Woolworth's

[BegintheBeguine]

Vidler's in East Aurora, NY always has something you didn't realize you needed. It is worth the trip. http://www.vidlers5and10.com/ But it is not quite Woolworth's. I miss Woolworth's, must get my passport muddle straightened out so I can do some shopping in England!

 

[Flivver]

I loved Woolworth's as a child. In my town we had Grant's, Kresgee's and Newberry's as well, but somehow, Woolworth's was always the best of the "dime stores" as my dad called them.

The toy department and the lunch counter were my favorite parts of the store. The lunch counter served this wonderful non-carbonated grape drink that I can still taste in my mind today. I would pester my dad to buy me a glass whenever we were shopping "downtown".

 

[Sweet Leilani]

I remember eating lunch at Woolworth's on early-dismissal days during high school. (This was the early 90s) My friends & I weren't cool enough to hang at the sandwich shop with the in crowd, so we made Woolworth's our own. I kinda miss it- it's now a GAP- but we have an original 5&10 in our town here, called Sine's. It still has a lunch counter & penny candy & all the good stuff you'd expect (except the pets- I remember that part of Woolworth's vividly!)

You can watch a video about Sine's here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MMQyGWIEIE
It shows the lunch counter but doesn't really show much of the interior, most of which is unchanged since the 50s.

 

[PrettySquareGal]

I still miss Woolworth's. I bought some Woolworth's Christmas ornaments at a yard sale today and it made me sad thinking about it.

 

[Weston]

Many a fond memory of getting to go to Woolworths when I went to visit my aunt and uncle in Arkansas. Tulsa didn't have one...always loved hitting the candy aisle with Grandmommie and then looking over the great selection of toys. Always an action figure or two there that I didn't have yet. Great days, and this was the early 80s! I can only imagine its appeal 40-50 years ago!

 

[Bourbon Guy]

LizzieMaine

I'd forgotten about McLellan's. I liked the toy counter and the soda fountain at Woolworth's, and I think I had that toy counter memorized. But I still remember the squeak of the old wood floors and the low throb of the high ceiling fans at McLellan's. I also remember the night when it seemed like the whole town turned out to watch McLellan's burn.
My favorite department store was Alden's. They had everything.

 

[Mike in Seattle]

Woolworth's was about to go belly up when someone looked at the balance sheet and realized that the cost basis of the property on the books was original cost (like a hundred years ago) and realized they were one of the largest land-holders in the country and they could make more money closing the stores and instead becoming a real estate lessor instead of a retailer.

 

[Edward]

As Miss Sis has pointed out, Woolworths are still around in the UK, if a somewhat different animal than the US operation. They do the best own brand sweets ever (fizzy blue raspeberry lances that stilll turn my poo green lol ). They're fast disappearing, though.... I think they're pretty much gone in Northern Ireland now, for sure. Growing up in NI, we also had Wellworths - a similar (though more old fashioned, in a way) operation but a distinctly different business from Woolworths AFAIK.

 

[fortworthgal]

I grew up in an extremely rural area, and so we never had a Woolworth's. However, the closest town to us had a Mott's Five & Dime. Oh, how I loved that place! They had a penny candy aisle - probably 15 feet long (seemed like a mile to me at the time), with nothing but bins and bins of assorted candies from 1 to 3 cents each. Atomic Fireballs, Lemonheads, Boston Baked Beans, Lollipops, gum, you name it. We didn't have much money when I was growing up, and I remember it being such a treat to get to peruse the candy bins! You could get a brown paper sack full for less than $1. lol

Now that Mott's is gone and I think there's a cell phone store or something equally depressing in its place. Sigh.

The store (yes, store - singular) in the area where I grew up was an all-purpose type store, as it was the only thing for miles. They sold gasoline and had an ice cream counter, and some grocery items. I do remember they had a display rack of those candy sticks for 10 cents each, my favorite was tutti frutti!