I miss Woolworths. As a kid in the late 60's I would get my 45's there, eat at the lunch counter, go downstairs where the fish, birds, and hamsters were, buy paper dolls and jumping beans, and get b&w pics taken in the picture booth . I would do x mas shopping there also.
I grew up in a very rural area. I do remember going to visit kinfolk in Houston in 1961 or 1962 and going into the Woolworth's there. I wanted to go to the lunch counter, but we just got whatever we went in there for and left.
I have fond memories of eating in the U shaped counters inside Woolworth's here in NYC on 34th street. They served your meals in brown trays and paper cone coffee cups held inside orange cup holders. They were known for the blue plate specials. This was back in the 80's...
My dad was the regional vice president of Woolworth at the end of its time in the Mid90s. He started at the bottom and moved all the way to the top in 25 years. It’s a sad story how it ended. He loved working for Woolworth
My mom and her sister worked for Woolworth in Manhattan during the depression. Believe it was a 6 day week for a $14.00 salary. She always commented on how closely management monitored their employees. She said that the store would not allow both sisters to be off to attend the funeral of their father in 1937. My last encounter with Woolworth with a visit to the lunch counter at the location on 34th Street opposite Macys.That was at least 20 years back and that store has been shut a long time.
I miss the Woolworth stores here in the US. It was a great place to get supplies you needed (and at least a couple bonus items!) and share lunch with friends who were doing the same. Thanks for the interesting video and awakening some nice memories.
I liked TG&Y more but Woolworhsss was cool it was just in a big store you had to drive+park in. All the mean people in town shopped in that mall so we avoided it!
F.W. Woolworth had a MASSIVE impact on my hometown of Yorkton, SK, Canada, and on me for that matter. After the Hudson Bay Co. decided to move out of their original neoclassical landmark of a building, Woolworth's moved in, and remained there for THIRTY YEARS, serving as the main department store for our entire city. To this day, though the building is considered the HBC Building, one can still see evidence of its later occupant. As for my side, The Bargain! Shop was the main place my family got mine and my sister's back-to-school clothes, and its small town iteration that we shopped at IS STILL OPEN TO THIS DAY! On top of that, Foot Locker is a great place to get shoes for years in our family. On the other hand, Northern Reflections is a name that is almost spat upon in my family. We somehow got onto their phoning list, and despite several attempts to stop them or to remove ourselves from the list, they never stopped calling us every month for SIX STRAIGHT YEARS. So yeah, thanks Woolworth. We DeGrows REALLY love ya! And also Darkness, again, the country Barbados is pronounced Bar-BAY-dos!
Tooo funny. It's a little controversial in my country. Since they were oddly few and far between up North. My Grandmother said because of the "sit in's" done there. It was considered racist? I just know my Dickies were super expensive then as they are now.
For spam phone calls, do what I do with the scam phone calls, recruit them on your even more illegal scam. The last call I got from "Amazon" for my package being held due to needing verify my payment information I nearly got the guy on the phone to help me with running credit cards so I can start back up my nose sugar business after the lousy DEA caught my shipment. It was only a single truckload, but I needed to pull money from credit cards that I mysteriously found in people's wallets after stealing them. He oddly wasn't interested after I needed to ask him if he was a fed or not. Credit card fraud is illegal but most countries won't bother with extradition. Drug trafficking, most countries will throw you in prison for a very long time.
@@shirleyroundtree8048 Newberry's in my area took over the Woolworth's thing. The final store knew it was in financial trouble as they advertised their store going out of business for 5 years. They wanted everyone to make sure they shopped there one last time.
I am a 78 year old Boomer, my grandmother made a career at the Trenton NJ store and mother worked there until she married after WWII. Thanks for the story.
I used to go to the Woolworth's in Trenton, back in the late 1970's for lunch quite often. I worked an entry level position for the state, and they didn't pay much. Woolworth's always had the cheapest lunch downtown. Once they closed, it was a shame no one ever reopened that building, as another business
I loved these stores when I was a child. I bought many HO trains items and model model kits. I miss those little stores. American has changed so much. Being 67 is really difficult.
Thanks, that brought back memories - I had forgotten that I used to by Revelle models and HO train supplies at Woolworths. I almost feel like I'm back there and only eleven years old again!
@@VictorianMaid99 tell me about it! I’m 57 and I use to go there with my mom and brother and sister in the 1960’s and 1980’s. It was fun to just browse around. We would get cheep Chinese shit there! I usually got the plastic army men and cheep toys, clothes, ice cream, candy, etc. it was like a cheep Sears where they dumped stuff cheep off to Woolworths. Also got back to school stuff there.
Sadly, I only recall the last years of Woolworth. My mom would shop there for fabric and knitting supplies. They put a lot of effort into decorating the store around the holiday season. It’s also my first memory of telling Santa Claus what I wanted for Christmas! 😊
@Larry I'm pretty sure they went completely bust and didn't rebrand. Wellworths was a store set up by some ex employees who reopened the one store they worked in under the Wellworths name, this however also went bust not long after. The UK woolworths brand was bought by the same company that owns Very and launched it as an online only store, but this closed down a few years ago too.
@@Chrzs2cj I thought Littlewoods had it too at some point? But that site had very little fanfare and I never saw any advertising for it. so not surprised it went under. Like when Argos wanted to make a clone site of Amazon called Jungle.
Not strictly true. Wellworths was a store opened in Dorchester, Dorset by a group of ex-Woolies employees, some of whom said they would succeed because they would do things 'the Woolworth way'. Considering doing things that way contributed to the company's collapse, I was always doubtful it would succeed.
@@GenMasterB Yep or simply a dime store. My little town used to have a Five and Dime but went out of business along with most other businesses in the late ‘80s when Walmart moved to town.
My grandpa. It's where he would take me when he wanted a greasy burger (that he shouldn't have been eating) and a malt. He'd buy my silence with a couple new fish and a few toys
I bought a baby hamster at our Woolworth's in 1973 and called him Charlie Washington. He lived to be three years old and passed of old age in his cage. Thanks for helping me remember him.
@@davidgonzales9039 - when I visited my grandma in the 70's she would take me to Woolworths to buy a model car kit to keep me busy while she baked. Ah, memories. Great video, would have never guessed Foot Locker.
Here's where things get really complicated. In Canada, F. W. Woolworth operated Woolworth stores and Woolco stores. Both department stores lasted much longer then in the USA. In 1994, it was often believed Walmart simply took over the department stores. Not true. It is true that F. W. Woolworth sold most of the Woolco stores to Walmart in 1994, but they maintained many and converted them to a new F. W. Woolworth department store brand "The Bargain Shop!". Many years later, that brand was rebranded Red Apple. Red Apple is still technically owned and operated by F. W. Woolworth and still operates 143 stores today.
Back in the early '70s, my aunt Gloria, a housewife, got her first 'proper' job at Woolworth -- Freeport, Long Island. And I recall the whole family being so excited. Personally, that meant: "G.I.Joe for X-Mas & Free Egg Cream Sodas!" Excellent Video. Thanks, bro!... Btw, auntie never did get me that G.I.Joe, but those Egg Creams were Scrumdiddlyumptious!! Cheers!
