When was woolworths closed

The original American firm was founded in when Frank Woolworth, a sales assistant, opened a shop in the state of Pennsylvania. Woolies, as it became known, officially came under British ownership in when it was acquired by Paternoster Stores Ltd. In , Littlewoods owner Shop Direct bought the trademark and sold to customers online through Woolworth.

The company ran the retail website but closed it six years later in and merged it into its Very brand. Rumours of a possible comeback for the retailer were sparked by a mysterious tweet from an account named "Woolworths UK" on Tuesday October By other five-and-ten chains had opened in competition. Although these chains were much smaller and less successful, each of the syndicate members decided to incorporate his company, selling shares to friends and managers.

This was done defensively as a safeguard against a hostile takeover, but also raised a lot of money, making the pioneers rich and allowing them to accelerate their opening programmes. Woolworth had toyed with the idea of opening in Britain ever since and took the plunge despite the reservations of his management.

Frank hired his cousin, Fred , to lead the new venture along with three volunteers from New York State. To deal with resistance from the British press he also hired an Englishman, William Lawrence Stephenson , from a favoured supplier. By the British subsidiary had already grown to twelve stores.

Its momentum was so great that it was able to open stores using retained profit. Frank had already turned his attention to other projects. Work was nearing completion on his grandest scheme - the world's tallest building in Broadway Place, New York.

He had commissioned the top architect Cas Gilbert, and had overseen the work personally, paying for it in cash. Businessmen had flocked to take floor space in the landmark Woolworth Building that dominated the Manhattan skyline. Also in , the five friendly rival Five-and-Ten Cent Store chains joined forces. The fascias of S. Each became a VP of the F. Woolworth Co. Frank engineered the deal and became the President. By the outbreak of War in Europe, the British chain had opened 44 stores with many more in the pipeline.

The infant resisted its parent's offer to send help from the USA as managers went away to war. In the American company opened its thousandth store in palatial premises on New York's Fifth Avenue.

The magnate launched a savings stamp scheme just weeks later, persuading rival dimestores to join him in selling them. He later funded victory parades for returning servicemen in many towns served by a Woolworth Five-and-Ten. The final years of Frank Woolworth's life were filled with sadness. His beloved wife Jennie fell ill with 'the living death', which is called early-onset Alzheimer's today. His eldest daughter Edna died in tragic circumstances. She had been trapped in a loveless marriage to the financier Franklyn Laws Hutton.

Frank's granddaughter, Barbara, later dubbed the "poor little rich girl" found her mum dead in bed. Woolworth suffered poor health as he got older. He was given to violent mood swings and often had to take to his bed for weeks on end.

Nonetheless his death came as a great shock across the retail world. He passed away just three days after complaining of a head cold as he left his desk in New York. He died from septic poisoning from a tooth infection on 8 April He was 66 and had been preparing for the fortieth anniversary celebrations for his 1, strong chain.

His brother, Charles Sumner Woolworth, became Chairman - a post he held with distinction until , while the Company Treasurer, Hubert Parson, stepped up to become President. Frank would have been pleased by one obituary reading: "He made his money not by selling a little for a lot, but by selling a lot for a little. Kresge's decision to close all of his stores for the funeral as a mark of respect.

In the firm was rocked by another death , as Frank's cousin Fred, MD of the British subsidiary, passed away at just fifty-two years of age. He had overseen the opening of highly profitable stores. He had a reputation for being firm but fair, setting high standards but also treating the staff generously, with paid holidays and outings to the seaside. A lively and active man, he suffered a stroke on a trip home to the USA and never fully recovered. He succumbed to a second attack six months later.

His successor was the Yorkshireman William Stephenson, who in his own words "joined on the ground floor" before the first British Woolworth store opened. In a canny group of Australian entrepreneurs led by Mr. Christmas were looking for a name for their new 'stupendous bargain basement'. They cheekily applied to register the name F. In-fighting between the British and American companies meant that neither raised its objection in time, allowing the venture to go ahead.

Bitter legal battles in the High Court followed in the s, after rumours spread of Antipodean plans to open an office in London.

