"Twenty years ago, today, F. W. Woolworth Co. officially went out of business. Opened in 1878 in Utica, N.Y., Woolworth's was a game-changer.
It was "...an inexpensive department store that had everything." Woolworth's monopolized what was the referred to as five and dimes. Hackensack, Bergenfield, Closter, Pompton Lakes, Rutherford, Paterson, Teaneck and Ridgewood were among many towns in N.J. that hosted these sprawling inexpensive shopping meccas that catered to the thrifty, respectable lower middle class in the days before credit cards.
"Unlike today's cheaply-outfitted dollar stores, Woolworth stores were clean, well-lighted places, where you could get a ham sandwich for 15 cents at the lunch counter, or buy a tiny turtle with a plastic palm tree in the pet department." (Jim Beckerman)
Today, Woolworth's marketing model can be seen in the (very) few remaining K-Mart stores and, more prevalent, at Target's.
Consider this - "100 years ago, customers could indulge themselves to the extent of a nickel (75 cents in today's money) or dime, without feeling too guilty."
