Ode to Woolworths
83High Street Favourite
Is this the end of an era?
Woolworths (affectionately known as "Woolies") was first founded in the United States in 1878, and quickly became multi-national. While the last US Woolworths stores closed in the 1980's, here in the UK, up until now we have been lucky enough to still have many Woolworths outlets. However, with increased competition in many of its markets and the current financial crisis, its future looks very uncertain.
Woolworths has been a favourite shop for me since I was very young. Admittedly, the reason why I liked it there as a child was because they sold really good sweets (candy) and had a "pick and mix" section, which was quite revolutionary in those days!
By the time I was a teenager I was no longer so keen on sweets, but I still loved Woolworths as they had a great music section, which had better deals than any music shop. That's the beauty of Woolworths, they sell so many different types of products that there is something for everyone. It's a shop that you can really grow up with, and use your entire life!
Now that I'm an adult and a mother, I still love the shop and when I go there with my daughter it's a treat for both of us. She loves spending time looking at all the toys, which are sold at competitive prices, and I'm happy to buy toys there because I know from experience that they're going to be of a really good quality.
They are also the best place to go for kids' dressing-up clothes. They stock classic styles, such as princess/fairy tale dresses and cowboy costumes, which are always popular, as well as characters from the most popular current television shows. So if your child has a fancy dress party to go to, or they just fancy being a pirate or donning pink hair and becoming Stephanie from Lazytown - just for the sheer fun of it - this is the place to come!
Woolworths also have a very impressive kids' clothing range called Ladybird, which caters for all children, from newborn to aged 16. The clothes are just lovely; great quality and once again, very competitively priced. There are many other reason to like this shop.
They still have their sweets section (with the legendary pick and mix!); now there is a big range of confectionery, from the cheaper sweets that used to appeal to me as a child to a large choice of quite luxurious chocolates, which are perfect for gifts.
The section that is now most useful to me (as it was to my mother when I was young) is the home-ware section. Woolworths has always been the best place to buy just about anything you need for your home; cleaning items, saucepans, wooden spoons, washing lines, crockery sets. They have it all.
Because they sell practically everything you can think of and they are competitively priced, as you can imagine, Woolworths is very popular at Christmas time. It's perfect for Christmas shopping, and it's always a real joy to visit the shop when it's all decked out with festive colours, and full of familiar seasonal products like Christmas chocolate selection boxes. It's at this time of year that Woolworths really comes alive and reminds me of my childhood. It will be strange and rather sad going there this Christmas, seeing it looking all happy and cheery, yet knowing that this might be its last year.
The Woolworths Group has been struggling for a while now. It's been facing tough competition in many of its markets as supermarkets have diversified to produce many of its key products. It has also been affected by the growth of internet shopping and new technologies such as digital TV and music downloads, which reduce the need for people to buy products such as cds and dvds. And the financial crisis has been the final nail in its coffin.
Unbelievably, Woolworths may be sold for just £1 (although this deal doesn't sound nearly as attractive when you consider that it includes around £300m worth of debts!) This potential deal (with the Hilco Group) has caused several other serious bidders to surface. Depending on who buys it, it's uncertain whether Woolworths will continue in the form that we all know and love (yeah!), or become something completely different (boo!).
Although American in origin, because Woolworths has been a much-loved member of our high streets for such a long time, it is thought of as a national institution, and if it doesn't survive it will be sorely missed. And so, along with much of the UK, I hope and pray for a Christmas miracle for this ailing store.
UPDATE: Sadly, all of the UK Woolworths branches have now closed, and are all boarded up like so many other shops here. However, they will shortly be relaunching online, (which is definitely better than nothing!)
UPDATE 2: Woolworths has now relaunched online! To see the online version of Woolworths and shop to your heart's content see www.woolworths.co.uk.
A lovely song featuring Woolworths. (Thanks to Frieda Babbley!)
Woolworths in the News
- How Woolworths staff are getting back in the pick'n'mixMalaysiaNews.net8 hours ago
Almost a year ago, Woolworths went into administration. The stores may have long since disappeared from our high streets, but what happened to the staff?
