The
F. W. Woolworth Company (often referred to as
Woolworth's or simply
Woolworth) was a retail company and one of the pioneers of the
five-and-dime store. It was among the most successful American and international five-and-dime businesses, setting trends and creating the modern retail model that stores follow worldwide today.
The first Woolworth store was opened by
Frank Winfield Woolworth on February 22, 1879, as "Woolworth's Great Five Cent Store" in
Utica, New York. Though it initially appeared to be successful, the store soon failed.<a href="
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._W._Woolworth_Company#cite_note-FOOTNOTEWinkler2017-1"><span>[</span>1<span>]</span></a>[<em><a href="
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citing_sources" title="Wikipedia:Citing sources"><span title="This citation requires a reference to the specific page or range of pages in which the material appears. (January 2025)">page needed</span></a></em>] When Woolworth searched for a new location, a friend suggested
Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Using the sign from the Utica store, Woolworth opened his first successful "Woolworth's Great Five Cent Store" on June 21, 1879, in Lancaster. He brought his brother,
Charles Sumner Woolworth, into the business.
The two Woolworth brothers pioneered and developed merchandising, direct purchasing, sales, and customer service practices commonly used today. Despite its growing to be one of the largest retail chains in the world through most of the 20th century, increased competition led to its decline beginning in the 1980s apart from the company's growing sporting goods division.
The chain went out of business in July 1997, when the company decided to focus primarily on sporting goods and renamed itself Venator Group. By 2001, the company focused exclusively on the sporting goods market, changing its name to the current Foot Locker, Inc., changing its ticker symbol from its familiar Z in 2003 to its present ticker (NYSE: FL).
Retail chains using the Woolworth name survived in Austria, Germany, Mexico and the United Kingdom as of 2025. The similarly named Woolworths supermarkets in Australia and New Zealand are operated by Australia's largest retail company,
Woolworths Group, a separate company with no historical links to the F. W. Woolworth Company or Foot Locker, Inc.; it did, however, take the name from the original company, as it had not been registered or trademarked in Australia at the time.<a href="
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._W._Woolworth_Company#cite_note-2"><span>[</span>2<span>]</span></a> Similarly, in South Africa,
Woolworths Holdings Limited operates a
Marks & Spencer-like store and uses the Woolworth name, but has never had any connection with the American company. The property development company Woolworth Group in
Cyprus began life as an offshoot of the British Woolworth's company, originally operating Woolworth's department stores in Cyprus. In 2003, these stores were rebranded
Debenhams, but the commercial property arm of the business retained the Woolworth's name.