Charles Sumner Woolworth Charles Sumner Woolworth Charles Sumner Woolworth (August 1, 1856 – January 7, 1947), was an American entrepreneur who went by the nickname of "Sum", opened and managed the world's first five-and-dime store in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and was founder of the "C. S. Woolworth & Co" chain of 5¢ & 10¢ stores. Sum's brother, Frank Winfield Woolworth was first to venture into the retail business with his own store, and soon after, he asked Sum to join him. Frank founded "F. W. Woolworth & Co", which later merged with other Woolworth affiliate stores to be the F. W. Woolworth Company. After
Charles Sumner Woolworth Street, and in Ottawa on Sparks Street. He followed those with eight stores in Canada, west of the Rocky Mountains, followed by a return to the US with several store California, including one in South Broadway, Los Angeles, California. He opened stores in Tacoma, Washington, and Sherbrooke, Quebec, and then a very large store in Market Street, San Francisco, California, mere weeks before the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. In 1912, each of the owners in the syndicate of Woolworth affiliated stores agreed to incorporate all 596 of their stores, as one entity, as "F. W. Woolworth Company". The merger generated