F. W. Woolworth Company Co. had the first five-and-dime stores, which sold discounted general merchandise at fixed prices, usually five or ten cents, undercutting the prices of other local merchants. Woolworth, as the stores popularly became known, was one of the first American retailers to put merchandise out for the shopping public to handle and select without the assistance of a sales clerk. Earlier retailers had kept all merchandise behind a counter and customers presented the clerk with a list of items they wished to buy. After working in Augsbury and Moore dry goods store in Watertown, New York, Frank Winfield Woolworth obtained credit
Charles Sumner Woolworth devoted to such low-priced items was unprecedented, anywhere. The Lancaster store was the first successful store of this type. At the end of the first day in Lancaster, Frank counted his profit, and with renewed enthusiasm, he invited his brother, Sum, to join him. Together, they opened a second store in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, called "5¢ Woolworth Bros Store", on July 19, 1879, with Sum as manager. During this time, Frank decided to test the possibility of 10¢ items, by devoting a table to the higher-priced items, inside his Lancaster and Harrisburg stores. The ten-cent items were a hit. The success