- Woolworths milk recall in VIC and NSWBigPond News32 hours ago
A type of Woolworths milk is being recalled in VIC and some NSW stores because of possible contamination.
- Woolworths store - no confirmation on new tenantsBury Free Press27 hours ago
Agents in the process of letting the empty Woolworths store in Bury St Edmunds said this week they were still unable to say who would be coming into the building.
- Contaminated Woolworths milk recallSky News Australia2 days ago
A type of Woolworths milk is being recalled in Victoria and some New South Wales stores because of possible contamination.
- Doors open at former WoolworthsBBC News2 days ago
A year to the day Woolworths went bust a new store sets up shop in a Berkshire high street where the familiar name once stood.
- Woolworths expects good XmasBigPond News2 days ago
Woolworths expects another good Christmas as it leads in market share over rival Coles.
- Woolworths expects good XmasSky News Australia2 days ago
Australia's largest retailer Woolworths expects another good Christmas as it leads in market share over rival Coles and prepares to tackle the home-improvement market.
- Woolworths predicting a strong ChristmasBusiness Day2 days ago
Woolworths is tipping another good Christmas as the supermarket chain leads in market share over rival Coles and prepares to break into the $36 billion hardware market.
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Comments
Moon Daisy ..you bring tears to my eyes. When I was married ..too many years ago ..we had a Woolworths and we also had a Murphy's 5 and 10 cent store. But they are gone! Squeezed out by the giants like Wal-Marts!!
Unfortunately in America ..we had the room for the expansion of shopping malls and the likes that eventually squeezed out the small town shopping.
I have a friend that has relatives in England and when they come here they love to shop in places like Wal-Mart and the shopping malls. What I did not realize is that you still have Woolworths in England ...How wonderful. If only you could hold on to it ..that is like a childhood dream. If only they knew that places like Wal-Marts would ruin their towns ..they would not love them so much.
I loved the picture ..it really takes me back. It looks like the stores from a town that I raised my daughter in and it is gone.
Keep up the good work ...love your hubs ...my best to you and your health!
annemaeve, thanks a lot for your comment. It's really interesting to get a glimpse from you of what the original, American Woolworths stores were like. They sound especially fabulous with their milkshake/sandwich counter, and trust Woolworths to have the perfect butter dish! Me too, I hope that they find some way to survive!
I heard Woolworths went out of business because of the pick and mix candy they sell apparently they lost Hundreds and Thousands......jimmy
gjcody, thanks for your comments. I'm glad to bring back happy (or wistful) memories relating to Woolworths. So sad that the giants squeezed them out. We have some shopping malls here, but probably nowhere near the size of the American ones. And a lot of our town centres are starting to look like clones of oneanother, as the bigger chains move in and some of the smaller, independent shops have to close. So it's sadly a similar trend.
When we go to the States, yes, places like Wal-Mart are a novelty, ecause they're so huge and different. We have ASDA, which is run by Wal-Mart, but so far the competition from our other supermarkets have kept them in check! It would be very sad to lose the smaller stores and independents, you made me realise that we're lucky to still have them!
Thanks for your kind words. Your hubs are great too, I'm learning lots! Take care.
Thanks for that Jimmy!
Actually, you inspired me to make the most of the pick 'n mix while it's still there. Next time I'm in town I'm going to get me some!
I miss them so much. We used to shop there all the time. Times change and with it so go the memories! Thank you for a trip down memory lane.
What!? You still have Woolworths in UK? Woolworth came out with a discount store called Woolco that lasted several years and then closed; then the Woolworths went away as well. All our malls had a Woothworths at one end and an S.S. Kresge at the other. I don't remember anything about Woolworths, except I liked going there as a child and liked the smell of the store. As for Woolco's - I bought oil paints and canvases there.
Lucky you. And Thumbs up!
Moon Daisy ...I fear that what you are saying is that the giants are trying to move in on the UK ...I understand that the reason that they have not done so up to the present is that the space is not there. I guess that is why the USA was a great target for their type of thing. You should see the Wal-Marts now. They are totally discusting. The prices are not low and they are making mockery of the people who flood in there thinking they are getting the greatest bargin.
I do hope your towns hold strong ..what a great thing. I too miss the Woolworth type stores. Keep on enjoying ..my best to your success!