@@snake5709 I used to my visit my aunt and cousin who lived at "The Port" back in the 70s. I don't recall a Woolworths there. Where was it located? I was about 12 at the time so I may have missed it.
@@nycfunk Hey, bro., thanks for responding. If memory serves me, it was located on N. Main Street, near Sunrise Hwy./ 'Canon Drugs.' She later worked at 'Modell's, in the Atkinson school district. The Good Ole Days indeed. Cheers!
Woolworths Australia is an example of what happens when you don't trademark your name worldwide. In the early 70's Burger King discovered this when it tried to expand to Australia. It found a burger chain down there already using that name. This is why to this day Burger King in Australia operates under the name Hungry Jack's.
@@AKayfabe At the time Burger King was looking to expand to Australia it was owned by Pillsbury. The Australian burger chain that owned the rights to the name Burger King refused to sell the rights. Burger King (US) then grabbed the name of the pancake mix (which I assume isn't sold in Australia) and added an "S" to the end for it's Australian restaurants. Sometime in the 90's the Australian Burger King went out of business and Burger King bought the trademark. However they still use the name Hungry Jack's as it's now well established.
I remember my grandmother going every Saturday to Woolworths for lunch it was her Saturday afternoon ritual and she never failed to bring home something for her grandkids thank you this brought back some wonderful childhood memories
Born and raised in Lancaster, PA loved Woolworth's would stop there everyday on my way home from school, the fresh soft pretzels and the candy counter were just inside the door and kids were lined up there to buy snacks for the rest of the trip home. The lunch counter was always busy and the records were in the lower level, bought most of my 45's there. The store front is still there on North Queen Street but sadly no longer Woolworth's. Good memories.
In the 1960's and early 1970's, my parents would go there to do their shopping. I loved the Christmas decorations and toys they had while we usually shopped in the Flushing, Queens NYC stores.
I liked their store back in the 80's.......... It's kind of funny that you found the parakeets in the adverts. I got a Parakeet from them when I was 10. He was cool. I named him Mario.
In 1996-1997 I was a sophomore at Moravian College, and one of my friends was a cashier at the Woolworth's in the Whitehall Mall near Allentown. I was hired when they were going out of business and my job was to move merchandise to the front of the store and disassemble fixtures in the store so they could be sold off. My manager ended up shutting down the Easton and Bethlehem locations, so I did a bunch of the same work there. The Bethlehem one was one of the great old downtown stores. I found a bunch of shelf price signs from the thirties, and I have the under-the-overhang sign from the sixties that was at the Easton store (that one was in a strip mall). Also have a 1960s hand basket as well. They also sold off the restaurant equipment from attached Harvest House restaurant, and the people purchasing it indiscriminately cut pipes to the equipment, which resulted in slow flood where I had to stand mopping water as it left the tile floor by the lunch counter and started soaking into the carpet. Our close date was extended and other stores were sending merchandise to our location. It felt like it would never end. Afterwards I had a couple of nightmares where I dreamed I had been called back and had to reassemble the store because they had more merchandise to sell. I was up at the Whitehall Mall last month (originally an indoor mall, half was ripped down and it was turned into a strip mall). The part that had the Woolworths is still there, and if you go to the back you can still see the shadow of the Woolworth's sign that was on the back wall (single red light-up letters), the only sign left that it was ever there.
I love how you’ve been going on a bankrupt company stride, and this Woolworth’s video has to be one of my favorites. I am starting to miss your railroad-related videos, though. If you’re thinking about giving up on that topic completely, would like to see you at least talk about either Texas and Pacific 610, Southern 4501, or Burlington Route 4960, before you take your leave from that. All of those three relatively-famous locomotives each have a rich history just long enough for you to create a 20-30 minute long video out of them. I think you’d find 610’s history interesting, especially.
It’s not surprising that Foot Locker is successful. The thing about shoes is that it’s not that they’re immune to online shopping, but it’s one of those products where people want to try it out in person, every shoe brand feels different and runs smaller and larger than others, Walmart and Target sell shoes, but if you want a specific brand you need to shop at a specialty store like a Foot Locker, a DSW, a Sketchers store, or a Nike store.
I worked at Woolworths as a stock boy back in the 80s. it was one of the best jobs ever, plus we had a little diner in the store that had the best food ever those were the days. Long Island NY!!!
In New Zealand we had Woolworths Variety stores as a budget department store up until the 80s and Woolworths as a supermarket. The Woolworths Variety Stores were owned by a company called LD Nathans and were rebranded as LD Nathan and later DEKA. DEKA purchased the Farmers department store chain in 1993 and in 2001 closed their DEKA stores converting some stores to Farmers. In the North Island town of Huntly a DEKA sign still remains. With the supermarket side we had Woolworths as a supermarket and I believe this was originally independent of the Australian Woolworths. In the 2000s a merger took place between the parent company of Woolworths and Countdown supermarkets. In the 2010s all of the Woolworths supermarkets were rebranded as Countdown and adopted the same logo as Woolworths Australia, last year Woolworths began the process of rebranding all the Countdown supermarkets in NZ back to Woolworths.
The only time I experienced the old retail format with the staff and goods behind a counter was in Czechoslovakia not long after the the end of the eastern bloc. They were still operating under the old system, apparently designed to make as much employment as possible. This food store had a long u-shaped counter that surrounded customers when they walked in. You had to go to the right and basically walk around the whole counter before ending up near the door again at the end of the counter to the left. You never touched the goods until the very end. Customers had to deal with about 9 staff to make a purchase with the whole transaction broken into tiny steps each with its own clerk - talk to the greeter, make your order, see the goods fetched from the shelves, see the order subtotalled, see the goods wrapped, see the goods given to the person to take them to the cashier, pay at the cashier, see your goods bagged, and then finally talk to the despatcher who handed you your bag. And there were still more people standing around behind the counter seemingly not directly involved in your transaction. Supervisors perhaps?
I am old enough to remember shopping at Woolworths with my mom as a child,and then later as a young adult.I loved their lunch counter.They had great chili dogs,and apple turnovers with vanilla sauce.
During my trucking days I ate at a Woolworths lunch counter in Bakersfield, California. The storefront and lunch counter were still there but the rest was some sort of antique shop. The burger wasn't all that great but I ate there for the experience.
I used to live in Mexico City for several years and down the street from where I lived there used to be a Woolworth store. It is no there anymore as a small shopping center now stands in its place.
That was the store I used to shop for school supplies and records. Sometimes , i would buy my Christmas gifts. It was a place to shop and affordable. When I would shop for my mom, we would stop there to eat a burger and shake too. ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
They had great food , their Roast beef and Mashed Potatoes was Awesome ! I Think every pet i had as a kid and toy i played with as a kid was bought at Woolworth's !
