When I turned 16 I got a job at Woolworth in S. Dak. I worked mostly in the 1st checkout stand,found my legs killed me at night so went to back of store & they had 1 in. thick foam rubber mats with a thin coating of something kind of pretty & I bought 2 of them. Next time I came to work I nearly got mobbed, all the employees said what I did was great!!! What?? The manager said that was the best idea as all the clerks said their legs felt so much better after standing on 2 of those mats that they got them for all the checkouts. It was fun working there, made popcorn, worked in candy store(yes they had a little square in center of store with glass cases all round & kids would ask for a nickel's worth of red hots or 2 cents worth of jelly beans. I made up the choc. for Easter eggs & dipped them, I think we used sugar decorations that you just pressed into choc & then took to fridge. I was very good at pointing out shoplifters & they got quite a few. I was on a really tight budget & spent maybe $10 for Christmas gifts for my family. Mom got something for kitchen, maybe spatulas,dad hankies,4 little brothers some kind of toy & socks.I think I added a bag of some type of candy, ribbons or filled with choc & shiny hard outside, oh, some had kind of a raspberry stuff inside. Well, out in Ca. 1st yr out here '62 I missed Woolworth's so went shopping & spotted the lunch counter & got a drink & deceided I was going to buy a banana split next time I was in there. I did, boy did I have a stomach ache after that!!(Ate it on empty stomach-not smart) We had a Newberry's here until about 10 yrs ago. I miss that store so much. You could get spool of thread,yarn, craft stuff, small gifts,glasses for kitchen,nice xmas stuff, they even made up some stuff in crochet or that you could make from a pattern to show how neat it would look. Could get stuff for a party or gift for the kid having the party. Now it's 10 miles to get a spool of thread. Oh, and they had Christmas music to get you in the mood & clerks were nice & spoke English!! Today a clerk said "Have a Good Day" I actually got annoyed as no Christmas music & no "Happy Holidays", or Merry Christmas" So Santa Please....send me a 5 & dime for xmas, lots of stores are closed & empty so you can chose the perfect one!!Jan

We had 3 stores in Pensacola. Woolworth, Newberry's and S.H. Kress's (not Kresge's which I later heard of). I worked at Kress's. Worked part-time in the summer and then through Jr. College. Lots of things for a dime! Of course in the 50's, the minimum wage was 60 cents an hour. I worked all the extra hours I could get! Bought fabric for 25 cents a yard and made all my clothes. I was skinney and size 10 swallowed me--at that time there were no smaller sizes! I was married before 7's and 9's came to town. I worked in the jewelry dept. and then there was a luxury tax on jewelry-seems like it was 20 cents on the dollar....I bought at least a piece of jewelry a month, and I still have most of it. It was made good in those days for 69 cents to a dollar. Each section had counters on sides and ends, with a walkway between and one person (2 or more at Christmas) took care of the whole section. Most of the things I started married life with came from the dime stores. Still have some of the dishes. The flowers (4 dozen white gladiolas-$1 a dozen) for my wedding were ordered through the store, and arranged by me.
Oh, for the 'good ole days'!
There is still similar store in Rockville, Indiana--reminds me so much of the 'dime' stores! Except the prices are higher-LOL

Jan, you took me on a long forgotten tour. I can see the glass candy cases. The tables of fabric. Every corner had neat and useful merchandise. We didn't have a soda fountain in our town, but the next town had one in theirs. Of course it was a very special treat to travel there and often we did visit that soda fountain. It is sad that we have gotten away from all stores closed to be with our families for Christmas. But that is another topic. Ah yes Woolworth and J.J. Newberrys. Fond memories.

Kat

Oh yes! We had both a Newberry's and a Woolworth's downtown...way before all of the shopping centers and malls came to town and everyone shopped downtown. I LOVED both of those stores as a girl because my Mom had good friends who worked there and whenever we would go into either of them, the ladies would just swoon over me since they both had boys! I got some of the nicest gifts from there....hats and gloves, mirror, brush and comb sets and wonderful jewelry. They would show me all of the "new arrivals" BEFORE it went out to be sold and I got to pick my favorite! I always felt so special there! And, at our Woolworth store, there was a soda fountain as well and my brother and I got the best sundaes there...made by a grandmotherly little lady who had known our parents since they were young...so, needless to say...we always got more chocolate syrup and two cherries on top! How sweet those memories are.....something that most kids will never experience these days.....Thanks Kirk...for bringing those fond thoughts back to mind! Merry Christmas!

