Remembering Woolworth’s

by Karen Plunkett-Powell

  In his quieter moments, between delirium fits, Frank realized that he had to develop some type of structured organizational system for his burgeoning Woolworth syndicate. The business had to be able to run itself, whether he was ill or away on extended business journeys. He had to learn to delegate. Frank therefore developed a plan that would serve both himself until his death, and his corporate descendants and colleagues, for many decades following.

  According to John P. Nichols, author of Skyline Queen and the Merchant Prince, one of Woolworth’s first bedside tasks was to devise an expansion strategy. On a large map, Woolworth marked thirty-five cities east of the Rockies with a population of over 50,000, and a smattering of towns in the 30,000-person range. His goal was to open a store on each of these city’s main streets, preferably close to a train depot. His only ironclad rule was that he would not open on a street where his friendly competitors were already housed with their own five-and-dimes. This so-called “charmed circle” included his brother, Charles Woolworth, along with Seymour Knox, Fred Kirby, Earle Charlton, and William Moore.

  TIME CAPSULE MEMORY

  “Frank’s Bout with Typhoid”

  For two months, I took the mail and the orders to Mr. Woolworth’s house each day. On all but two of these occasions, when he was delirious, he gave me directions and instructions as to how to carry on the business. It was quite a responsibility for a boy, but in those two months I learned a lot about the business and a lot about the boss. I certainly admired his courage and grit.

  —Alvin Ivie, Frank Woolworth’s first assistant, recalling 1888

  The Executives and Managers of the Woolworth Syndicate, 1901.

  This photo was probably taken on the stage of Frank’s “Rooftop Garden & Auditorium” on Queen Street in Lancaster, Pa. during the annual meeting.

  He also decided to train scouts to help find lucrative rental sites and then prepare the stores for their grand openings. Specialists would be trained to lay out the stock, prepare displays, and hire help. Only then would a manager of the finest caliber be installed, and the manager would have to prepare written reports for the executive office every single day. Finally, a central warehouse would be secured for the purpose of storing bulk purchases and seasonal stock.

  The “Woolworth” moniker, Frank vowed, would soon be a household name in America.

  Over the next decade, Woolworth made all of this happen, and in fact, far-surpassed his goal of a dozen new sites per year, establishing himself as a leading force in the world of commerce. During this period, he also earned the reputation of a “retail mother hen.” Frank Woolworth knew virtually everything that was happening in his stores at any given time, and would often visit, in disguise, to see how things were progressing.

  One morning he walked into a busy store and blatantly shoplifted, jamming handfuls of merchandise off the counters and stuffing them into his coat. Needless to say, he was appalled when he got away with this, and quickly apprised the negligent manager and counter girls of their folly. He rarely fired employees for such indiscretions, as he believed everyone was entitled to a mistake or two. However, he kept at his managers incessantly, sending them daily communications that he titled, “General Letters.” These letters were full of tips, news (personal and professional), and countless gems of wisdom. Fortunately, many of these have been reprinted over the years, providing us further insight into Frank Woolworth’s busybody mentality:

  TIME CAPSULE MEMORY

  “That Nosy Boss of Ours!”

  Mr. Woolworth was the most notional individual I ever knew! He wanted to have a finger in every pie, to know what every man in his organization was doing. He used to go poking around among the buyer’s offices and desks, looking in corners and examining packages, especially around the holidays, to make sure none of them violated the rule against presents or “souvenirs’ from manufacturers.

  —Recalled by Beecher Winckler, Woolworth’s first confidential secretary, beginning in 1911

  To push trade in the dull season, keep your goods in attractive shape as possible and trim your windows twice a week with big leaders and prices attached on each article. Another thing you must watch close in dull season is your expense account. Be sure and not have more clerks than you can possibly use and don’t turn all the gas burners on every night. Again, put leaders to the front. This is our mode of advertising!