Growing up in Nashville, the name Woolworth has deep historical meaning. The Woolworth lunch counters were very popular in the 1950s and 60s, but in the south, they were also segregated so black people like myself couldn't eat there. The lunch counter sit-ins were organized by the late Rep. John Lewis and other prominent Nashville civil rights leaders. The student protestors were trained by Vanderbilt University graduate divinity student James Lawson who was expelled for his actions. He now has a Nashville high school named in his honor. The protests were organized in the basement of First Baptist Church, Capitol Hill (my church) by my pastor, Kelly Miller Smith Sr. and my mother, a Fisk student and classmate of John Lewis participated in the protests. The protests were successful and the Woolworth lunch counters (and all the other ones) were desegregated by order of Mayor Ben West when Fisk student Diane Nash directly asked the mayor on the courthouse steps to desegregate the Nashville lunch counters. He did and Nashville was the first of 69 cities in the protest movement to desegregate in 1960. Ben West has a government building in his name across the street from the Court House and the Court House plaza was renamed for Diane Nash (who is still alive) two years ago. James Lawson passed away this past June 2024. In later years, the actual Woolworth store location downtown closed and fell into disrepair but reopened as an upscale restaurant a decade ago. The restaurant concept didn't last but the building is now the Woolworth Theater and does broadway style cabaret shows for the tourists. Lastly, when I was a teenager at my first job in Nashville's oldest mall, we had a Woolco as an anchor store (the other anchor was a J.C. Penney (called Penney's in those days). I never liked the store compared to the nicer Penney's and it closed in 1983 about the time I graduated high school.
They also had discriminatory hiring practices, at one point, that lead to the federal government monitoring them, for quite awhile, to ensure compliance with EOEC rules.
One of my earliest memories is shopping for my school dresses at Woolworth’s in 1967. They had a cool old fashioned lunch counter. It was all black and gold and the hamburgers were delicious.
I loved eating at a lunch counter at Department stores as a child. It was a treat! When I got into Junior High School I could walk to the drug store after school and get a grilled cheese or a club sandwich and a Pepsi Then ,I’d try all the perfume testers and makeup. It was a great time to be a youth in small town America
I remember one store near me (when I was a kid in the 1970s). It had a lunch counter. I think my mother bought our bunk bed there. And they had a jacuzzi sized tank where you could scoop up your own goldfish to buy. And a candy counter in the middle of the store.
I loved the Woolwoth stores. I not only shopped there but often had lunch at one of their half moon restaurants. I remember buying a record set of French lessons. It was amazing. I have taken numerous courses since then but none of them were as good as my set from Woolworths. A friend and l would have cocoa and cookies at Woolworths after skating in the cold Canadian winter. I miss those days even though they have become a distant memory.
My neighbor opened the New Stores 1950'S thru 1980'S , HESTER WATTS SHE NEW F. W. WOOLWORTH ,& FRANK WAS HER HUSBANDS FIRST NAME TOO ♥ Thankyou for posting *
I miss Woolworths. I still fondly remember going to Woolworths inside the Midway Mall living in Lorain, Ohio as a kid. I also remember eating in their restaurant, called The Harvest House. They actually had a full restaurant, not a Lunch Counter. Once, as a child, I won this huge heart-shaped box of candy that the restaurant was giving away on Valentines Day. Their chicken croquets were great and I always had that when we would go there. Ahhhh....fond memories. I really miss that. Thanks for this!
Woolworth’s was my first “grownup” job after graduating high school. Not the massive mega-store like Walmart, but you could find everything there. Even as an employee who handled (ordering and inventory, maintaining appearance, etc.) three sections, I was sometimes surprised by what we carried when I was called to a register to ring up customer purchases.
This was one of my favorite stores as a kid. Bought my first "Wooly Willy", "Gone Fish'n" and "Mr. Potato Head" from FW Woolworth. Seemed similar to GC Murphy as a kid.
I shopped at Woolworths in the 1950s and I utterly miss them. I remember buying my coloring books there and paper dolls and what a selection!!!! They sold birds and bird feed there and aprons and all sorts of things. Hardware was sold there and ladies jewelry..Cosmetics and so much much more. Sadly, in the 1990s I shopped the last Woolworths in NJ. yarns and sewing items were sold there as well. Fabrics, and oh that Lunch counter! I really really miss them and Footlocker is NOT the same.!!!!!!!
An amazing documentary concerning one of my favorite retail stores: Woolworths. In the last days it was open in my area, it had an arcade. They had the Real Ghostbusters machine, Pac-Man, Galaga, 1948 (Anyway a related WWII plane shot-em-up), Tekken, Terminator 2, Robocop, Mortal Kombat, and Killer Instinct... Anyway, I am impressed they are still around as Foot Locker. I still go to the local Mall's Foot Locker and the Online site. Anywho, Do you remember Montgomery Wards? We still have an old roadside "Wards" sign and their old repair shop(well is part of our historical college and still in use). I am rambling, buddy. Again and excellent showcase of Woolsworths- Man their legendary Frito-Pies, Bacon & Cheese Burgers, Fries, and Pizza. 😁👍🤜🤛🖖
As a little kid in the early '60s, I would spend Friday nights with my dad and brother at the Aquidneck Shopping Center in Middletown, RI. After Sears and the hobby shop, we would go to the Woolworth's lunch counter for a Coke. Even then, Woolworth's had an old-fashioned quality.
I remember the Woolworths in downtown Marysville California. It's gone now but I remember going there and getting myself a glass of sweet sun tea. I miss it. Wish it was still open.
I miss the old five and dimes, though there are some here and there if you're lucky to find them! I remember having a strawberry ice cream soda once at a Woolworth store in upper Manhattan near the George Washington bridge in the early 1970s when I was in my early 20s, best ice cream soda I ever had served in a tall glass in one of those old fashioned metal holders topped with whipped cream on a very hot summer day, nice memories! Thanks for reminding me~ 💗💗💗💗
woolworths in south africa is incredible. the first Woolworths store opened its doors to the public in Cape Town in October 1931. And it was founder Max Sonnenberg who captured the public’s imagination with dynamic store policies that set Woolworths apart from its competitors. currently Woolworths operates 218 full-line stores and 430 food stand-alone stores in South Africa, with 64 stores throughout the rest of Africa.
I miss Woolworth's so much. When I started college in 1994, I loved traveling by bus to the Woolworth's on High Street in Columbus, OH. I do not remember if I purchased anything, but I absolutely loved going in to see a store that I adored. At the time, they were connected to a now defunct Mall called City Center. But in 1997, we sadly lost Woolworth's and soon after City Center was no more. Now when I travel to German Village, I fondly look at what was Woolworth's like it is a long lost friend. Woolworth's you will always live in the hearts of my fellow Gen-X'rs. Now I think I need to cry. 😢
I miss working at Woolworth in Boston, Massachusetts. I used work as salesperson, cashier, stock associated, etc in 1993 to 1997. I used be a cashier at Woolworth on different floors and work on the different floors and set up sales, mark things down, etc. I used to work as a cashier in Woolworth’s cafe too. I miss employee discount. 😢😢😢😢😢 I had to look for another job after my old store closed down in 1997.
