Variety store The originators of the concept were the Woolworth Bros., in July 1879. Woolworth Bros. later became F. W. Woolworth Company or just "Woolworth's." On 21 June 1879, Frank Winfield Woolworth opened his first successful five-cent store in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, after a failed attempt with a store he opened on 22 February 1879, in Utica, New York. Frank soon brought his brother Charles Sumner "Sum" Woolworth into the business. Together they opened a second store in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on 18 July 1879. Before they started their own stores, the Woolworth brothers worked for Augsbury and Moore, a dry goods store in
Woolworth GmbH yet opened a store outside Germany. Woolworth GmbH Deutsche Woolworth GmbH & Company OHG is a chain of department stores in Germany, Austria and a former subsidiary of the American F. W. Woolworth Company. It is not part of the closure scheme that has affected the British Woolworths Group stores, nor is it related to the Australian-based Woolworths Limited retail group. F. W. Woolworth Co. GmbH was founded in 1927 as a subsidiary of the American company F. W. Woolworth Company. When still part of the parent company, corporate documents refer to the division as Retail Company of Germany, Inc..