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Mass ive Markdowns Mark Wool worth’s Final Day■ The OeWitt store was the last Woolworth five-and-dime in Onondaga County tor the retailer, which got its start in 1879 in Utica.By LILLIAN ABBOTT•*■*. fv . c- f -»TTwo racks filled with a mishmash of general merchandise marked down 90 percent were all that remained-for sale in the F.W. Woolworth store at Shoppingtown Mall as the store finished its last day of business Tuesday.The general-merchandise outlet, which has been at Shoppingtown since the mall opened as a strip plaza in 1954, did not renew its lease when the lease expired in November.The store employed 20 people, although only five were left Tuesday, said the store manager, whodeclined to give his name, citing Woolworth Corp. policy.All 20 employees found jobs at other Woolworth-owned stores ir, the area, he said, including the RxPlace drugstore and the Foot Locker athletic shoe store.Shoppingtown management plans to divide Woolworth'sthree or four stores, although no tenants have been lined up yet.The store has space on two levels.With the closing of the Shoppingtown store, the closest Wool-worth to Syracuse will be in Fulton.The retail chain has a long history in Central New York. Founder *F.W. Woolworth, who invented the five-and-dime variety store, opened his first store in Utica in 1879.Woolworth diversified over the years. Today, the retailer's other divisions include Afterthoughts, Athletic X-Press, Champs Sports,472-2111The Post-Standard‘Love at the Five-antf-Dime’F.W. Woolworth is credited with creating the five-and-dime concept in retailing. NewsLine's Money Reporttoday presents a nostalgic look ai the phenomenon, with singer Nancy Griffith’s version of “Love at the Five-and-Dlme To hear the song,. call NewsLine at 472-2111,-then enter category 5663.Kids Foot Locker, Kinney, Lady Foot Locker, Mathers. Northern Reflation, Williams the ShoemanUilU V * v -Woolworth is restructuring its organization to get eliminate 900 underperforming locations in all its divisions, including four chains —Anderson-Little, Richman Broth-- C-—Ci »r*xo'cThree Byracuse-area ^uuersui]-Little men’s and women's clothing shops closed earlier this month in Camillus Mall, Fayetteville Mall and Great Northern Mall in Clay. A fourth in Penn Can Mall in Cicero closed in April.A few hours before the Shoppingtown Woolworth closed for good, Edgar SicWuiT vf Manlius and his wife, Elizabeth, bought a few packages of paper napkins and a belt.“I liked to come here while it was still open. Edgar Stewart said. “But what brought me heretoday was the 90 percent off/’ “You could always find what you were looking for/' Elizabeth Stewart added. “They always had a wide variety/'The remnants of that wide variety were crammed onto two shelves with a handwritten sign: Fill this basket as full as you can for $10.J. ItidUV' niJUUiJ ilCCuiCd, iUuiUfof July decorations, sewing supplies, nail-polish remover, Christmas napkins and bright yellow rolls of ribbon were jumbled together on the shelves, along with some very frayed silk flowers.The shelves were pushed to the front of the empty store, where two cash registers tallied up the last few sales and the store’s lone telephone remained.One of the cashiers, wearing a red Woolworth’s shirt, answered.“Yes ma’am,” she said. Today’s it.”
Newspaper Details
Syracuse Post Standard
Syracuse, New York, US
Wed, Jan 27, 1993
Page 27
Full Page
Clipped by
Keith C.
FL, USA 03 Jan 2021
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