The German Woolworth does not currently have stores in the UK, but does operate in Poland and Austria. The German company Woolworth is the owner of the “Woolworth” brand for some countries in Europe. Perhaps they will expand to other European countries in the future... 16:50 this Woolworth pictured is in the neighboring town (Wuppertal), I have shopped there a few times 😃
As a kid there was an abandoned Woolworth’s just by the bridge. My grandparents used to tell me they had everything you’d need an every department, along with the soda counter. I always wanted to visit one. Born just a little too late I’m afraid.
M1 battle rifles and M1 carbines no doubt. Would have loved to add those to my collection. Roses used to sell old firearms also before they turned into a total junk store.
I absolutely loved Woolworths!! Ours had a restaurant counter with the best hamburgers ever!!!. Mom took us to Woolworths alot!! Wal-Mart has destroyed alot companies and other things like leaving empty bldgs all over!!
Thanks for the video. I remember going to the both of the former Woolworth stores on Oxford Street in London as a kid and eating there, buying sweets (candy) and other cheap stuff. Now I live in Berlin, Germany and Woolworth is really expanding here. As more upmarket stores go out of business Woolworth are opening stores in many shopping malls where even a couple of years ago they would have been too downmarket, still the malls, with acres of empty space, need the rent. Also there are several Foot Locker stores in Berlin. My mother told me that when she was a girl in England people referred to Woolworth as the threepenny and sixpenny store matching the US five and dime name.
I worked at Woolworths in the early 90's. I still have my name badge. Interesting historical information. When ever I go past a Foot Locker from now on, I will think of this. Thanks for the information!
@@TaliaIGhul yeah, but are kind of DelSol i.e. basics clothes, novelties, small toys, snacks etc. Mamá say she used to buy at old Woolworths when it was cheaper than mexican Sears and Liverpool (now seeking to buy Nordstrom), guess it was kind of Pe- Hace, Langstroth (home appliances, china, pots, cuttery, hardware, tools etc) and not as expensive as Sanborns (restaurant, cuban cigars, cameras, fountain pens, swiss chocolate and watches etc) its main competition was El nuevo mundo (personal care, clothing, restaurant, furniture). Mexican Sears is still strong.
In the 70s Woolworth was the place to go. I miss the store, especially during Christmas time. Ours in Killeen TX was attached to a mall, it was MIdtown Mall.
I was under 10 in the 1950's, and I fondly remember the Woolworths in our Chicago North Center neighborhood. No air-conditioning, but i remember the huge ceiling fans hung from a very high ceiling. My aunt gave me a dollar for my birthday, and I went on a spending spree at Woolworths!
Very interesting! I am old enough to remember the lunch counter. We had one in Anchorage. Living now in a small town in a flyover state, we have a Mercantile that is affiliated somehow with Ben Franklin stores.
I miss Woolworths. As a kid in the late 60's I would get my 45's there, eat at the lunch counter, go downstairs where the fish, birds, and hamsters were, buy paper dolls and jumping beans, and get b&w pics taken in the picture booth . I would do x mas shopping there also.
@@GM-jv9jz I could’ve written this ! I loved Woolworth ❤️
It was the late 70's for me. I loved Woolworths, too.
@@GM-jv9jz Yep.There were M1 Garamds and German Mausers.
Now they were in a rack and chained and padlocked.
I grew up in a very rural area. I do remember going to visit kinfolk in Houston in 1961 or 1962 and going into the Woolworth's there. I wanted to go to the lunch counter, but we just got whatever we went in there for and left.
@@GM-jv9jz Yes! 💯
As a young teen, I'm 71 now, I bought my first album from Woolworths, The Grateful Dead in fact. I can remember the price being $3.79.
Good memories for you!
WOW!!! 👀😲🥰🥰
I loved Woolworths. It was a great store to go to. It had a great atmosphere and was fun to shop in. Wish we still had them.
I have fond memories of eating in the U shaped counters inside Woolworth's here in NYC on 34th street. They served your meals in brown trays and paper cone coffee cups held inside orange cup holders. They were known for the blue plate specials. This was back in the 80's...
That was a great one! Used to go there often.
Good memories for you!
My dad brought me there often. Living in Astoria Queens we had one on Ditmars Blvd. My mom abd sister went there almost daily.
@@CycloptycFilms Good memories for you!
I miss this America. The lunch counters. The whole concept
Loving these company retrospectives. They're my favorite videos right now on YT.
My dad was the regional vice president of Woolworth at the end of its time in the Mid90s. He started at the bottom and moved all the way to the top in 25 years. It’s a sad story how it ended. He loved working for Woolworth
DID YOUR DAD RECEIVE A SEVERANCE??? A PENSION? OR WAS IT THE OLD HEAVE HO???
I miss the soda fountains at Woolworth stores. The chocolate cream coke served in a nice cold fluted glass. With a cheery on top. Ohhh yummy!
My mom and her sister worked for Woolworth in Manhattan during the depression. Believe it was a 6 day week for a $14.00 salary. She always commented on how closely management monitored their employees. She said that the store would not allow both sisters to be off to attend the funeral of their father in 1937. My last encounter with Woolworth with a visit to the lunch counter at the location on 34th Street opposite Macys.That was at least 20 years back and that store has been shut a long time.
Not really, it was really a shame that black folks had to stage sit ins at their eating encounters just to get served
@drew8422 That's a great story you had!!
I miss the Woolworth stores here in the US. It was a great place to get supplies you needed (and at least a couple bonus items!) and share lunch with friends who were doing the same. Thanks for the interesting video and awakening some nice memories.
I liked TG&Y more but Woolworhsss was cool it was just in a big store you had to drive+park in. All the mean people in town shopped in that mall so we avoided it!
F.W. Woolworth had a MASSIVE impact on my hometown of Yorkton, SK, Canada, and on me for that matter. After the Hudson Bay Co. decided to move out of their original neoclassical landmark of a building, Woolworth's moved in, and remained there for THIRTY YEARS, serving as the main department store for our entire city. To this day, though the building is considered the HBC Building, one can still see evidence of its later occupant.
As for my side, The Bargain! Shop was the main place my family got mine and my sister's back-to-school clothes, and its small town iteration that we shopped at IS STILL OPEN TO THIS DAY! On top of that, Foot Locker is a great place to get shoes for years in our family. On the other hand, Northern Reflections is a name that is almost spat upon in my family. We somehow got onto their phoning list, and despite several attempts to stop them or to remove ourselves from the list, they never stopped calling us every month for SIX STRAIGHT YEARS. So yeah, thanks Woolworth. We DeGrows REALLY love ya!
And also Darkness, again, the country Barbados is pronounced Bar-BAY-dos!
Tooo funny. It's a little controversial in my country. Since they were oddly few and far between up North. My Grandmother said because of the "sit in's" done there. It was considered racist? I just know my Dickies were super expensive then as they are now.
