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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The People Gallery in the Original Virtual Museum, celebrating a century of careers at Woolworths (left: Wellington, Shropshire, 1915, right Peckham, South East London, 2005

Biographies

USA: Frank Winfield Woolworth   Charles Sumner Woolworth   Earle Perry Charlton   Seymour Horace Knox   

Fred Morgan Kirby   William Harvey Moore   UK:   Fred Moore Woolworth   William Lawrence Stephenson   

Charles Heiman Hubbard   John Ben Snow   Byron De Witt Miller   
 

A Century of Working for Woolworths

Meet the team from the 1910s    Americans who joined the British Company   In praise of the Property Department   

Working for Woolies in the 1930s   New Bond Staff Magazine (1935-1972)   Home front defiance in World War II   

Golden Jubilee 1959   Commonwealth Stores   Working Conditions 1960s   Central Accounting Office Castleton in the 1960s   

Central Distribution in the 1970s   The Kingfisher Years (1982-2001)   Eighties People   Nineties People   Noughties People    
 

The Lighter Side - Woolies in the Community

1920s   1980s   1990s   2000s
 

Lest We Forget

Great War Memorial   World War II Staff Memorial   New Cross Memorial