In this post, archivist Anne Kumer shares some retail history. A slightly different version of this post appears on NYC Circa, a New York City history blog.
Eleven years after B. Altman
opened store at 34th and Fifth, the Woolworth's Board of Directors
announced that the company would build a large store at the NE corner of 40th Street and Fifth Avenue. The new "Five and Ten Cent Store deluxe" Woolworth's opened in the Fall of 1917.
 |
| Parade route along Fifth Avenue -- most likely a WWI send-off parade. The parade is heading south; the view looking north. The Woolworth's store is on the far right, and brownstones where the future Arnold Constable building are to its right (north). Date, ca. 1917 Image: NYPL |
Over ten years later, in 1930, the first supermarket was built in Jamaica, New York, making it possible for food shoppers to obtain most, if not all, of their groceries under one roof. That, along with the growth of the suburbs throughout the 1930s, popularized discount retailing. Discount retailers such as Woolworth's, and in the 1950s, Korvette's and McCreery's, offered frequent sales, less individualized customer
service, and savvy merchandising to attract a wide range of customers.
 |
| Window shopping on Fifth Avenue, ca. 1930. Image: MCNY |
Throughout the 1930s, Woolworth's continued to grow and expand operations throughout the U.S. and in Canada. There was at least one store in the 34th Street Partnership
District during this time. This one, in Herald Square, at the corner of 35th Street and Broadway, boasted a lunch counter large enough to accommodate 500 people at one time.
 |
| Woolworth's at 35th Street and Broadway, c. 1927 Image: Collection of Dan Pisark |
In 1937, the
NYT announced that plans were filed to build the company's 1,000th store further uptown at 39th Street and Fifth Avenue, just one block south of the existing flagship store. It opened a year later, in 1938, sixty years after the the first "Woolworth's Great Five
Cent Store" was opened in in Utica, New York.
 |
| Fifth Avenue looking north from 39th Street, ca. late 1930s / early 1940s. Image: Pisark |
The new Woolworth's store was designed by architects
Starrett & van Vleck, known for designing the flagships of several other department stores, including Lord & Taylor on Fifth Avenue between 38th and 39th Streets (It's still
there.).
 |
| Woolworth's shopper shot by Stanley Kubrick, 1947. Image: MCNY |
The F.W. Woolworth Company went defunct in 1997, and as of 2001 the company has been part of Foot Locker Inc.
There are two Foot Locker
stores in the 34th Street area, each within blocks of the former Woolworth's store at 35th Street and Broadway, aka 1333 Broadway, which will soon undergo another retail transformation when
Urban Outfitters moves in.
Other Sources
Union League Club Landmarks Preservation Commission Report,
LP-2389
This
book from Google book.
Wikipedia
Posts
