Expansion and openings in the 1930s

Woolworth went into the 1930s with 375 stores across Britain and Ireland. Most were in the larger towns and cities. During the Twenties some of the tenancies of the original buildings had fallen due for renewal. As they had, the chain's Property Department had explored different ways of obtaining a larger, freehold property. In some cases they had bought out the landlord and built an extension, acquiring neighbouring properties or land where necessary. In others, they had picked a new spot and had built a larger branch, typically from the ground up.

Bosses at Marks and Spencer and the Home and Colonial considered the new enlarged Woolworth stores a particular threat. They were bright and modern and well-sited at the heart of the shopping area. The competitors responded by upgrading their own real estate. The rule of thumb at the time was to open next door to Woolworth's, which it was hoped would curtail their future expansion. If this was not possible they opted to open opposite the red-front store, acknowledging the firm's expertise in finding this busiest part of the High Street.

The Thirties saw Woolworth surge ahead. In what pundits today call a 'virtuous circle', the chain's buying power helped them to offer value for money that was hard to beat. As raw material prices started to rise during the decade, the Buyers were able to hold back the tide. Suppliers were forced to absorb the increases to remain on the retailer's books. Over time the price differential between Woolworth and its rivals grew, attracting yet more shoppers.

Rapidly rising profits were ploughed into a major expansion programme, which saw the opening of more than four hundred additional outlets. Most were in the suburbs and in smaller towns and semi-rural locations, where no chain store had ventured before. In most places Woolworth was invited in, and offered a prime spot and other enticements to set up shop.

The firm promoted its Northern District Construction Superintendent, B.C. Donaldson, to oversee the nationwide mass expansion programme. Every detail was carefully planned and had to be executed with military precision.

Teams of company builders worked round the clock, getting only a few days break between finishing one building and moving on to the next. Early completion bonuses helped to ensure that work remained on schedule. Donaldson oversaw the opening of more than 400 stores over nine years.

Most of the new buildings followed a standard model, like Pwllheli, Gwynned in North Wales (below, right). The repeatable formula made it possible to open a store every seventeen days during the peak season.

During the period between the World Wars, the product range changed regularly, but the firm stuck with the same store format and insisted on absolute consistency between one branch and another. It is hard to believe that the two pictures below were taken nine years and two hundred miles apart.

Some locations required the personal touch, as local authorities resisted the arrival of a chain store or exercised greater planning control. The Woolworth architects would not give in. Where necessary they devised complex building schemes, some of which took many years to come to fruition. For example the freehold of the Clarendon Hotel in Cornmarket Street, Oxford was acquired in 1930. The war of wills to agree that it could be demolished and replaced by a modern Woolworth store took twenty-seven years and five different layout proposals before finally completing in 1957. A similar scheme in the Royal Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey saw a store open in just six months in 1930. The building was then extended in stages over the next five years.

Another major development scheme doubled the size of the store in the Bull Ring Market in Birmingham's Spiceal Street. The firm's rapid expansion prompted a reorganisation and establishment of a new administrative District which was headquartered in the new building. The architects promised a store to be proud of, and took great care to maintain the symmetry and elegance of the original landmark premises.

While grand schemes like the Birmingham flagship captured the headlines, most of the sales and profit growth of the era was generated by openings in small, local High Streets. The pace was breath-taking. Local authorities and parish councils sometimes swept aside planning constraints to attract the Threepenny and Sixpenny Stores, which they felt would help put them on the map as a shopping destination. Woolworth was allocated a prime spot at the centre of many new parades and was allowed to build using its standard design, even if this constrasted with neighbouring property. In 1934 the 600th store opened its doors in Woodcote Road, Wallington, Surrey (below, far left).

In 1936, building on the success of a second store in London's Oxford Street, the construction team set out on their boldest scheme to date. They planned to demolish the successful branch at the junction of Promenade and Bank Hey Street in Blackpool, a popular seaside resort on the North-West coast of England. It was replaced by a huge store with three large trading floors and two floors of restaurants above. The elaborate design include bright bronzework, marble cream 'Darwen' glazed bricks and a landmark clocktower and flagpole. The store was the largest and most modern of 2,000 Woolworth's across the world when it opened in 1938. It is featured separately in this Gallery.

By the end of the phoney war in Spring 1940, the chain had grown to 768 branches with an opening in the small rural town of Crawley, West Sussex. Two branches were kept mothballed and not opened. The store in Weybridge, Surrey was retained as an 'emergency bunker', in case the 'Executive Office' in Mayfair became unuseable. An opening in Newry, County Antrim was also delayed until 1946.

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

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