Praise Barbatos!
For spam phone calls, do what I do with the scam phone calls, recruit them on your even more illegal scam. The last call I got from "Amazon" for my package being held due to needing verify my payment information I nearly got the guy on the phone to help me with running credit cards so I can start back up my nose sugar business after the lousy DEA caught my shipment. It was only a single truckload, but I needed to pull money from credit cards that I mysteriously found in people's wallets after stealing them. He oddly wasn't interested after I needed to ask him if he was a fed or not. Credit card fraud is illegal but most countries won't bother with extradition. Drug trafficking, most countries will throw you in prison for a very long time.
Family Dollar and Dollar General, taking up the slack.
@@shirleyroundtree8048 Newberry's in my area took over the Woolworth's thing. The final store knew it was in financial trouble as they advertised their store going out of business for 5 years. They wanted everyone to make sure they shopped there one last time.
I worked for Woolworth from 1960-63! Fabulous French fries at the lunch counter!! Miss them !!
@@vetteman95 best French fries ever!
@@vetteman95 and grilled cheese sandwiches
Blacks couldn't sit at the lunch counters at that time.
@@thankthelord4536That's bad. Then what about Asians!?
@vetteman95 I loved the tuna sandwich on toast with a side of potatoes chips. Yum. & a fountain coke.
I am a 78 year old Boomer, my grandmother made a career at the Trenton NJ store and mother worked there until she married after WWII. Thanks for the story.
I used to go to the Woolworth's in Trenton, back in the late 1970's for lunch quite often. I worked an entry level position for the state, and they didn't pay much. Woolworth's always had the cheapest lunch downtown. Once they closed, it was a shame no one ever reopened that building, as another business
Cool! I worked in three different Mercer County stores in the 80´s, but not the E. State St. one.
@earllsimmins9373 That's a great bit of family history (in a nutshell) which I like! Wish you well!
I still have these little old tyme cars and trains my grandmother got from Woolworth, but all the goldfish and parakeets are in animal heaven.
@@earllsimmins9373 Good memories for you! 😊
I loved these stores when I was a child. I bought many HO trains items and model model kits. I miss those little stores. American has changed so much. Being 67 is really difficult.
Thanks, that brought back memories - I had forgotten that I used to by Revelle models and HO train supplies at Woolworths. I almost feel like I'm back there and only eleven years old again!
@@VictorianMaid99 tell me about it! I’m 57 and I use to go there with my mom and brother and sister in the 1960’s and 1980’s. It was fun to just browse around. We would get cheep Chinese shit there! I usually got the plastic army men and cheep toys, clothes, ice cream, candy, etc. it was like a cheep Sears where they dumped stuff cheep off to Woolworths. Also got back to school stuff there.
*U.S.
@VictorianMaid99 I hope that they are good memories for you!
Sadly, I only recall the last years of Woolworth. My mom would shop there for fabric and knitting supplies. They put a lot of effort into decorating the store around the holiday season. It’s also my first memory of telling Santa Claus what I wanted for Christmas! 😊
Nice to see a company evolve with the market rather than just roll over and die.
A few UK Woolworths rebranded to "Wellworths" when they closed down, there should be a BBC documentary about it on RUclips somewhere.
@Larry I'm pretty sure they went completely bust and didn't rebrand. Wellworths was a store set up by some ex employees who reopened the one store they worked in under the Wellworths name, this however also went bust not long after.
The UK woolworths brand was bought by the same company that owns Very and launched it as an online only store, but this closed down a few years ago too.
@@Chrzs2cj I thought Littlewoods had it too at some point?
But that site had very little fanfare and I never saw any advertising for it. so not surprised it went under.
Like when Argos wanted to make a clone site of Amazon called Jungle.
Larry! Always a delight to see your comments. Can't wait for new videos.
@@zg-it Thank you, I'm raring to go myself!!!
Not strictly true. Wellworths was a store opened in Dorchester, Dorset by a group of ex-Woolies employees, some of whom said they would succeed because they would do things 'the Woolworth way'. Considering doing things that way contributed to the company's collapse, I was always doubtful it would succeed.
Us old folks called Woolworth's and others as a "5 & Dime"
@@GenMasterB Yep or simply a dime store. My little town used to have a Five and Dime but went out of business along with most other businesses in the late ‘80s when Walmart moved to town.
My grandma used to take me there when I was little. Best burgers and the place I got my first hamster. Thanks for the memory refresher.
Same story for me, minus the hamster. 😂
My grandpa.
It's where he would take me when he wanted a greasy burger (that he shouldn't have been eating) and a malt. He'd buy my silence with a couple new fish and a few toys
I bought a baby hamster at our Woolworth's in 1973 and called him Charlie Washington. He lived to be three years old and passed of old age in his cage. Thanks for helping me remember him.
Sounds like fun bonding times with you and your grandpa.
@@davidgonzales9039 - when I visited my grandma in the 70's she would take me to Woolworths to buy a model car kit to keep me busy while she baked. Ah, memories. Great video, would have never guessed Foot Locker.
Here's where things get really complicated.
In Canada, F. W. Woolworth operated Woolworth stores and Woolco stores. Both department stores lasted much longer then in the USA. In 1994, it was often believed Walmart simply took over the department stores. Not true. It is true that F. W. Woolworth sold most of the Woolco stores to Walmart in 1994, but they maintained many and converted them to a new F. W. Woolworth department store brand "The Bargain Shop!". Many years later, that brand was rebranded Red Apple. Red Apple is still technically owned and operated by F. W. Woolworth and still operates 143 stores today.
Thanks for sharing the info!
Really liked the lunch counter at a Woolworth store in NYC in the 1960's.
That's really wild that F.W. Woolworth is Foot Locker. That would be like if the East India Company from the 1700's turned out to be Spencer's Gifts
The East India Company became the United States.
In fact, the Company dissolved in 1874, as the British government took over the running of occupied India and absorbed its private army.
Back in the early '70s, my aunt Gloria, a housewife, got her first 'proper' job at
Woolworth -- Freeport, Long Island. And I recall the whole family being so excited.
Personally, that meant: "G.I.Joe for X-Mas & Free Egg Cream Sodas!"
Excellent Video. Thanks, bro!...
Btw, auntie never did get me that G.I.Joe, but those Egg Creams were Scrumdiddlyumptious!! Cheers!
@@snake5709 I used to my visit my aunt and cousin who lived at "The Port" back in the 70s. I don't recall a Woolworths there. Where was it located? I was about 12 at the time so I may have missed it.
@@nycfunk Hey, bro., thanks for responding.
If memory serves me, it was located on
N. Main Street, near Sunrise Hwy./ 'Canon Drugs.'
She later worked at 'Modell's, in the Atkinson school district. The Good Ole Days indeed. Cheers!
Woolworths Australia is an example of what happens when you don't trademark your name worldwide. In the early 70's Burger King discovered this when it tried to expand to Australia. It found a burger chain down there already using that name. This is why to this day Burger King in Australia operates under the name Hungry Jack's.
