Woolco

[Rayco7030]

3

[ameskmart1]

Former Woolco in Calgary, AB converted to Wal-Mart in early '90s, taken in July

[XISMZERO]

Here's a yarn/spool from Woolworth/Woolco. It's gotta be from the late 1970s and older than I am! Found it at my Grandmother's, who has a lot of artifacts/things with price stickers from defunct retail stores.

[ameskmart1]

Former Woolworth, Havre, Montana (from Loopnet.com)

[dmx10101]

Originally posted by ameskmart1
Former Woolworth, Havre, Montana (from Loopnet.com)

Thats the exact same building style of a building in Jacksonville, FL. It's currently a Burlington Coat Factory and was previously a K-Mart, Jefferson Ward, and a Woolco.

[arnoldziffel]

here's the back of an old woolworths.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/15222224@N04/1816374505/" title="woolworth by arnoldziffel2007, on Flickr">http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2061/1816374505_18b6327cc7.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="woolworth" />

[farmingtonvalleymall]

[beachgal26]

For all you youngsters out there, the storefront that you see for the "Woolworth 5 and 10" was based on the original idea that everything in the store was priced between 5 and 10 cents.  (I know that seems unbelievable now, but it was a great concept at the time.)

When I was growing up in the 50's, everything like it was simply referred to as a "5 and 10 cent store" or a "5 and dime."  Once prices rose and times changed, most of the companies dropped the "5 and 10" part from their names and changed to adding the "mart" to give it the appearance of having more than just notions (sewing needs, household goods, clothes, etc.) and added on more and more items like TV's, games and electronic items.

Did everyone enjoy that walk down memory lane?

;)   ;)

[RogerAnthony]

Hi everyone,

I just discovered this site, so forgive me if there's already a photo of this somewhere here.  When I was taking pictures on East Main St. in Waterbury, Connecticut in 2002 this sign built into the sidewalk entrance to a building caught my eye and I photographed it.  The building was a nightclub, I believe, but it must've previously been a Woolworth's.  No, I didn't take any photos of the building, and it is now demolished.  The UConn-Waterbury campus now stands where this photo was taken.

By the way, the next doorway said ROBINSON on the sidewalk.  Was this also a former department store?

[Anonymous]

Originally posted by storehistoryguy
A small summary about Woolco.

Woolco was a discount retail chain, founded in 1962, as a subsidiary of The F.W. Woolworth Company. Woolco stores were Woolworth's response to Kresge's Kmart stores. Kmart, Target, Meijer and Wal-Mart all opened their first stores in 1962.

Meijer's first store opened as Meijer Thrifty Acres in 1934.

[Anonymous]

when did the woolworth store close down in oceanside ny?

[Lastdaysofrain]

Originally posted by RogerAnthony

By the way, the next doorway said ROBINSON on the sidewalk.  Was this also a former department store?

There is a similar sidewalk sign left in Central Square in Cambridge, MA.

[momof3]

I too remember the Woolworths in berlin as a kid, they had the lunch counter where you couold get an icecream sundae or have lunch and their makeup was very cheap.  I shop at the Foodmart in the plaza and the old Fays and spot where Woolworths was is still vacant.

[AmesNewington]

Originally posted by momof3
I too remember the Woolworths in berlin as a kid, they had the lunch counter where you couold get an icecream sundae or have lunch and their makeup was very cheap.  I shop at the Foodmart in the plaza and the old Fays and spot where Woolworths was is still vacant.

Wow! It's nice to know someone remembers the Berlin store. I wish I had been around longer to be able to really remember the store, but I at least had many chances to go there and have lunch at the lunch counter. It's a shame it burnt down.

I too go to Foodmart next door, as it's no secret I love that store. I still can't believe the owners of the plaza never rebuilt in the Woolworth's spot, and another part next to it is boarded up. I'll have to post pictures of the plaza that I have. Poor Foodmart has been sitting in the middle of a deteriorating plaza.

[momof3]

I Like the Berlin Foodmart too.  I have gone there forever and know where everything is.  I was afraid that the new Stop and Shop would shut them down but I was at Foodmart over the weekend and it was crowded....And people doing big shopping too.

[AmesNewington]

That is nice to hear. Even though I live in Newington, I head on over to Berlin every Wednesday to get lunch and browse the store. I worried because it didn't seem busy whenever I'd go, but I'm there at a slow time to begin with. No one, even myself, will ever know why I'm obsessed with the store, but that's the way it is. I wish the Newington store was still open, that's why I go to Berlin. Maybe it's because I went to the old Berlin store back when I was a kid and my mom was a cake decorator at the old store for 8 years. Every other store I went to as a child is closed, but the Berlin Foodmart is still around thankfully. I'm hoping it will never leave.

Anyway, I know this is for Woolworth's, but the connection is still there.