Oh I loved Woolworth's and Kresge's!. The little snack bar,pretty barrettes and headbands,and the sewing notions! As a child I would admire the fancy buttons on the cards of all things. I bought my mom a kitchen clock with some hard earned baby sitting money. It took me two hours to decide which one I wanted(a red apple sliced in half) and then had to get my second favorite because they didn't have the apple in stock! Sure would have looked good with her red gingham curtains.
I remember the pay toilets too!
I put my coin in and noticed someone wrote a little ditty,it was my first intro to graffitti.
They wrote....................
Here I sit all broken hearted paid a nickel only ------!
I couldn't wait to share that dirty little ditty with my sisters! HAHA!

What great stories! I had my very first banana split at Newberry's! I saved up my money, and it was sooooo good! I remember eating it at the lunch counter. It was BIG and I savored every bite! I also remember the pet section at Woolworth's and Newberry's. Always bought my hamsters there! What fun memories! I did a search online of these stores. It was fun to see the old store fronts! Thanks for reliving my childhood with me! Bear Hugs! Kirk

Woolworth's headquarters were here in Milwaukee. We had one in every shopping district in the city. Lots of fond memories of Woolworths. It's where I bought most of my Breyer horse statues when I was a girl (still have them too!). I remember my mom and I picking out lots of Christmas ornaments because they were pretty and cheap. And who could forget the soda fountains? My mother's favorite? Apple pie warmed with a slice of cheddar cheese melted on top. Is that just a Wisconsin thing?

We also had Drew's 5&10 here. Their first store was a few blocks from our house. I swear I spent my childhood there!

I swear I cried when Woolworths closed. It was a door banging shut on my childhood memories. The same with the Drew's stores. I think the closest Ben Franklin is about 25 miles away. Maybe I'll have to pay it a visit this weekend.

I wonder if our great great great grandkids will reminisce about when there were Walmarts and shopping malls and only shop online. Or some other way we cannot imagine!

I grew up in a very small southern town, so there were no Woolworth's. We did however have Morgan and Lindsey's, I think it was a small local chain. Just this week I saw a set of glasses at an antique mall that I bought for my grandmother when I was about 7. I thought they were so beautiful (really kind of cheesy retro) and she drank buttermilk from them every night. I always think of the shinybrite Christmas ornaments and flocked reindeer when I think of Morgan and Lindsey's. Now I live in Arkansas, just a few miles from where Sam Walton ran his first 5&10 for someone else, it is unbelieveable that Wal-mart has had such an impact on the world.
Syble

ahh....the only places i could shop as a tot. i totally forgot morgan & lindsey's!! we shopped at woolworths,all those hankies and blue glass bottles of perfume,little china birds, gold pill boxes with pictures on the lids. at mccrory's i'd buy a grilled apple jelly and peanut butter sandwich and glass of milk for a quarter..and you could buy the gifts you needed to get for a nickel or a dime each. now there's the dollar stores for our kids :D last week i helped my grandson make his gift list,9 people,and told him he could spend a dollar on each person. he was so grown-up! he had his list,and his pen,crossing off names as he went. he found me a 16 month calender with fruit/vegetable vintage crate label pics for 50 cents...but i'm not supposed to know that :D make up kits, feather boa, tube of plastic dinosaurs, water color painting kits, and i even let him buy a roll of wrapping paper. he did it, and got some great gifts, and he's still telling everyone how he shopped for Christmas, so i'm sure this is going to be a happy memory for him. oh, we shopped at dollar general for these bargains.and i noticed they have lots of toys for $5,$10 and $20 bucks.. remember rock'em sock'em robots? $15 to buy that game there :D, and for 3 days they had 25% off.
i still have the little red cardinal figurine i bought my granny, i think i paid a dime for it.
we also had scotty's; kent's; and gaylord's. stores.

kudzu
Merry Christmas