Dimestore - Throughout The World - North America

North America

The concept of the variety store originated with the five and ten, nickel and dime, five and dime, ten-cent store, or dimestore, a store where everything cost either five cents (a nickel) or ten cents (a dime). The originator of the concept is Woolworth Bros, in July 1879. Woolworth Bros later became F.W. Woolworth Company or just, Woolworth's. On June 21, 1879, Frank Winfield Woolworth opened his first successful five cent store in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, after a failed attempt with a store he opened on February 22, 1879, in Utica, NY. Frank soon brought his brother, Charles Sumner "Sum" Woolworth into the business. Together they opened a second store in Harrisburg, PA, on July 18, 1879. Prior to their own stores, the Woolworth brothers worked in the Augsbury and Moore, a dry goods store in Watertown, New York. It was this employer who trained the Woolworth brothers, and loaned Frank $300 in merchandise. Frank settled his debt by the time he opened the Lancaster store. Frank experimented with a 10¢ table in Lancaster, and similar to his experiment of a 5¢ table at Augsbury and Moore, it was a success. Sum managed the Harrisburg store, crammed it with goods, hired clerks, and also added table with a ten cent line of goods. Once again, the line was a huge success. Due to a rent dispute with the landlord, Sum soon moved the Harrisburg store to York, Pennsylvania and on November 6, 1880, Sum opened the store in downtown Scranton, Pennsylvania, and formally called the store a "5¢ & 10¢ store". There, Sum developed and fully established the five and ten (dime) concept into American culture. While Frank spent time opening more stores, working the back end of the business, buying in bulk for all affiliates and "friendly rivals", and buying manufacturers to keep prices low, Sum used his Scranton store to train new managers and develop many of the Woolworth concepts which included bright lighting, a polished high-luster floor, glass showcases, mahogany counters and merchandise which people can touch. Prior to this, clerks had to personally work with each customer, and take merchandise from cases or shelves to hand to customers. The old practice of individualized service caused higher overhead, and clerks needed to know the merchandise. Prior to Woolworth, the prevailing thought was an entire store could not maintain itself with all low-priced merchandise. The Woolworth Bros and their affiliated partner stores originally featured merchandise priced at only five cents and ten cents. Many other people tried to copy their lead.

Later in the twentieth century the price range of merchandise expanded. Inflation eventually dictated that the stores were no longer able to sell any items for five or ten cents, and were then referred to as "variety stores" or more commonly dollar stores. Using the Historical Consumer Price Index for Jan 1913 (9.8) and Jan 2009 (211.143), the rate of inflation change is 2,067%. Therefore, $0.05 in Jan 1913 when adjusted for inflation is $1.08 in Jan 2009 dollars.

Well-known dimestore companies included:

• Ben Franklin Stores
• Butler Brothers
• Duckwall-ALCO
• W.T. Grant
• H.L. Green
• S.S. Kresge Co.
• S.H. Kress & Co.
• J.G. McCrory's
• McLellan's
• G.C. Murphy
• Neisner's
• J.J. Newberry's
• Sprouse-Reitz
• TG&Y
• Walton's Five and Dime
• Woolworth's

Of these, only Duckwall-ALCO and Ben Franklin continue to exist in this form, while Kresge and Walton's became mega-retailers Kmart and Wal-Mart. Beginning around the 1960s, others tried the larger "discount store" format as well, such as W.T. Grant, Woolworth's Woolco stores, and TG&Y Family Centers.

According to IBISWorld, dollar stores have grown 43 percent since 1998 and have become a $56 billion industry. Colliers International claims there are more dollar stores than drug stores. With stores of other types closing in large numbers, dollar stores often replace other types of stores in shopping centers. They succeed partly because of impulse purchases.

Among today's dollar stores are:

• In the United States: Dollar Tree, 99 Cents Only Stores, Deal$, Fred's, Dollar General, Family Dollar, Five Below, Galloway Dollar, Real Deals, and Honks
• In Canada: A Buck or Two (163+), Dollarama (560+), Everything For a Dollar Store, Great Canadian Dollar Store (100+), Dollar Giant (50+), Your Dollar Store With More (180+)
• In Mexico: Waldo's Dollar Mart,