Our Rich History: Ah, the magical memories — those Five and Dime Stores have left their mark

By Paul A. Tenkotte
Special to NKyTribune

In the 1960s, when I was a child, my mother drove us to Downtown Covington to shop. The experience always seemed somewhat magical. There were department stores, like Coppin’s, Penney’s, and Sears & Roebuck. But one of my favorite places was the F.W. Woolworth Co. 5 & 10 cent store on the southeast corner of 7th and Madison Avenue.

Called a “Five and Dime Store,” Woolworth’s was a national chain of what we would today call a “discount store.” In 1878, Frank Winfield (F.W.) Woolworth (1852-1919) worked as a clerk at the general store of Moore and Smith in Watertown, New York. In those days, retailing was much different. A shopkeeper would retrieve merchandise for you, as there was no such thing as self-service. Further, there might be some negotiating concerning the price of an item.

At Moore and Smith, Frank Woolworth tried something new—a special table with a red tablecloth—where customers could look at the merchandise, all of which was priced at five cents. It was an instant success for Moore and Smith.

In 1879, Woolworth expanded his concept to an entire store, opening his first “successful” five cent store in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Eventually, he added items that cost ten cents. Hence, the Five and Dime Store was born. By 1929, on the eve of the Great Depression, F.W. Woolworth boasted more than 2,100 stores in the US, Canada, Cuba, Germany, and Great Britain.

Woolworth was a master of what today we called “branding.” His stores adopted a red-and- gold theme, with his store signs featuring gold letters on a red background. Inside, his stores were fresh and clean, with handsome self-service wooden counters, where merchandise was divided according to category by moveable glass dividers.

Helpful salesgirls offered customers support. In many stores, there was a lunch counter, where you could purchase a daily special, or have coffee, colas, shakes, sandwiches, and burgers. I always wanted to eat at Woolworth’s in Covington, but my frugal mother—who grew up during the Great Depression—always said that we had plenty of healthy food at home.

Frank Woolworth had a cousin, Seymour H. Knox, who founded his own chain of five and dime stores called S.H. Knox. In addition to Woolworth and Knox, other successful businessmen built national chains of five and dime stores, including Sebastian Spering Kresge, who founded S.S. Kresge, which evolved into today’s Kmart. Samuel H. Kress established the S.H. Kress chain. There was also J.G. McCrory Co. Obviously, early retailers liked using the initials of their founders’ first and middle names!

Downtown Covington’s first Five and Dime Store was Woolworth’s, opened in 1898 at Pike and Washington Streets, and subsequently moving to 734 Madison Avenue. Woolworth’s cousin, Seymour Knox, established two stores in Covington, the first at 40 Pike St. and the second at 632 Madison Avenue. When Knox merged his stores nationwide with Woolworth in 1911-12, the S.H. Knox location at 632 Madison became Woolworth’s.

The Covington Kresge’s store, opened in about 1916, was located on the ground floor of the city’s YMCA building. It too featured a lunch counter. The store closed on December 31, 1966. Kresge’s also operated two stores in Downtown Newport, one of which specialized in five and dime items, and the other of which had dollar merchandise. Downtown Newport also had a Woolworth’s, which was closed after the company opened a new location in the Newport Shopping Center in 1956.

Downtown Covington’s huge three-story Woolworth’s was built in 1941, and opened in March 1942. It featured air conditioning—a real innovation for its day—and three sales floors, including a basement. You could buy everything imaginable, from clothing to domestics, housewares, pets, toys, and stationery. A 110-foot-long lunch counter offered tasty treats on the entry level.

Of course, five and dime stores eventually raised their prices, but the name stuck. What didn’t stick, however, was their success. Eventually, as people moved to the suburbs, stores followed. The five and dime stores were replaced by big-box discount stores.

In January 1990, following the 1989 Christmas season, Woolworth’s closed its downtown Covington store. Today, it is home to the beautifully-restored Madison, a banquet venue, which retained the old red backdrop of the Woolworth sign. And if you look closely above the doors at the old Seventh Street entrance, you’ll still see the trademark F.W. Woolworth sign.

Please feel free to share your five and dime stories, histories, and photos with me at tenkottep@nku.edu!

Paul A. Tenkotte (tenkottep@nku.edu) is Professor of History and Director of the Center for Public History at NKU. With other well-known regional historians, James C. Claypool and David E. Schroeder, he is a co-editor of the new 450-page Gateway City: Covington, Kentucky, 1815-2015, now available at your local booksellers, the City of Covington, and online sellers.