Captains of Industry (ep10) Frank W Woolworth

Frank Winfield Woolworth (April 13, 1852 – April 8, 1919) was an American entrepreneur, the founder of F. W. Woolworth Company, and the operator of variety stores known as "Five-and-Dimes" (5- and 10-cent stores or dime stores) which featured a selection of low-priced merchandise. He pioneered the now-common practices of buying merchandise directly from manufacturers and fixing the selling prices on items, rather than haggling. He was also the first to use self-service display cases, so that customers could examine what they wanted to buy without the help of a sales clerk.

Frank Winfield Woolworth

Born April 13, 1852
Rodman, New York, US
Died April 8, 1919 (aged 66)
Glen Cove, New York, US
Resting place Woodlawn Cemetery
Education Watertown Commercial College
Years active 1873−1918
Known for Founded F. W. Woolworth Company (now Foot Locker)
Political party Republican
Spouse Jennie Creighton ​(m. 1876)​
Children 3
Relatives Charles S. Woolworth (brother)
Barbara Hutton (granddaughter)
Seymour H. Knox I (cousin)
Signature

Early life
Woolworth was born in Rodman, New York to John (1821–1907) and Fanny (née McBrier; 1832–1878) Woolworth; his brother was entrepreneur Charles Sumner Woolworth (1856–1947). His parents were devout Methodists and sympathetic to the Northern side during the Civil War, and they raised their sons in those beliefs. His paternal lineage (Woolworth) were from English farmers who left England around 1665 settling in the Massachusetts Bay Colony area. Meanwhile, his mothers parents - the McBriers were Scots-Irish from County Down, Ulster had come to the United States in 1827.

At age four, Woolworth told his parents that he would become a peddler like those who sometimes came calling. He and Charles would play "store", and Frank would set up merchandise to sell to his brother. Woolworth finished his schooling at age 16, yet he was unfit to begin working in any legitimate store with only basic knowledge and no experience. He applied to many shops in the area, every time being rejected. He attended a business college for two terms in Watertown, New York, with a loan from his mother.

Career
Main article: F. W. Woolworth Company
In 1873, Woolworth worked as a stock boy in a general store called Augsbury & Moore's Drygoods in Watertown, and his experiences there served as the starting point to his own business venture and innovations. He was considered to be an inept salesman and was given jobs such as washing the windows, where he found a creative niche arranging the store's front display; his work was so impressive that his boss assigned him that role.

Typical business practices of the day was that a few of each type of item be displayed on a counter if small and behind if not. Clerks were responsible for obtaining what the customer wanted and making the transaction. From exposure to this Woolworth developed the notion that goods should sell themselves, something which became increasingly prominent in his retail career.

Frank and Charles Woolworth with Seymour H. Knox
Under the employment of Moore & Smith, Woolworth had an opportunity to sell a large surplus of goods. He organized a store in Great Bend that opened on February 10, 1878, but sales were disappointing; the store failed in May.

Accounts differ on the genesis of the five-and-dime concept. Gail Fenske suggests that Woolworth had heard of a "five-cent counter craze" while questioning his own sales ability at his first job. Jean Maddern Pitrone suggests that the idea was conceived after a travelling salesman told Woolworth of stores in Michigan with five-cent counters. Plunkett-Powell suggests that Woolworth overheard the concept during a discussion between William Moore and a young man who had opened his own cut-rate goods store.

Woolworth memorialized in an architectural detail of the Woolworth Building
Woolworth borrowed $300 (~$9,422 in 2022) and opened a five-cent store in Utica, New York, on February 22, 1879. It failed within weeks.

He opened his second store in April 1879 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he expanded the concept to include merchandise priced at ten cents. By 1889, Woolworth had twelve thriving stores and in ten years, from 1879 to 1889, his sales had increased by 240%.[9] By 1900, Woolworth's chain had grown to fifty-nine stores, with sales of over $5 million (~$145 million in 2022). Woolworth's desire for control stretched further than just the bounds of his company.
Wanting to implement his ideas on a much larger scale, F.W. adopted a policy of acquiring smaller chains of his competitors. This policy, combined with “the development of the five and ten cent idea, the exploitation of the idea through a chain, [and] the squeezing out of his middleman competitors for the purpose of controlling goods manufacturing and distribution…” resulted in the dominance of the low-priced segment of the American retailing industry.

In 1911, the F.W. Woolworth Company was incorporated with 586 stores. In 1913, Woolworth built the Woolworth Building in New York City at a cost of $13.5 million (~$296 million in 2022) in cash. At the time, it was the tallest building in the world at 792 feet.

Woolworth often made unannounced visits to his stores, where he would shoplift items to test the staff's attentiveness. Managers or clerks who caught him doing so were sometimes rewarded with promotions.