Foot Locker

Frank Woolworth opens his first "Great 5¢ Store" in Utica, New York. Woolworth's closes the last of its five-and-dime stores in the United States. Company closes its Northern Reflections chain and renames itself Foot Locker Inc. Top athletic shoe retailer Foot Locker, Inc., was known until 1998 as the Woolworth Corporation and until 2001 as Venator Group Inc. Foot Locker is a multinational retailer of athletic shoes with stores and support operations in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The company's holdings include the chains Foot Locker (and its Kids and Lady store concept versions), Footaction USA, and Champs Sports. Since Woolworth's establishment in 1879, the business has been involved in general merchandising; in its incarnation as Venator, however, the company focused on the retailing of athletic footwear and apparel. In 2001 Venator renamed itself after its best-performing specialty chain, the Foot Locker athletic footwear shops. When Woolworth recovered in 1876, he returned to his former employer William Moore, whose business was now called Moore & Smith. There he concentrated on window displays. In 1878, Moore & Smith found itself with high debt and excess inventory. To raise money, the store held a five-cent sale. Smith and Woolworth laid a group of goods such as tin pans, washbasins, button-hooks, and dippers, along with surplus inventory, on a counter over which they hung a sign reading: "Any Article on This Counter, 5¢." After the sale, Frank Woolworth was convinced a five-cent strategy could work on a broader basis. Woolworth soon began opening new outlets. Some stores succeeded, while others failed. By the mid-1880s, there were seven Woolworth's in New York and Pennsylvania. Most were run by partner-managers. These men--Woolworth's brother, Charles Sumner Woolworth; his cousin, Seymour Horace Knox; former employer, W.H. Moore; and Fred M. Kirby--ran the stores in which they held a 50 percent interest. Frank Woolworth ran the initial store and took care of purchasing. In succeeding years, these partner-managers bought out Frank Woolworth's shares and began opening chains on their own. Woolworth continued opening stores. After 1888, he did so completely with his own capital. In these new stores, he entered into a profit-sharing agreement with managers. While Woolworth owed much of his success to low prices, his treatment of the customer was also important. In the 1870s and 1880s, patrons usually had to ask for goods held behind the counter, and prices varied according to the customer; it was considered impolite to enter a store without buying. Woolworth changed all that. His merchandise sat on counters for everyone to see. His price was the same for everyone. He encouraged people to enter the store even if they were just looking. Another reason for Woolworth's success was the decline in wholesale prices during the first 12 years of Woolworth's existence. This led to wider availability of goods in the five and ten cent price range, wider margins, and higher profits. As operations grew, Woolworth found he needed a New York City office from which he could govern his stores. In July 1886, he took an office on Chambers Street. Soon after, he began writing a daily letter that went out to all store managers. Freed of day-to-day operations, Woolworth made his first European buying trip in 1890. On his return, U.S. consumers flocked to his stores to obtain pottery from England and Scotland, Christmas decorations from Germany, and other goods from the great commercial fairs of Europe. The same year, Woolworth established the "approved list." On the approved list were goods that Woolworth would reorder for his managers. This system allowed managers the leeway to adjust stock for local preferences while at the same time benefiting from the chain's buying power. In 1897, Woolworth opened his first Canadian store, in Toronto, Ontario. Three years later, there were 59 Woolworth's with sales of $5 million.