Living in
the Shadow of the Woolworths.
Married with three daughters and several grandchildren, his
granddaughter Barbara Hutton would gain much publicity for her
lifestyle, squandering more than $50 million.
Woolworth died on April 8 1919, five days before his 67th
birthday. At the time, his company owned more than 1,000 stores
in the United States and other countries and was a $65 million
corporation. Bronze busts honouring Woolworth and seven other
industry magnates stand outside between the Chicago River and
the Merchandise Mart in downtown Chicago, Illinois.
By 1997, the original chain he founded had been reduced to 400
stores, and other divisions of the company began to be more
profitable than the original chain. The original chain went out
of business on July 17 1997, as the firm began its transition
into Foot Locker, Inc..
The UK stores continued operating (albeit under separate
ownership since 1982) after the US operation ceased under the
Woolworth name and now trade as Woolworths.
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This web page was last updated on:
18 December, 2008