One of the greatest comeback stories I have ever heard. At age 24 Frank Winfield’s life was over. A failure in his chosen field, and now he was dying. A neighbor girl was hired to take care of him. She had faith in him and fed him when he was too weak to feed himself. She perhaps was the only one that believed in him, but as he regained his health he would prove her right.
Frank was too frail to be a farmer, and had always dreamed of being a retailer. In those days much of the merchandise was sold by door to door salesmen, so Frank would be a peddler. Frank was not suited for door to door sales, and he was a dismal failure.
Then he got a job in a department store in Waterford, New York, and failed at this. He tried so hard that his health began to deteriorate to the point that his life was in danger. He had done everything that he was told. At one point he worked a 14-hour day, then slept in the basement with a gun under his head, because the store had numerous robberies. He was mostly sweeping floors and cleaning cuspidors. He worked 3 years then took a job at another department store.
One day he collapsed, became bed fast and was an invalid. Even the doctor feared for his life. A neighbor girl by the name of Jenny Kriton was hired to care for him 24 hours a day. She had been a seamstress and with eight brothers and sisters had done some nursing. She was the only one that believed he would recover. With the encouragement of a beautiful blue-eyed teenage girl, he began to recover, and got stronger than he ever was.
Jenny became his constant companion and his encourager. They married Jun 11, 1876. Frank established a chain of 90 plus department stores in the US and foreign countries. His full name was Frank Winfield, F.W. Woolworth.
I personally have some fond of memories of Woolworth Department Stores. When I was a youth there was one in Fort Wayne which we shopped at but it was overshadowed by G.C. Murphy’s. Another I remember was on Main Street in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
When my children were young we went to visit the Kellogg’s plant. In those days they would take you for a tour inside the plant as they were making corn flakes. It was a marked loop and you only saw that part of the plant, but it was actually operating. As you gather, two attractive girls in uniform show you a movie of the operation.
Then one guides you through the plant, and afterward you gather and she answers your questions. As you leave she gives you a six pack of individual boxes of cereal. Do they still sell those individual boxes of cereal? It was quite a neat experience for both parents and children. The cereal made a nice snack.
The city of Grand Rapids was beautiful with Main Street closed to all but pedestrian traffic. There were trees growing in the middle of the street. To get to Main Street you had to park behind a store and walk through the store. We parked in the Woolworth lot and walked the length of the store, of course shopping as you go.
We took our youngest years later and you could no longer go through the Kellogg’s factory. There was no shopping downtown as everything had moved out to the mall. I guess this was a sign of the times because the malls are practically done. I miss the days when people actually lived in towns.
Woolworths changed the entire concept of marketing. When he began everything was in a case, and there was no set prices, you haggled with the clerk. The merchandiser purchased everything from a wholesaler. Frank did away with the middleman, and put things on tables so people could touch them. In his first store everything was a nickel, then his second store he had items for a nickel and items for a dime.
Incidentally, his first store in Utica New York, failed miserably. His second try in Lancaster Pennsylvania took off gangbusters. The Woolworth Building in New York City was the tallest building in the world, with the fastest elevators. He paid for it with 11 million dollars cash. Woolworth said, “You learn more when you fail than when you succeed.” Whitie Heller used to say that you learn more when you lose a game then when you win.
Perhaps the greatest success story ever, from a man that was completely spent, became perhaps the richest man in the world in his time. There is a cute song from that era about the Woolworth store in Austin Texas. “Love at the Five and Dime” By Nancy Griffin. If you don’t have a phone have a grandkid play it for you.
—James Neuhouser
