The Original Virtual Museum - celebrating 100 years of Woolworths value at the heart of the British High Street
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please click a menu button Original Virtual Museum Home Page please click a menu button The Woolworth value store concept is born in the USA please click a menu button Laying the foundations as the first British Woolworth store opens in Liverpool in November 1909 please click a menu button Woolworths rapidly open forty-four stores in Britain and Ireland before facing a World War please click a menu button Bigger, brighter and bolder Woolworth stores in the Roaring Twenties please click a menu button Woolworths go to amazing lengths to keep all prices under sixpence in the Thirties please click a menu button Bravery and defiance during World War II in Woolworths' finest hour. We pay tribute to the sacrifices made and look behind the scenes please click a menu button Redefining the Woolworth brand for modern times in the 1950s, as prices go up and stores get bigger and bigger please click a menu button Superstores in and out of town, a new own brand and the opening of overseas Commonwealth stores during the 1960s please click a menu button Woolworth struggles to keep up during the rapid inflation and change of the 1970s please click a menu button Woolworth stores in more recent times, covering the period 1980-2008 please click a menu button
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Background to the Original Virtual Museum and copyright information about the contents Origins of the firm's legendary pic'n'mix and a century of chocolate, candy and confectionery in the High Street A century of music and entertainment in the High Street from sheet music and gramophone records to CDs and blu-ray discs A century of toys, games and fun in the High Street stores of F. W. Woolworth A century of fashion in the High Street, from paper patterns and sixpenny knickers to an extensive range of award-winning Ladybird clothing A century of cards, pens, pads and books from the shelves of F. W. Woolworth stores Pots and pans, paint and brushes, bulbs and compost and even toiletries - all in High Street Woolworth stores for much of the twentieth century Woolworths pioneered Christmas decorations in the 19th century and supplied presents for our parents, grandparents and great grandparents from their High Street stores Working conditions and pay rates at Woolworths over a hundred years and some of the people behind the brand-name Our cinema, quiz and picture gallery features Visit the new look 21st century Woolworths on line, on the site operated by Shop Direct Group
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The Great War of 1914-1918: lest we forget

Fifty seven colleagues from the 44 British Woolworth stores volunteered for Great War service.
Less than half of them returned. We also remember Associates from the Canadian and American stores who fell far from home.
 

Lest we forget. Sanctuary Wood, Flanders. A British front-line trench from the Great War.
 
An open trench in Santuary Wood, Flanders, photographed by Miss C. Rowe of
Woolworths Wimbourne in 1938, as a reminder of the "war to end all wars".
A year later Europe went to war again.
 
They shall not grow old as we who are left grow old,
Age shall not wither them nor the years condemn;
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We shall remember them

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Rest In Peace + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
 
Memoria in Aeterna. Semper Fideles. FWW MMIX.
Memoria in Aeterna. Semper Fideles.
F.W. Woolworth Colleagues and Friends - 'Gone but not forgotten' MMXI
 
'Your King and Country Want You' by Paul A. Rubens
performed by Maggie Teyte (Soprano)
on Columbia Record No. 495
Columbia Records, Woolworth Building, NY 1002, USA MCMXIV
with thanks to CBS and their predecessors the Columbia Gramophone Company
 

 

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