The best part though about the whole experience was going to Woolworth's to eat at their dining area. Those were the best chocolate milk shakes I've ever had. They don't make them anymore like they used to. She'd order me a cheeseburger with fries and a chocolate milkshake. She insisted that I'd eat as much on the plate possible till there was almost nothing left. I thought I was going to pop. But after eating I felt so serene and happy. All of the arguing and bickering amongst us just washed away while we ate. That is until I'd find a new Barbie doll in the distance that I just had to have. "Just finish that milkshake and never mind about that doll." "I'll get it for you after we eat!" What a big fat lie...
What's funny is that when my son was a toddler, I found myself using the same line. Thanks, mom.
The F. W. Woolworth Company (often referred to as Woolworth's) was a retail company that was one of the original American five-and-dime stores. The first Woolworth's store was founded, with a loan of $300, in 1878 by Frank Winfield Woolworth. Despite growing to be one of the largest retail chains in the world through most of the 20th century, increased competition led to its decline beginning in the 1980s. In 1997, F. W. Woolworth Company converted itself into a sporting goods retailer, closing its remaining retail stores operating under the "Woolworth's" brand name and renaming itself Venator Group. By 2001, the company focused exclusively on the sporting goods market, changing its name to the present Foot Locker Inc (NYSE: FL).
Retail chains using the Woolworth name survive in the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Mexico, and South Africa. The similarly-named Woolworth's supermarkets in Australia and New Zealand are operated by Woolworths Limited, a separate company with no historical links to the F. W. Woolworth Company or Foot Locker, Inc.