Hungry Jack’s sounds like such a filler name, like a burger restaurant on a billboard in a video game or something
@@Purriah Only because "Burger King" is what you're used to, "Burger King" itself is about as generic a name as there can be. Likewise "Wendys" etc.
@@PurriahKind of like Cluckin' Bell 🔔 🍗
interesting, because Hungry Jacks is a brand of pancake mix in the US
@@AKayfabe At the time Burger King was looking to expand to Australia it was owned by Pillsbury. The Australian burger chain that owned the rights to the name Burger King refused to sell the rights. Burger King (US) then grabbed the name of the pancake mix (which I assume isn't sold in Australia) and added an "S" to the end for it's Australian restaurants. Sometime in the 90's the Australian Burger King went out of business and Burger King bought the trademark. However they still use the name Hungry Jack's as it's now well established.
I remember my grandmother going every Saturday to Woolworths for lunch it was her Saturday afternoon ritual and she never failed to bring home something for her grandkids thank you this brought back some wonderful childhood memories
Born and raised in Lancaster, PA loved Woolworth's would stop there everyday on my way home from school, the fresh soft pretzels and the candy counter were just inside the door and kids were lined up there to buy snacks for the rest of the trip home. The lunch counter was always busy and the records were in the lower level, bought most of my 45's there.
The store front is still there on North Queen Street but sadly no longer Woolworth's. Good memories.
Yes, fond memories for you!
Yeah but you cant get a grilled cheese sandwich, fries and a pickle at foot locker.
In the 1960's and early 1970's, my parents would go there to do their shopping. I loved the Christmas decorations and toys they had while we usually shopped in the Flushing, Queens NYC stores.
Fond memories for you!
Flushing store was great
As a New Yorker, Woolworth's had everything. Clothes, food , records and even family portraits at reasonable prices. And hangout place .
Woolworth's had a big presence in Puerto Rico in the 80s. The restaurant and cafeteria were awesome. Good memories.
Fun fact, the last functioning Woolworth's lunch counter is here in my hometown of Bakersfield, California.
Wow. Is the food good?
They used to sell a great cheesecake, I think it was called Ice Box Cheesecake
@@cookieanddabutt2843The burger I had was mediocre at best.
Yep.
They should make it a tourist attraction!
I liked their store back in the 80's.......... It's kind of funny that you found the parakeets in the adverts. I got a Parakeet from them when I was 10. He was cool. I named him Mario.
In 1996-1997 I was a sophomore at Moravian College, and one of my friends was a cashier at the Woolworth's in the Whitehall Mall near Allentown. I was hired when they were going out of business and my job was to move merchandise to the front of the store and disassemble fixtures in the store so they could be sold off. My manager ended up shutting down the Easton and Bethlehem locations, so I did a bunch of the same work there. The Bethlehem one was one of the great old downtown stores. I found a bunch of shelf price signs from the thirties, and I have the under-the-overhang sign from the sixties that was at the Easton store (that one was in a strip mall). Also have a 1960s hand basket as well.
They also sold off the restaurant equipment from attached Harvest House restaurant, and the people purchasing it indiscriminately cut pipes to the equipment, which resulted in slow flood where I had to stand mopping water as it left the tile floor by the lunch counter and started soaking into the carpet.
Our close date was extended and other stores were sending merchandise to our location. It felt like it would never end. Afterwards I had a couple of nightmares where I dreamed I had been called back and had to reassemble the store because they had more merchandise to sell. I was up at the Whitehall Mall last month (originally an indoor mall, half was ripped down and it was turned into a strip mall). The part that had the Woolworths is still there, and if you go to the back you can still see the shadow of the Woolworth's sign that was on the back wall (single red light-up letters), the only sign left that it was ever there.
Thank you for sharing your experiences and information!
I love how you’ve been going on a bankrupt company stride, and this Woolworth’s video has to be one of my favorites.
I am starting to miss your railroad-related videos, though. If you’re thinking about giving up on that topic completely, would like to see you at least talk about either Texas and Pacific 610, Southern 4501, or Burlington Route 4960, before you take your leave from that. All of those three relatively-famous locomotives each have a rich history just long enough for you to create a 20-30 minute long video out of them. I think you’d find 610’s history interesting, especially.
It’s not surprising that Foot Locker is successful. The thing about shoes is that it’s not that they’re immune to online shopping, but it’s one of those products where people want to try it out in person, every shoe brand feels different and runs smaller and larger than others, Walmart and Target sell shoes, but if you want a specific brand you need to shop at a specialty store like a Foot Locker, a DSW, a Sketchers store, or a Nike store.
Your timing is perfect... love your style of history telling and comedy.
Grew up not rich in Iowa and a treat was going to their lunch counter to eat. The store is long gone but not the memories!!
Good memories!
Loved going to Woolworth in the 60s and 70s as a kid. Especially during the holiday season.
I worked at Woolworths as a stock boy back in the 80s. it was one of the best jobs ever, plus we had a little diner in the store that had the best food ever those were the days. Long Island NY!!!
Used to take the bus with my grandma to Woolworth when I was little. We would shop and eat lunch there before going home. Ah, memories.
In New Zealand we had Woolworths Variety stores as a budget department store up until the 80s and Woolworths as a supermarket.
The Woolworths Variety Stores were owned by a company called LD Nathans and were rebranded as LD Nathan and later DEKA. DEKA purchased the Farmers department store chain in 1993 and in 2001 closed their DEKA stores converting some stores to Farmers. In the North Island town of Huntly a DEKA sign still remains.
With the supermarket side we had Woolworths as a supermarket and I believe this was originally independent of the Australian Woolworths. In the 2000s a merger took place between the parent company of Woolworths and Countdown supermarkets. In the 2010s all of the Woolworths supermarkets were rebranded as Countdown and adopted the same logo as Woolworths Australia, last year Woolworths began the process of rebranding all the Countdown supermarkets in NZ back to Woolworths.
As an Australian subscriber I'm just happy you mentioned us at all. Greetings from Down Under!! lol
My mom brought me, my first Cassette from a Woolworths here in the UK
That's a good memory for you!
The only time I experienced the old retail format with the staff and goods behind a counter was in Czechoslovakia not long after the the end of the eastern bloc. They were still operating under the old system, apparently designed to make as much employment as possible.
This food store had a long u-shaped counter that surrounded customers when they walked in. You had to go to the right and basically walk around the whole counter before ending up near the door again at the end of the counter to the left. You never touched the goods until the very end. Customers had to deal with about 9 staff to make a purchase with the whole transaction broken into tiny steps each with its own clerk - talk to the greeter, make your order, see the goods fetched from the shelves, see the order subtotalled, see the goods wrapped, see the goods given to the person to take them to the cashier, pay at the cashier, see your goods bagged, and then finally talk to the despatcher who handed you your bag. And there were still more people standing around behind the counter seemingly not directly involved in your transaction. Supervisors perhaps?
What a story!!
