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The Answer to this issue's mystery question
This Issue’s Mystery Question
For approximately 66 years Woolworth’s in Nanticoke was a popular place to shop for a variety of everyday items. In 1953, there were complaints that certain items were no longer seen displayed in the windows of the store. What were they?
Answer
A Headline appeared in the September 13, 1953, edition of the Sunday Independent – “5 and 10 Cent Items Not in 5 and 10.”
The article noted that the biggest 5 and 10 cent store in Nanticoke didn’t have any five or ten cent items on view in its spacious display windows. The manager of the store commented. “I’d say it was true without glancing through the windows” adding, “It shows how much out of line things really are these days.” “The five and ten is a misnomer. With rising prices the store has now become a department store.”
According to various sources what was initially known as the 5 and 10 cent store left the scene in 1997 when F.W. Woolworth ended its 118 years in the retail business. Woolworth’s was always known as a discount store, but many continued to call it the “5 and 10” even after inflation caused price increases on items. The 5 and 10 cent aspect came to an end many years before, in 1935.
Frank Winfield Woolworth opened his first “five and dime” in Utica New York on Feb. 22, 1879. After that store closed, he, along with his brother Charles, opened a new store in Lancaster. with its success, he opened a second in Scranton. By 1930, he owned a chain of stores and had an office in his new Woolworth Building in New York City, at the time, the tallest building in the world.
Today the concept has been replaced by stores such as Dollar General and Dollar Tree that utilize the concept Woolworth originally started. According to the US inflation calculator – In 1930 what would cost $1.00 would now cost $18.00 today.
