Using the exact same storefront sign from his failed retail attempt in Utica, New York, entrepreneur Frank W. Woolworth opened his very first successful five-and-dime store in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on June 21, 1879.
Woolworth’s massive breakthrough came from a radical psychological shift in how everyday people shopped. Before his five-and-dime concept, 19th-century store merchants kept inventory stowed away behind high wooden counters, forcing customers to ask a clerk to fetch and price items. Woolworth revolutionized modern retail by piling fixed-price merchandise onto open, accessible tables where people could freely touch, examine, and select items themselves a self-service format that built a global retail empire.
Image via Alamy
