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 location with a low rental price. He decided to take a chance to rent a space which was larger than needed, and planned to block off the unused portion of the space. This became a Woolworth brothers' pattern going forward, so they could expand the merchandise sales area without the need to move their location. The Scranton store was the first to formally be called a 5 & 10¢ store, opening on November 6, 1880, with the banner over the door which read, "5¢ & 10¢ Woolworth Bro's Store". Scranton was a huge success. Thus began the era of the