I am old enough to remember shopping at Woolworths with my mom as a child,and then later as a young adult.I loved their lunch counter.They had great chili dogs,and apple turnovers with vanilla sauce.
@2:18 "Five and dime stores, or five and ten, or five and ten cents stores." -- I'm just glad you didn't nickel and dime me on that explanation.
During my trucking days I ate at a Woolworths lunch counter in Bakersfield, California. The storefront and lunch counter were still there but the rest was some sort of antique shop. The burger wasn't all that great but I ate there for the experience.
It is like Sears. They had iconic products and then they started to disappear.
yes
Nothing like Sears. Sears was a step up from Woolworth. A lot more expensive. No comparison.
Great as always History, I enjoy these corporate videos as much as I do with the railroad content
I used to live in Mexico City for several years and down the street from where I lived there used to be a Woolworth store. It is no there anymore as a small shopping center now stands in its place.
That was the store I used to shop for school supplies and records. Sometimes , i would buy my Christmas gifts. It was a place to shop and affordable. When I would shop for my mom, we would stop there to eat a burger and shake too. ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Fond memories for you!
They had great food , their Roast beef and Mashed Potatoes was Awesome ! I Think every pet i had as a kid and toy i played with as a kid was bought at Woolworth's !
Growing up in Nashville, the name Woolworth has deep historical meaning. The Woolworth lunch counters were very popular in the 1950s and 60s, but in the south, they were also segregated so black people like myself couldn't eat there. The lunch counter sit-ins were organized by the late Rep. John Lewis and other prominent Nashville civil rights leaders. The student protestors were trained by Vanderbilt University graduate divinity student James Lawson who was expelled for his actions. He now has a Nashville high school named in his honor. The protests were organized in the basement of First Baptist Church, Capitol Hill (my church) by my pastor, Kelly Miller Smith Sr. and my mother, a Fisk student and classmate of John Lewis participated in the protests. The protests were successful and the Woolworth lunch counters (and all the other ones) were desegregated by order of Mayor Ben West when Fisk student Diane Nash directly asked the mayor on the courthouse steps to desegregate the Nashville lunch counters. He did and Nashville was the first of 69 cities in the protest movement to desegregate in 1960. Ben West has a government building in his name across the street from the Court House and the Court House plaza was renamed for Diane Nash (who is still alive) two years ago. James Lawson passed away this past June 2024. In later years, the actual Woolworth store location downtown closed and fell into disrepair but reopened as an upscale restaurant a decade ago. The restaurant concept didn't last but the building is now the Woolworth Theater and does broadway style cabaret shows for the tourists.
Lastly, when I was a teenager at my first job in Nashville's oldest mall, we had a Woolco as an anchor store (the other anchor was a J.C. Penney (called Penney's in those days). I never liked the store compared to the nicer Penney's and it closed in 1983 about the time I graduated high school.
Oh I loved the lunch counter. I ate in ours any times.
They also had discriminatory hiring practices, at one point, that lead to the federal government monitoring them, for quite awhile, to ensure compliance with EOEC rules.
@sevenfeet0....if memory serves me the down town Woolworth had a hair salon also.
@@keithbuchanan8588 those little stores had everything
SevenfeetO Thank you for sharing this information!
One of my earliest memories is shopping for my school dresses at Woolworth’s in 1967. They had a cool old fashioned lunch counter. It was all black and gold and the hamburgers were delicious.
I loved eating at a lunch counter at Department stores as a child. It was a treat!
When I got into Junior High School I could walk to the drug store after school and get a grilled cheese or a club sandwich and a Pepsi Then ,I’d try all the perfume testers and makeup. It was a great time to be a youth in small town America
Facinating bit of history! Thanks for sharing!
I remember one store near me (when I was a kid in the 1970s). It had a lunch counter. I think my mother bought our bunk bed there. And they had a jacuzzi sized tank where you could scoop up your own goldfish to buy. And a candy counter in the middle of the store.
Good memories for you!
I loved the Woolwoth stores. I not only shopped there but often had lunch at one of their half moon restaurants. I remember buying a record set of French lessons. It was amazing. I have taken numerous courses since then but none of them were as good as my set from Woolworths. A friend and l would have cocoa and cookies at Woolworths after skating in the cold Canadian winter. I miss those days even though they have become a distant memory.
Good memories for you!
Hey Thanks! I just found you yesterday! I always wanted to know what happened to them. It was so far from my house in Chicago. On the bus👍🏾
My neighbor opened the New
Stores 1950'S thru 1980'S , HESTER WATTS
SHE NEW F. W. WOOLWORTH ,& FRANK WAS HER HUSBANDS FIRST NAME TOO ♥
Thankyou for posting *
We love shopping at Woolworth. Last year My 😊granddaughter bought clothes and candy. I bought some towels 😅
I miss Woolworths. I still fondly remember going to Woolworths inside the Midway Mall living in Lorain, Ohio as a kid. I also remember eating in their restaurant, called The Harvest House. They actually had a full restaurant, not a Lunch Counter. Once, as a child, I won this huge heart-shaped box of candy that the restaurant was giving away on Valentines Day. Their chicken croquets were great and I always had that when we would go there. Ahhhh....fond memories. I really miss that. Thanks for this!
Woolworth’s was my first “grownup” job after graduating high school. Not the massive mega-store like Walmart, but you could find everything there. Even as an employee who handled (ordering and inventory, maintaining appearance, etc.) three sections, I was sometimes surprised by what we carried when I was called to a register to ring up customer purchases.
I was wondering about the Woolworths in Australia. Great video I got to check out your channel to see what else you have.
I loved our Woolworth’s in S.F. So much fun to visit and shop, especially there/their pet shop’s.
How do you churn out videos so fast!!? It's so good lol
Everyone in my family got their start working in Woolworths. My mother, father, brother, and myself learned there and I remain appreciative.
This was one of my favorite stores as a kid. Bought my first "Wooly Willy", "Gone Fish'n" and "Mr. Potato Head" from FW Woolworth. Seemed similar to GC Murphy as a kid.
I shopped at Woolworths in the 1950s and I utterly miss them. I remember buying my coloring books there and paper dolls and what a selection!!!! They sold birds and bird feed there and aprons and all sorts of things. Hardware was sold there and ladies jewelry..Cosmetics and so much much more. Sadly, in the 1990s I shopped the last Woolworths in NJ. yarns and sewing items were sold there as well. Fabrics, and oh that Lunch counter! I really really miss them and Footlocker is NOT the same.!!!!!!!
An amazing documentary concerning one of my favorite retail stores: Woolworths. In the last days it was open in my area, it had an arcade. They had the Real Ghostbusters machine, Pac-Man, Galaga, 1948 (Anyway a related WWII plane shot-em-up), Tekken, Terminator 2, Robocop, Mortal Kombat, and Killer Instinct... Anyway, I am impressed they are still around as Foot Locker. I still go to the local Mall's Foot Locker and the Online site. Anywho, Do you remember Montgomery Wards? We still have an old roadside "Wards" sign and their old repair shop(well is part of our historical college and still in use). I am rambling, buddy. Again and excellent showcase of Woolsworths- Man their legendary Frito-Pies, Bacon & Cheese Burgers, Fries, and Pizza. 😁👍🤜🤛🖖
We had one in the mall when I grew up. I remember looking through their toy section a lot and eating at the diner that was attached to it.