  As the General Letters kept coming, and the Red-Fronts kept profiting, Frank continued to expand and prosper. Along the way, Frank enjoyed some especially satisfying moments. For example, in July 1888, he and Carson Peck opened a new site in Utica, New York, returning to the city of Frank’s fledgling attempt to start a “Great Five Cent Store” back in 1879. This time around, due to its better location and Frank’s vast experience, Utica proved to be a great success.

  Four months later, soon after he and B. W. Cage opened up a site in Wilmington, Delaware, Frank once again switched business strategies. He decided that Wilmington was to be the last “partner-manager” arrangement of his career. Thereafter he owned his stores outright and installed managers on salary who were eventually offered the incentive of profit-sharing. The better their stores did, the better the managers were paid. In time, this made many of them extremely wealthy.

  Frank W. Woolworth’s drum of progress continued to beat steadily on, until total sales for 1889 reached $246,732.45. By New Year’s Day 1890, Frank had five stores in Pennsylvania, one in New Jersey, three in upstate New York, one in Delaware, and one in Connecticut. On February 19, Woolworth embarked on his first European buying trip, sailing on the luxury liner, City of Paris. During that three-month excursion, Woolworth made manufacturing contacts that forever changed his buying practices. He was able to introduce American customers to marvelous new items such as tiny Dresden china cups, hand-made German dolls, and Christmas ornaments.

  A sample of one of Frank Woolworth’s General Letters. There were a total of 187 thick, bound volumes of these letters, dated 1886 to 1918. Collectively, they form the most important “biographical” source about Woolworth and his empire. Historians hope that the letters will one day be available for public review.

  When he returned home from Europe, Frank took some time away from his busy work schedule to enjoy more social pursuits. His brother Charles had sired another baby, named Fred, prompting Frank and his family to travel to Scranton, Pennsylvania, to greet the newest Woolworth heir. That June, cousin Seymour Knox married Grace Millard in a grand celebration.

  After this, it was back to work for Woolworth. For the next few years he set out with a vengeance to make sure everything was moving along as efficiently as possible in his Syndicate. He initiated many new policies, and banned others. For example, one of his pet peeves was the outdated Civil War era practice of bothering customers who simply wanted to roam freely around a store. He constantly reminded his managers, that his counter girls were not to be following customers all over the store. “That’s the country way of waiting on people, but it won’t do for us. Give each girl a counter and stick to it. In one of the stores I saw a cashier reading a novel. This you should put a stop to at once and not allow anyone to read or chew gum during business hours!”

  Indeed, it was these very counter girls (who made up the majority of his work force) who worked the longest hours for the least pay and the most grief. Woolworth did not show the same regard for counter girls as he did for his managers and stock boys. From Woolworth’s perspective, he was giving these young women the chance of a lifetime, to make their own money and get real business experience. Although this was true to an extent, he never really learned to appreciate them as much as he should have. He was always cordial and respectful, ready with an encouraging word to an overachiever, but remained an old Scrooge about wages. In Lancaster, Pennsylvania, back in 1879, his female clerks had started at only $1.50 a week, which remained the going rate in all his stores for over a decade. It was only through the urging of Carson Peck, who one Woolworth manager called “the pers
onal patron saint of counter girls,” that Woolworth relented and eventually made the minimum wage $2.50, and later, a minimum of $3.50.

  Early in 1895, Woolworth once again allowed himself a respite from business to help plan the Spring wedding of his protegé, Alvin Ivie to Henrietta (Et) Creighton, who also happened to be Frank’s sister-in-law.

  Frank and Jennie hosted the celebration at their own home in Brooklyn on April 4. As he waited for the blessed event to commence, Frank could not resist writing one of his famous General Letters, which in this case, illustrates his marked sense of humor:

  TIME CAPSULE MEMORY

  “Woolworth’s in San Francisco”

  There will always be a “Woolworth’s” … or so I thought eighty years ago, when I was a child of eight years. I don’t remember the exact year “our Woolworth’s” came into being in the Richmond District of San Francisco, where I was born in 1909. But, as the years went by, Woolworths Red-Fronts appeared all over the city. The original downtown Woolworth’s fronted on the south side on Market and Powell streets, next store to the elegant Samuel’s Jewelry store. Later, they both moved across the street to larger space in the landmark Flood Building.

