ERA ENDS: WOOLWORTH CLOSES LAST FIVE & DIME

It may have been only a "Dime Store," but it held treasures ... Big Little Books and bags of shiny marbles for the kids, "Evening in Paris" for the sophisticated woman, and a soda fountain with chocalate malts and grilled cheese sandwiches beyond compare.

The F.W. Woolworth stores were a staple of American retailing. In Cape Girardeau almost 80 years _ from 1914 to 1994 _ Woolworth's built a loyal clientele that spanned four generations.

Now, those Woolworth stores still left are bowing to the changing times. The last of the chain's 400 stores will be closed, resulting in the layoff of more than 9,000 workers.

The "Dime Store" here and everywhere was a favorite of many people.

Young lads often purchased their first dime bag of marbles there. Many young ladies purchased their first lipstick there.

At one time, Woolworth had two stores here, at 1 N. Main and at the Town Plaza Shopping Center.

The dime-store era ended downtown in 1977. The Town Plaza store closed 17 years later.

The company announced earlier this month that Woolworth Corp. would close the last of its five-and-dimes.

Era of the five-and-dime

The era of the five-and-dime was featured in a 1982 play, "Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean."

The setting was a faded old dime store in a small Texas town with Jimmy Dean owner of a small dime store.

The title not only created a nostalgia for the many five-and-dime chains that once thrived on Main Street in towns throughout the nation but also recalled the famed Jimmy Dean, a young movie star who died in 1955.

Woolworth's decline as one of America's dominant retailers was highlighted March 27, when it was dropped from the Dow Jones Industrial averages, where it had been since 1925.

Woolworth was the original five-and-dime store, founded in 1879 in Lancaster, Pa., by Frank W. Woolworth by advertising "Nothing Over 10 Cents."

The concept spread.

Dime stores cropped up in downtown areas and suburban strip shopping centers throughout the country.

Pricing eventually drifted upward from the dime concept, with such products as beach chairs, beauty aids, toys, cosmetics and soda fountain foods, all under one roof.

At one time, Woolworth featured more than 1,400 stores.

Local store No. 723

The downtown Cape Girardeau store was "Store Number 723," when it was founded here in 1914.

But the heyday of Woolworth is long gone.

Today, large discount chains, super drugstores and supermarkets stock the same merchandise that drew shoppers to Woolworth.

During 1996, F. W. Woolworth reported an operating loss of $37 million and accounted for $1 billion of Woolworth's Corp.'s annual sale of $8 billion.

Over the years, the company tried to address the changing market. It opened its own discount chain, Woolco, in 1962, but the stores never caught on, and in 1982 they closed.

New Woolworth efforts

Woolworth's efforts will now go into its Foot Locker, Champs Sporting Goods, Northern Reflections and other stores. Some of the current Woolworth stores will be converted to other formats.

Woolworth Dime Store closings are no new thing.

The company had closed more than 1,000 dime stores going into 1997. Many of the Woolworth closings came in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

When referring to Woolworth, the name Frank Winfield (F.W.) Woolworth usually comes to mind. F.W. Woolworth was the principal founder of the company, but a brother, Charles S. Woolworth, was a co-founder of the company, and served as vice president. The latter Woolworth served as chairman of the board until 1944, when he retired.

The Woolworth brothers were both merchants. The elder brother started his village store in 1879, featuring a counter full of five-cent items. That early start grew into a chain of stores. Charles Woolworth founded 15 stores, and in 1912, the two brothers united to form the F. W. Woolworth Co.

With the demise of the downtown Woolworth store, the last of the complete soda fountains in town was shut down.

During a short break, customers could grab a cool lemonade, hot cup of coffee or an ice cream cone.

One of my favorites at the soda fountain was a milk shake and a grilled cheese sandwich.

Whether you bought your first lipstick or nail polish, a bag of marbles or Big Little Books, or a sandwich at the soda fountain, Woolworth's Dime Store is now just a memory.

Woolworth's was the first major five-and-dime and one of the last to give it up, stretching over a period of 118 years.

Other 'dime store' names

Other big names on the" five-and-dime" scene are S.S. Kresge, W.T. Grant, S.H. Kress and J.J. Newberry.

Sebastian Spering Kresge opened his first store in downtown Detroit in 1899 with the slogan, "Nothing Over Ten Cents."

The idea caught on, and by 1912, Kresge had 85 stores. During World War I, Kresge had to raise his prices to 25 cents and in the mid-1920s, he opened "green-front stores" to sell items at a dollar or less, often next to his "red-front" dime stores.

S.S. Kresge was around 63 years before changing its format to compete in the discount store era.

Kresge is now known by another familiar name, Kmart Corp., which came into existence in 1962. Kmart is observing its 35th anniversary this year.

Samuel Henry Kress, who opened his first retail store, a stationery store, in Nanticoke, Pa., in 1887, opened his first five-and-10-cent store in Memphis, Tenn. in 1896.

Kress, an American businessman and art collector, founded the Kress Co., in the late 1880s. It grew to be one of the largest chains in the United States.

Kress died in 1955, with his entire estate going to the S.S. Kress Foundation.

John Josiah Newberry worked with S.S. Kress before opening his own J.J. Newberry Store in 1911. The company owned as many as 475 stores _ one of them in downtown Cape Girardeau _ before selling in 1973.

Other familiar five-and-dime stores have included W.T. Grant, Sterling and G.C. Murphy. Grant and Sterling had operations in Cape Girardeau.

B. Ray Owen is business editor for the Southeast Missourian.