Moon Daisy, it's nice to know that Woolworth's still exists in the UK. Hope things turn out the way you want them to.
RGraf, thanks for your comment. It's nice to know that it was so popular in the States, I didn't realise that this would be bringing back so many memories! The ideal situation here would be if somebody were to buy the store and somehow regenerate it; so much so that they start opening branches in America once more. (Well, I can dream!)
I used to love to shop at Woolworths as a kid, I do miss it and hadn't thought about the store in years. I hope they make it over there and you have many more years of Woolsworth memroies.
Yes, we are lucky - hope it lasts though! I didn't know about Woolco, hadn't heard of that before. Sounds as if it was a last ditch attempt by Woolworths to perhaps save themselves by diversifying? It's a shame it didn't work out. It seems like many people have some good childhood memories of Woolworths, and I like the fact that you remember the store having a good smell!
Thanks for your comment and thumbs up!
Wow, Moon Daisy, you've brought back such fine memories, especially now since it's the holiday shopping season. I admit to being a Woolworths brat, having loved that store since I was a little girl.
In the town where I grew up, Friday evening was the prime time for shopping downtown. My mother and I would walk into town holding hands, do our Christmas shopping at Woolworths, have a hot dog at the lunch counter for dinner, and carry home our boxes and bags.
As you've said, Woolworths had everything! Including that fabulous old fashioned pressed glass butter dish Annemaeve mentioned above. What Annemaeve didn't tell you was that it was a salesperson at ritzy Bloomingdale's who suggested she try Woolworths.
I so miss that store! Thanks so much for writing this lovely tribute. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the UK stores.
Yes, the giants are a bit threat! Recently a huge mall has opened in Shepherd's Bush in West London. It's the biggest one in Europe. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/u . You're probably right about space being an issue, but I think these developers just bought up the site of the former White City Stadium. I like to shop occasionally, but it makes me nervous that they can just buy up sites like this and turn them into these monsters. None of these places are cheap at all, and it's bound to ruin lots of smaller shops for miles around it, and, ironically, it's also going to have a bad effect on the two major malls just outside of London, one of which was previously thought of as the "biggest mall in the area". I know I'm ranting here, but it's a scary thing; - are they just going to get bigger and bigger? Where will it end? Will we all end up just living inside a giant shopping mall, as all of our houses are knocked down to make room for them?!
Gjcody, my previous comment was in reply to your last post. Sorry, I got a bit carried away there, and forgot to say that, lol! It won't let me edit it any more, and has also mashed all of my paragraphs together.. Well, thank you for your comment, and I will enjoy Woolworths for as long as it's still there!
Aya, thanks for your comment. Yes, thankfully it's still around here for now. There are also apparently Retail Chains using the Woolworth's brandname still operating in Germany, Austria, Mexico and South Africa (according to Wikipedia!), although I don't know how similar they are to our version of Woolworth's.
gwendymom, thanks for your comment. I hope I brought back some good memories. Yes, I hope that they make it. Ironically, they had a very successful day on Friday as they had a massive sale; reducing all their prices by 50%!
Sally's Trove, thanks for your post, and I'm glad I brought back such good memories for you. It sounds as if your Friday evenings were idyllic, and I love your description, made me feel as if I was there almost!
Yes, I liked Annemaeve's comment about the butter dish. I'm sure that a Bloomingdale's salesperson probably would have recommended going to Woolworths; everyone knew what a great place it was for everything!
Thanks for your lovely comment, and for your wishes for Woolworths :)
When I am in England, I always shop at Woolworths, I really like the atmosphere of these shops.
However, what I personally miss as a Belgian is the Marks And Spencer shops that we had here... and closed few years ago. Now have to cross the North Sea but have the pleasure to go to Woolworths, M & S as well as... Boots ;-)
Hi Properity66, thanks for your comment. I agree, the atmosphere is really good in Woolworths. It makes you want to stay in there for a long time! Today when my daughter was at preschool I went to their 50% sale (which is apparently still continuing), and it was really great. I ended up spending more money that I had intended to, and this is probably happening to everybody who's going in there - so not surprising that they've done so well over the last few days. If only this would continue :)
It's a shame that you no longer have M&S in Belgium, I think that I visited one of their branches when I was last in Belgium (a good few years ago now). I'm glad we still have that here, and Boots is also one of my favourite shops. I hope you get to visit them again soon!
