What Happened to Woolworth (US)?
🔒 Fate: Converted/closed
America’s original five-and-dime chain shut its last U.S. stores in 1997. The corporate shell became **Venator Group** and later **Foot Locker, Inc.**, which still operates today. **Fun fact:** founder Frank W. Woolworth’s namesake **Woolworth Building** (opened 1913) was famously said to be paid **in cash from nickels and dimes**—a nod to the chain’s low-price roots.
F.W. Woolworth popularized the five-and-dime format—fixed low prices, broad everyday assortment, and lunch counters that became cultural touchstones (and civil-rights landmarks). As specialty big boxes and discount chains rose, Woolworth’s variety format waned. In 1997 the company closed its remaining U.S. Woolworth stores, rebranded as Venator Group, and ultimately Foot Locker, Inc.—today a global athletic retailer—while international Woolworth banners followed their own paths. _Fun note:_ the 1913 Woolworth Building in New York, long among the world’s tallest, was widely reported as paid in cash by Frank W. Woolworth.
Timeline
- 1879
First Woolworth store opens; five-and-dime concept takes shape.
- 1913
Woolworth Building opens in NYC.
- 1960
Woolworth lunch counters figure in civil-rights sit-ins.
- 1997
Final U.S. Woolworth stores close.