[momof3]

I live in Newington too and go there as well. I also went there as a kid.  I like their fish dept (Stop and shop closed up theirs) and they seem to run alot of good specials, especially lately.

[FearlessSwan]

This CVS in the Thruway Shopping Center in Greenwich (Riverside), CT was a run-down, rather disorganized Woolworth until around 1996.










Here it was during the 50s. Didn't know it went that far back.

[JimSawhill]

Woolworth's had two stores in East Hartford, CT. On was in Downtown (A beauty school is there now) and the other (where I had snacks at the snack bar) was in the old Silver Lane Plaza. I heard there will be tearing the plaza down - I hate to say that I won't miss it - J.M. Field's (with its own snack bar), Stop & Shop (which moved) and Silver Lane Pharmacy (where I used to read MAD magazine and but my baseball cards) are all closed. The woolworth is a huge pet store now, but they are moving.

[FearlessSwan]

Former Woolworth in Stamford, CT

[MikeRa]

We had a few Woolco Department Stores in the Philadelphia area, and their replacements.  here are a few:

[list=1]

• Woodhaven Mall, Bensalem (Replaced by Jamesway, since demolished & replaced by The Home Depot)
• MacDade Mall, Holmes (replaced by K Mart)
• Lincoln Plaza, Langhorne (replaced by Builders Square, then by various stores)
• Philadelphia, PA - Rising Sun & Adams Avenue (replaced by Clover, then National Warehouse Liquidators)
• Cinnamison, NJ (Replaced by Caldor, now Pennsauken Mart)
[/list=1]

[dmx10101]

Here's a former Woolco/Jefferson Ward/Kmart now a Burlinton Coat Factory in Jacksonville. Next time I go I'll get better pics. Building style has stayed the same since the building was build, it has just been repainted.

[kendra]

I was told that this was originally the Auto Center belonging to the Bangor, ME Woolco:



It later became Rent-a-Wreck and has been closed for quite some time.


Re: the same location, I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on what these were used for?



Located on either side of the entrance to what is now Dollar Tree, I estimated them as definitely being older than the previous tenant (Ames) and possibly even the one before that (Rich's) which opened in the early 80s. So I am assuming they belonged to Woolco...anyone know anything about their purpose? (or if they are perhaps newer than I am estimating?)

Thanks!!

[Zayre88]

Originally posted by kendra
I was told that this was originally the Auto Center belonging to the Bangor, ME Woolco:

Re: the same location, I was wondering if anyone could shed some light on what these were used for?

Located on either side of the entrance to what is now Dollar Tree, I estimated them as definitely being older than the previous tenant (Ames) and possibly even the one before that (Rich's) which opened in the early 80s. So I am assuming they belonged to Woolco...anyone know anything about their purpose? (or if they are perhaps newer than I am estimating?)

Thanks!!

The garage doors probably were for the Woolco Auto Center.  Here's a picture of another former Woolco Auto Center, it may be a coincidence, but the remaining original door is the same as the one in Bangor.

For the speakers, i think that the current entrance (dark doors & windows) was added by Rich's which had this entrance layout at other stores and i assume that Woolco had another kind of entrance/doors.  So these were probably added when Rich's opened.

[kendra]

Originally posted by Zayre88
For the speakers, i think that the current entrance (dark doors & windows) was added by Rich's which had this entrance layout at other stores and i assume that Woolco had another kind of entrance/doors.  So these were probably added when Rich's opened.

Ok, cool -- I knew they looked old, but Woolco went out of business when I was a toddler so I really couldn't have said one way or the other whether it was the original entrance or not. I don't think I ever went to another Rich's store besides the Bangor one.

Do you happen to know what the speakers were used for?

[TRJ22487]

This is a picture from 1988 of Main Street in Keene, New Hampshire. It was posted on the Keene High School 20th reunion website. I moved to Keene in 1995 and the store was long gone, I've heard it went out in 1990 or 1991.

It's weird looking at this picture, I drive this street every day and this picture looks exactly as it does today except the Woolworths looks very out of place

The "5 & 10 Cent Store" picture from the first page of this thread, is exactly how I remember the Woolworths in Hanover, New Hampshire looking. It must have been one of the last operating Woolworth's, I definitely remember going there in late 2000 early 2001 and it still looked just like that. Realllly small store. I bought a hamster there once. Also the entire strip mall was just a cobblestone path you had to park hundreds of yards away to get to the plaza or ride a bike

[XDeSuEhTX]

Normandy Mall, Jacksonville, FL. Former Woolco.

[XDeSuEhTX]

Former Woolco, I don't know where. Just says Crossroads Mall, and not the one in my area.

[XDeSuEhTX]

Former Woolco. Windsor, ON.

[XDeSuEhTX]

Nice find...