Welcome to the Original Virtual Museum - celebrating Woolworths' century at the heart of British High Street Shopping
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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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Flotation on the London Stock Exchange in 1931

The larger of two Woolworth stores in San Francisco, with a new 5, 10 and 15 cent fascia in 1929. The small suburban store in Phillmore Street, San Francisco, also now a 5, 10 and 15 cent store. By the late 1930s, the American Woolworths had fully abandonned their upper price limit. The fascia design of the Seattle "wonder" store simple shows F. W. Woolworth Co. and the Diamond 'W'.
 
As a new decade dawned in 1929, while 'Woolies' was going from strength to strength, its American parent was struggling. The share price had been one of the biggest fallers in the Wall Street Crash, even despite an enviable record of paying dividends. The Directors had declined to follow their arch rivals, S.S. Kresge, S.H. Kress and J.J. Newberry by introducing fifteen or twenty cent lines in the eastern states. Only the stores to the west of the Rockies sold 15 cent goods as they had since the 1900s. The sudden collapse of the stock had left some of the investors close to bankrupt, including the firm's own President, Hubert Parson. Something had to be done.
 
The Company Treasurer (FD), Byron Miller, who had been one of the founding Directors of its first overseas subsidiary in Great Britain, devised a scheme to put things right. Working with the British MD, William Stephenson, he planned to reduce the firm's holding in the UK operation from 66% to 52%, and to list the operation publicly on the London Stock Exchange.

The listing was oversubscribed. The 14% stake raised enough money to fund an exceptional dividend of 66.7¢ on each 25¢ share in the American corporation. The payment helped to restore the fortunes of those investors who had retained their shares. It also drove the share price up towards the level before the crash.

 Chart showing the dividends paid by F. W. Woolworth Co. from Flotation in 1912 to the business's 100th birthday in 1979. It took over 40 years to match the special dividend which resulted from the flotation of the British subsidiary.
 
The two-day sale at Woolworths in Felixstowe, Suffolk in the early 1930s

The listing also achieved its secondary goal. It made 'Woolies' a British company, with a degreee of autonomy to manage its own affairs. While the American parent appointed a Board Director and had a controlling interest, there was a tacit agreement that this would not normally be used. Stephenson was unanimously elected to the new post of Chairman in Britain at the first AGM in 1931. The following year Miller was elected President of the American Corporation. Miller believed his role was to guide and advise rather than direct his non-consolidated subsidiary. He noted in his private diary "The child outgrew its parent years ago. It took hold more quickly and makes more profit. Yet it still sends half of the proceeds to the U.S."

With only a limited number of shares in circulation, the stock price rose rapidly in the UK. As the chain expanded the Board was able to increase the number of shares, but continued to send 52% of new issues to New York.
 
To mark their new-found autonomy the British Directors ordered a publicity campaign. Advertisements were placed in the national press, with the slogan "where sixpence works wonders". Ostensibly these announced the opening of new major city centre stores, like a second flagship store in London's fashionable Oxford Street, W1. But they also promoted the slogan "better buy British". See the full page ad.
 
F.W. Woolworth Advertisement from the London Edition of the Daily Mail in 1932. Click the link above to open the full advertisement in a new window

 

Quick Links to other exhibits in the Original Virtual Museum

1930s openings   Stock Market Flotation   Buying ingenuity

Working in a 30s store   Woolies' first character items   Keeping prices under sixpence

Eclipse & Crown records    Woolworths' first Ladybird items    Royalty and Empire

"New Bond" staff magazine   First catalogues    Restaurant & Tea Bar   Rumblings of War

Museum Home Page   1920s Gallery   1940s Gallery

 
If you have enjoyed our Virtual Museum website, why not check out our complete history of Woolworths in a 194 page, richly illustrated paperback book? A Sixpenny Romance is just £10.99, with free delivery in our on-line shop.
The special DVD, the Wonder of Advertising, is now available in our on-line shop for £7.50 with free delivery. A fully illustrated 194 page history of Woolworths, or a selection of professionally authored DVDs in our on-line shop