  I remember Woolworth’s being glorified in music during the Jazz Age of the roaring Twenties … “I Found A Million Dollar Baby In A Five And Ten Cent Store” and “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, Baby, Diamond Bracelets Woolworth’s Doesn’t Sell, Baby.” (However, there, one could buy beautiful rhinestone-studded jewelry “for a song.”)

  San Francisco, a seaport town, had the largest Chinatown outside of China itself and Woolworth’s patrons could purchase beautiful Asian miniature ivory fans, lacquer boxes, woven sewing baskets, paper parasols, incense, and more, for a nickel or dime. “Dish Night” at the neighborhood theaters during the Depression gave movie-goers free dishes that could also be seen on the shelves of Woolworth’s. And, of course, long before fast food came into being, one could visit the Woolworth’s lunch counter for a bite to eat. I can recall, both as a single girl and later, a mother of three daughters, much too hurriedly eating that quick bite. I was given impetus by the queues of people standing behind each seat, waiting for the occupant to finish. As the food was good and inexpensive, few complaints were heard, especially during the Great Depression, when most of life’s niceties were temporarily set aside.

  Graffiti is an unpleasant word, but long before its inception, Woolworth’s was among the stores that encouraged school children to decorate its huge front glass windows with colorful painted drawings at Halloween and Thanksgiving. It should be noted that San Francisco’s main Woolworth’s was in a prime location. Passengers climbing aboard the famous cable cars did so in front of Woolworth’s. Like in London, “free speech” from a curbstone in front of Woolworth’s was often heard, protesting everything from the War in Vietnam to doom-sayers asking us to, “Repent, the End of the World is Near!”

  In its final years, Woolworth’s had changed. Merchandise costing dollars had replaced the once-in-demand paper dance cards and bridge game tallies that cost nickels and dimes. But, many of us still remember saying, “Try Woolworth’s—they’ll have it, and it won’t cost an arm and a leg!”

  —Roberta Thomson, San Francisco, CA.

  “At 4 p.m. today, at 209 Jefferson Avenue all that remains of Alvin E. Ivie, now manager of the Albany store, and Miss Et Creighton, an ex-employee of the New York office, will be united in the Bans of Matrimony and will start immediately on their wedding trip. I understand there have been several bushels of rice ordered and there have been several men employed for a week collecting old shoes. There has been talk of an invisible wire stretched across the door of the room where they are to be married. A balky horse has been engaged to take them to the station.

  A card has been labeled “Bride and Groom’ to hang on the rear of the carriage.”

  With the newlyweds settled in, Frank focused on opening his first big city stores; one in Washington, D.C. and one in Brooklyn, New York. For the landmark event in the nation’s capital, Woolworth purposely stayed away, extending his overseas trip in old Bavaria. Though he’d been present at every store opening until then, he wanted to see how his staff would do without him. Frank’s Washington manager, J. H. Strongman, sent Woolworth this message:

  “Once again the banner of Woolworth enterprise has been proudly unfurled to the winds of trade—Thou too, sail on, O emblem great, wave on, and keep thy place of state at the head of the Syndicate!”

  Translating the purple prose, Woolworth figured out that the Washington, D.C., store was a grand success. In fact, the harried manager took in almost $2,000 the first day, breaking a new record. That wasn’t all that broke, however. The crowds were so anxious and excited that the glass side doors on both sides of the entrance were smashed. “Great guns, what a mob!” wrote Strongman. “They came like an Iowa cyclone and we had to call the police for help!”