The Aussies had the last laugh. Unlike the Poms, they had the resolve to complete a move into food retailing in the Sixties. Today they are the nation's market-leading supermarket. A former subsidiary operates independently in New Zealand. By the mid s growth in the USA was slowing down. Rival dimestores had adapted to price inflation with fifteen cent lines. But the Woolworth Board was reticent to shake a proven formula, until they saw the early results from a new subsidiary in Weimar Germany in They had translated the formula to become the 25 und 50 Pfennig stores, roughly 10 and 20 cents, allowing a much broader range.

The chain grew so rapidly that it had become self-sustaining before Hitler placed restrictions on foreign companies operating in Germany. Buoyed by the German news, a 15 cent line was added after fiftieth birthday celebrations in North America in This re-energised the chain after its stock was among the heaviest fallers in the Wall Street Crash. Many investors were all-but wiped out by the collapse. Barbara Hutton's father Edwin had wisely sold her entire holding and put the money into gold just weeks before the crash.

They reduced the American golden share and listed the subsidiary on the London Stock Exchange. The move gave the Threepenny and Sixpenny stores a measure of independence. The move helped to save many investors.

Stephenson became Chairman in the UK. The UK firm was enjoying an unrivalled period of prosperity, opening a store every five days outside the Christmas season.

A major celebration marked the opening of the th 'Woolies', which was a new-build London suburban store in Wallington, Surrey. Sales and profits had never been better. Meanwhile Stateside competition was hotting up. The Directors had to give in to the inevitable, facing up to a decision that had been postponed for too long. They announced that Woolworth would remain a value store, but freed the Buyers to choose more aspirational products. Charles Sumner Woolworth told his biographer, company man J.

Winkler , that he had abstained in the vote, unable to say 'yes' in his brother's memory, unwilling to say 'no' as a stockholder and a businessman. The British company went to lengths to maintain its sixpenny limit , asserting its buying power to make suppliers accept lower margins during the price inflation of and War forced a rethink as prices rocketed and cheap goods became hard to find.

Officially the upper limit was dropped "temporarily". To show neutrality the Corporation donated to war relief in both countries, funding an orphanage near London and ambulances for Berlin. The four Directors matched them penny for penny and plane for plane. Media coverage about the closures mourned the loss of a national institution and sympathised with associates affected by the closures, noting that for many of them the shutdown was like losing a close family member.

Editorial comment noted that the Company had failed to keep up with the modern age, and that management had been careful to close the chain with dignity and to 'care for' their employees through a painful period. Newspapers noted that many members of the public, as well as rival traders had purchased fixtures, signs and memorabilia. Soda Bars and fascia signs had been snapped up by lovers of nostalgia.

Farah explained the difficult decision to close. It had a loyal following of very dedicated employees. It had a history of migrating from a primarily general merchandising business into the beginning of a specialty store business," he explained. Mander asked "Coming back home, in you were repositioning and remodelling the Woolworth stores, and then you suddenly turned around and closed them. Why this sudden turnabout? He built three concept stores in Delaware.

But we found the cost to rebuild all stores and expand to a chain of significant size After all Woolworth has been an American icon. The question was do we continue to support a business that is losing money and risk the future of the rest of the corporation?

Or do we try to make the right business decision, try to handle it in the best way we can and try to treat people as fairly as we can and move forward.

Farah said that the stores would begin liquidating items as soon as the following week. The stores were expected to close in 90 days. Not only the merchandise but the fixtures and fittings - store front signs, price tickets, counters, soda fountains and lunch counters. All were to be sold. One Associate wrote in to tell the Woolworths Museum of his last day with the business.

He was Manager of one of the New York stores. You might be able to wander into Aldi in search of a six-pack of Alpine lager and that nice sugary peanut butter and end up stumbling out with a welding mask and a pair of skis but even that has a value-driven internal logic. Poundland is perhaps the true inheritor of the Woolworths model but rarely attempts the same scale of mad ambition.

If you were a bored teenager in the late 20th century, there was always Woolworths to loiter in. Pennsylvanian entrepreneur Frank Winfield Woolworth soon had 40 British branches up and running, proving his doubters within the US head office wrong.

By , the th branch of Woolworth was opened in Southport, Lancashire.