As a little kid in the early '60s, I would spend Friday nights with my dad and brother at the Aquidneck Shopping Center in Middletown, RI. After Sears and the hobby shop, we would go to the Woolworth's lunch counter for a Coke. Even then, Woolworth's had an old-fashioned quality.
Going to Woolworths was a real treat!!! I especially loved the lunch counter, and those rectangle buns they had for hotdogs, they were so good!!! 😊
I remember the Woolworths in downtown Marysville California. It's gone now but I remember going there and getting myself a glass of sweet sun tea. I miss it. Wish it was still open.
I miss the old five and dimes, though there are some here and there if you're lucky to find them! I remember having a strawberry ice cream soda once at a Woolworth store in upper Manhattan near the George Washington bridge in the early 1970s when I was in my early 20s, best ice cream soda I ever had served in a tall glass in one of those old fashioned metal holders topped with whipped cream on a very hot summer day, nice memories! Thanks for reminding me~ 💗💗💗💗
Here in the UK we used to call them Wollies.
No we didn't, we called them Woolies.
@@Larry Clearly the spelling Police are out. My sincere apologies for my spelling to be incorrect. Now run along and get a life.
Of course you did. That's the most UK thing I've ever heard.
@@guyclark2975 How many spelling police officers does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
Too.
@@Larry Two funny! Chears!
woolworths in south africa is incredible. the first Woolworths store opened its doors to the public in Cape Town in October 1931. And it was founder Max Sonnenberg who captured the public’s imagination with dynamic store policies that set Woolworths apart from its competitors.
currently Woolworths operates 218 full-line stores and 430 food stand-alone stores in South Africa, with 64 stores throughout the rest of Africa.
We have a lunch counter in Bakersfield still. It’s currently undergoing renovations. Won’t open back up till 2025
I miss Woolworth's so much. When I started college in 1994, I loved traveling by bus to the Woolworth's on High Street in Columbus, OH. I do not remember if I purchased anything, but I absolutely loved going in to see a store that I adored. At the time, they were connected to a now defunct Mall called City Center. But in 1997, we sadly lost Woolworth's and soon after City Center was no more. Now when I travel to German Village, I fondly look at what was Woolworth's like it is a long lost friend. Woolworth's you will always live in the hearts of my fellow Gen-X'rs. Now I think I need to cry. 😢
I miss working at Woolworth in Boston, Massachusetts.
I used work as salesperson, cashier, stock associated, etc in 1993 to 1997.
I used be a cashier at Woolworth on different floors and work on the different floors and set up sales, mark things down, etc.
I used to work as a cashier in Woolworth’s cafe too.
I miss employee discount.
😢😢😢😢😢
I had to look for another job after my old store closed down in 1997.
Very informative. Thanks!
The German Woolworth does not currently have stores in the UK, but does operate in Poland and Austria. The German company Woolworth is the owner of the “Woolworth” brand for some countries in Europe. Perhaps they will expand to other European countries in the future... 16:50 this Woolworth pictured is in the neighboring town (Wuppertal), I have shopped there a few times 😃
As a kid there was an abandoned Woolworth’s just by the bridge. My grandparents used to tell me they had everything you’d need an every department, along with the soda counter. I always wanted to visit one. Born just a little too late I’m afraid.
Excellent! I enjoy your videos very much!
😎👍
I bought a fan at Woolworths in Santa Monica. The store had the FW Woolworth name. This was back in 1985 that place is long gone now.
The last time I was in a Woolworth's was in downtown Houston.
Of all items for sale,was a rack of WW2 Military Rifles!!😢😅😊😮
M1 battle rifles and M1 carbines no doubt. Would have loved to add those to my collection. Roses used to sell old firearms also before they turned into a total junk store.
I absolutely loved Woolworths!! Ours had a restaurant counter with the best hamburgers ever!!!. Mom took us to Woolworths alot!!
Wal-Mart has destroyed alot companies and other things like leaving empty bldgs all over!!
Thanks for the video. I remember going to the both of the former Woolworth stores on Oxford Street in London as a kid and eating there, buying sweets (candy) and other cheap stuff. Now I live in Berlin, Germany and Woolworth is really expanding here. As more upmarket stores go out of business Woolworth are opening stores in many shopping malls where even a couple of years ago they would have been too downmarket, still the malls, with acres of empty space, need the rent. Also there are several Foot Locker stores in Berlin. My mother told me that when she was a girl in England people referred to Woolworth as the threepenny and sixpenny store matching the US five and dime name.
Missed the old days of Woolworth and woolco even kmart
Thanks for that information very informative and enlightening
I worked at Woolworths in the early 90's. I still have my name badge. Interesting historical information. When ever I go past a Foot Locker from now on, I will think of this. Thanks for the information!
It's a shame because my parents talked about Woolsworth. I would have loved to check this place out.
I love Woolies in Australia and South Africa. Remember them well is the US as a child. I'm glad you cleared that up.
Completely dead and gone from the UK
I saw a Woolworth in Mexico when I visited family that lives there a few years ago.
@@TaliaIGhul yeah, but are kind of DelSol i.e. basics clothes, novelties, small toys, snacks etc. Mamá say she used to buy at old Woolworths when it was cheaper than mexican Sears and Liverpool (now seeking to buy Nordstrom), guess it was kind of Pe- Hace, Langstroth (home appliances, china, pots, cuttery, hardware, tools etc) and not as expensive as Sanborns (restaurant, cuban cigars, cameras, fountain pens, swiss chocolate and watches etc) its main competition was El nuevo mundo (personal care, clothing, restaurant, furniture). Mexican Sears is still strong.
I miss the chain stores...and I miss the mom & pop stores.
In the 70s Woolworth was the place to go. I miss the store, especially during Christmas time. Ours in Killeen TX was attached to a mall, it was MIdtown Mall.
They opened a Woolworths a few years ago in Nogales Mexico! I was surprised because I remember the old ones with the lunch counter!
I was under 10 in the 1950's, and I fondly remember the Woolworths in our Chicago North Center neighborhood. No air-conditioning, but i remember the huge ceiling fans hung from a very high ceiling. My aunt gave me a dollar for my birthday, and I went on a spending spree at Woolworths!
Very interesting! I am old enough to remember the lunch counter. We had one in Anchorage. Living now in a small town in a flyover state, we have a Mercantile that is affiliated somehow with Ben Franklin stores.
Wow. That description of letting them take stuff off the shelves was pioneered by Myer in Australia too.
Can someone do a show on Buster brown shoe stores. They just disappeared during the late 80s
Our Alaskan experience was in the 60's (Fairbanks). Used to help "clean up" the candy counter on Sundays when the store was closed!