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
Hatley (brand) Hatley (brand) Hatley is a Montreal-based gift and apparel retailer & wholesaler brand founded in 1987 and is best-known for its PVC-free raingear and cotton pajamas. John and Alice Oldland started Hatley as a cottage business in North Hatley, Québec, Canada, in 1986. Alice, an artist, opened a gift store called "The Little Blue House" and painted in her studio on the second floor. To help out local charity events, Alice would donate hand-painted aprons, which were sold at auctions. John decided her designs would appeal to a broader market and he sold an initial 200 of them to kitchen