  Woolworth was so pleased with this news that he doubled his orders for German toys and purchased thousands of novelty “jack-knifes” before leaving Europe. Frank had barely docked in Manhattan when he started scouting a good site for his Brooklyn store. Brooklyn was still not designated a borough of New York City at this time, but it was a thriving community ripe for exploitation. His Brooklyn site opened on November 16, on Fulton Street, close to busy Flatbush Avenue. Huge placards hailed hitherto-un-heard-of bargains. It was here that he first initiated his pre-inspection galas, where he would invite local dignitaries and select members of the public to view his stores before the official opening. Woolworth’s special guests would be treated to fine foods and drink, lavish displays of fresh flowers and, in many cases, the music of a full orchestra. Many of the local dignitaries Woolworth invited to his reception on Fulton Street did indeed attend the party, in spite of the five-and-ten’s lingering social stigma as a “Cheap John” business.

  The next day, the general public arrived in droves to see Wooley’s latest bargain factory. The Brooklyn opening was such a crowd-pleaser that the Brooklyn Times devoted an entire page to the event, stating that the crush was so large that three big policemen had to be called in. The reporter noted that Mr. Woolworth had a force of 150 pretty girls on hand to tend to the thousands of customers. While the claim of “150 pretty girls” being present might have been an exaggeration, it is a documented fact that the first day’s sales amounted to a mind-boggling $3,139.41.

  From this point on, Woolworth premiered similar gala openings in other American cities, almost all of which earned vast media attention. He also made sure that the new stores were equipped with the latest types of fixtures, lighting and cable cash systems, which added to the spectacle of the ongoing march of dimestores.

  The name Woolworth was fast becoming a household name, just as Frank had hoped. But the daily responsibilities of overseeing a growing chain store business soon became too much for one man to handle alone, even this singularly impressive man. The financial risks started to equal the financial gains, especially since all of this responsibility was ultimately, and legally, in Frank’s hands. He had 120 profitable stores operating in December 1904 and millions of dollars at stake. He worried about his continual bouts of sickness, and his eventual mortality. Frank wanted to preserve his legacy for his family, and for all his partners and associates who had helped him reach this lofty place in commerce.

  It was time to make a bold move.

  Sampling of F. W. Woolworth “Firsts” 1886-1900

  July 1886 First office in Manhattan 104 Chambers Street

  Summer 1886 First red “W” trademark

  1887 First candy sold Supplier: D. Arnould

  July 21,1888 First female manager Mary Anne Creighton

  September 1888 First office assistant Alvin Ivie

  November 1888 First hired “typist” Miss Tallman of New York

  1889 First “owned” home 209 Jefferson Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y.

  February 1890 First European buying trip S.S. City of Paris luxury liner


  April 1892 First summer cottage 1109 Grand Ave., Asbury Park, N.J.

  July 1894 First company convention Hathaway Inn, Darlington, N.J.

  August 1894 First blanket fire insurance Columbia Fire Lloyds ($177,500)

  1894 First “horse carriage and pair”

  February 1895 First employee paid vacations

  October 1895 First company phone number “FRANKLIN 1292”

  1897 First “food” line tested in five stores. “Woolworth’s Diamond W Pure Foods.” Discontinued 1899.

  December 1897 First Christmas bonuses for all employees $5.00 per person

  1896 First move to luxury “home” in New York City Savoy Hotel, Fifth Avenue, New York N.Y.

  January 1899 First store opens in Canada

  1900 First Woolworth skyscraper Six stories, Lancaster, PA.

  1900 First Woolworth’s “soda water” fountain Newark, N.J.

  1900 First cash registers replace cable cash systems

  The Great 65-Million-Dollar Merger

  In January 1905, fifty-two-year-old Woolworth took one of the most important steps of his career. He arranged for his Woolworth Syndicate to go public. It was formally incorporated on February 14, 1905, when “F. W. Woolworth & Company” authorized and issued outstanding capital stock in the amount of 10 million dollars. His syndicate became a bona fide New York corporation, and the outstanding stock was represented by 100,000 shares, each of par value $100, of which $5 million was seven percent preferred stock and $5 million common stock.