Frank Winfield Woolworth Frank Winfield Woolworth Frank Winfield Woolworth (April 13, 1852 – April 8, 1919) was an American entrepreneur and the founder of F. W. Woolworth Company and the operator of variety stores known as "Five-and-Dimes" (5- and 10-cent stores) or dimestores, which featured a low-priced selection of 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 customers could examine what they wanted to buy without the help of a sales clerk. Frank Woolworth was born in Rodman,
Big W (United Kingdom) In 1967, The F.W. Woolworth Company opened their first British Woolco store in Oadby, Leicestershire. The store was 63,000 sq.ft and offered many products like groceries, fashion and household products. Woolworth later opened 2 more stores in Thornaby, Stockton on Tees and Bournemouth, Hampshire. They were all successful and eventually Woolworth had a 12 store chain under the Woolco name. When the F.W. Woolworth Company spun off the British Woolworth chain into its own company in 1983, the Woolco stores were later converted to regular Woolworth stores, and then the company sold them off to Supermarket chain Gateway in 1986.