The Woolworth Museum
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Come visit The Woolworth Museum...
| Located in the lobby of our building, at 210 West Fourth Street in Oxnard. This is the only museum that commemorates original Woolworth store paraphernalia in the universe (that we know of)! With hundreds of rare Woolworth’s items and photos from stores across the country, an antique phone booth with working dial pay-phone, classic “take-your-own-photo” booth like those you saw at the Woolworth stores), antique, working vending machines, and other period features, including floors, bathroom tile, light fixtures and more, all make this building feel like it did in the 1950’s and 60’s. Although our company has nothing to do with the original Woolworth stores, we restored this old Woolworth storefront with the original in mind, using original brick, wood and lots of old-fashioned charm, and put this museum in the lobby for your enjoyment of things past. |
| Take a tour in American History through the eyes of this giant retail success story. Play with some of the first game machines in history! Send a postcard or photo to your friends! Place a call on an extinct telephone that actually works! Spend just nickels and dimes for the first time since the 1950's! |
The Woolworth story started when Frank
Woolworth opened his first five and ten cent
store at 70, North Queen Street, Lancaster, PA
on 21st June 1879.
Woolworth had three simple ideas:
* fixed prices of five and ten cents with everything clearly priced
* mass-produced, high quality items from the new factories
* buying direct from manufacturers to keep prices down
The formula quickly took hold with stores opening rapidly across the United States and Canada, each one more
successful than the last. Today Frank Woolworth is credited with transforming retailing across the world,
bringing lower prices and better quality for everyone, and bringing many products into the price range of
ordinary people for the first time.
Frank Woolworth started his retail career in 1873 as a sales assistant in the Augsbury and Moore Dry Goods
Store in Watertown, New York. The co-owner William Moore took pity on the young farm boy and accepted his
offer to work free of charge on a three month trial in the store.
America was still recovering from the Civil War and cash was tight -and the store sometimes struggled to make a
profit. Moore came up with a brainwave - to display all the surplus stock at a single fixed price of five cents per
piece. He asked Frank to arrange it. A fixed price display of goods is quite usual today, but back in 1877 it was a
first. At the time prices were never displayed with the goods - instead customers had to ask an assistant, and
the price charged varied according to what the customer looked like ! Frank made a fantastic display, using red
material and gold lettering that stimulated lots of interest and sales.
He believed a whole store could be filled with five cent merchandise rather than just a single counter, and in
1879 persuaded William Moore to back him in opening a store of his own. His first attempt in Utica, New York,
failed. It was very popular for the first few weeks but then sales started to decline. Frank had made enough
money to pay his debts and had learnt a valuable lesson - that he must locate his store at the heart of town,
rather than in a side street. He tried again, this time opening in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, about 60 miles away.
The store opened on June 21st, 1879. It was a huge success from the start, taking $127.65 on its first day!
Before long Frank opened a second store in Scranton, Pennsylvania, taking on his younger brother Charles
Sumner Woolworth (known as Sum) as a partner. Sum was also working for William Moore. A year later Frank
introduced a dearer ten cent (roughly 2p) line to allow him to broaden the range - and so that great American
institution the “Five and Ten” (short for five and ten cent store) was born.
Over the next 33 years Frank and Sum encouraged other friends and relatives into the five and ten business.
Many of them had also started their retail careers with William Moore. Most joined as partners before
branching
out on their own - establishing a chain of friendly rival companies that spanned the United States and Canada. In
1912 the five chains, along with William Moore’s two stores, merged together to form the giant F. W. Woolworth
Co.
Someone once asked Frank Woolworth how he would explain the success of the business in those early days.
He said “I put it down to the great buying power that allows us to drive prices lower by helping factories to make
their goods more cheaply. And to making sure that everyone rich or poor - is welcomed in and treated with the
same respect.” The philosophy has served us well for 125 years !
Woolworth opened his first five and ten cent
store at 70, North Queen Street, Lancaster, PA
on 21st June 1879.
Woolworth had three simple ideas:
* fixed prices of five and ten cents with everything clearly priced
* mass-produced, high quality items from the new factories
* buying direct from manufacturers to keep prices down
The formula quickly took hold with stores opening rapidly across the United States and Canada, each one more
successful than the last. Today Frank Woolworth is credited with transforming retailing across the world,
bringing lower prices and better quality for everyone, and bringing many products into the price range of
ordinary people for the first time.
Frank Woolworth started his retail career in 1873 as a sales assistant in the Augsbury and Moore Dry Goods
Store in Watertown, New York. The co-owner William Moore took pity on the young farm boy and accepted his
offer to work free of charge on a three month trial in the store.
America was still recovering from the Civil War and cash was tight -and the store sometimes struggled to make a
profit. Moore came up with a brainwave - to display all the surplus stock at a single fixed price of five cents per
piece. He asked Frank to arrange it. A fixed price display of goods is quite usual today, but back in 1877 it was a
first. At the time prices were never displayed with the goods - instead customers had to ask an assistant, and
the price charged varied according to what the customer looked like ! Frank made a fantastic display, using red
material and gold lettering that stimulated lots of interest and sales.
He believed a whole store could be filled with five cent merchandise rather than just a single counter, and in
1879 persuaded William Moore to back him in opening a store of his own. His first attempt in Utica, New York,
failed. It was very popular for the first few weeks but then sales started to decline. Frank had made enough
money to pay his debts and had learnt a valuable lesson - that he must locate his store at the heart of town,
rather than in a side street. He tried again, this time opening in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, about 60 miles away.
The store opened on June 21st, 1879. It was a huge success from the start, taking $127.65 on its first day!
Before long Frank opened a second store in Scranton, Pennsylvania, taking on his younger brother Charles
Sumner Woolworth (known as Sum) as a partner. Sum was also working for William Moore. A year later Frank
introduced a dearer ten cent (roughly 2p) line to allow him to broaden the range - and so that great American
institution the “Five and Ten” (short for five and ten cent store) was born.
Over the next 33 years Frank and Sum encouraged other friends and relatives into the five and ten business.
Many of them had also started their retail careers with William Moore. Most joined as partners before
branching
out on their own - establishing a chain of friendly rival companies that spanned the United States and Canada. In
1912 the five chains, along with William Moore’s two stores, merged together to form the giant F. W. Woolworth
Co.
Someone once asked Frank Woolworth how he would explain the success of the business in those early days.
He said “I put it down to the great buying power that allows us to drive prices lower by helping factories to make
their goods more cheaply. And to making sure that everyone rich or poor - is welcomed in and treated with the
same respect.” The philosophy has served us well for 125 years !