Interesting that Woolworth's started here in the US but has been gone from these shores for so very long. I was surprised to find them still operating in England. I wonder why they survived there but not here - there were so many of them - of course they soon had lots of competition.
Meanwhile is that Woolworth's in Stevanage? Or there abouts? A friend sent me a Brown Betty from Woolworth's. I think the quality of merchandise over there was always superior to what we found here.
Thanks for this bit of info!
Hi BkCreative, thanks a lot for your comment. I think the main reason why Woolworths failed in the UK was because it gradually started to face competition in all of its sectors. And, of course, the recession also played a part. Like you say, it seems that in the US they faced lots of competition a lot earlier on. I don't know why that was exactly. Perhaps as it was an American store with American ideas other US companies could easily copy, but there was just nothing else like it in the UK so they held onto their markets, at least for a while? (I'm speculating here, so might be wrong!)
The Woolworth's shop in the photo is apparently in Camberwell. It's now a bit sad for me to look at photos like this, as all of its shops are now closed and boarded up (like so many other shops these days).
(Btw. I'm not sure what a Brown Betty is, I'll have to google it!)
I love this! Such memories. You should add Nancy Griffiths video to this. "love at the 5 and dime" , one of my favorites. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjQLGVQZI9I hope you don't mind the link in here. You'll see why when you view it. :)
Thanks Frieda, that's a lovely song which I've never heard before.
I will add it to my hub. I'm glad that it brought back some memories, I trust they were happy ones. :)
Thanks for stopping by.
I did not even know that Woolworths had existed in the UK! And I never have actually had the pleasure and privilege of stepping into one. My hometown, Greensboro, NC, had a Woolworths that was the site of historical sit-ins during the civil rights movement in America. It has been converted into a museum, however, and part of the counter and chairs that used to be there are now in the Smithsonian museum in DC. Thanks for sharing - I really wish I had had the opportunity to go into a Woolies.
Thanks for your comment Natalie. Yes, I guess we were lucky to have it for so long! Before researching for this hub I hadn't even realised that there were no Woolworths shops left in America.
That's an interesting thing that your local Woolies had played such a part in the civil rights movement. It was obviously an important place :)
It's sad to see the old Woolworths shops in the high streets now, which are mostly just boarded up, and haven't yet been converted into anything else. There is an online version of the store (www.woolworths.co.uk) - which of course isn't the same, and I'm sure it's a million miles away from the memories of the old American stores - but at least a tiny bit of the legacy remains..
Woolworths has been gone from Downtown Pittsburgh for many many years. I remember as a child they sold the best pot pies at the lunch counter. Now that's going back a bit because Woolworths pulled out in the 1960s.
It's a shame it disappeared from Pittsburgh such a long time ago. We were lucky to have had it for so long! I would've liked to see the American Woolworths stores, they sound like they were very quaint and interesting. The shops here didn't have lunch counters. But they seemed to sell everything else!
Thanks for your comment.
Memories of Woolworths here too. It was a favorite place for Mom to take us for a banana split. Great Hub.
I'm glad I brought back some memories for you suziecat7. Hmm, and the banana split sounds lovely! Thanks for your comment.
Precious memories of Woowrths, the dime store we called it. Shopped ther a lot before the advent of K-Mart, Walmart and Target. Thanks for the memories. Great hub.
Thanks for your comment Putz and your kind words. Yes, those new stores just seem so soul-less don't they? Woolworths was also a big chain, but it had so much more character, especially I'm sure, in America in the 'old days'. I'm glad I brought back some memories!
annemaeve says:
12 months ago
Great hub, Moon Daisy! I miss Woolworths terribly. As a kid, I loved going and sitting at the counter for a sandwich or a milkshake. One year, my mom wanted a crystal butter dish for Christmas, and I searched in vain through every fancy department store in town. Where did I finally find the perfect butter dish? Woolworths! I hope the store stays its fabulous self in the UK.