Heritage in the Hat: At the Five and Dime

By Medicine Hat News on November 17, 2018.

For some reason, my mother always referred to “Woolyworth’s” or “Woolie’s” and as a young child, I thought that was the name of the store across from Eaton’s. Then in 1966, the large building at 450 Third Street was constructed as Woolworth’s new store. It was the fourth iteration of Woolworth’s downtown and the largest Woolworth’s store in Canada at the time.

Frank Winfield Woolworth opened his first Woolworth’s store in Utica, New York, in 1878. Woolworth’s unique business model offered merchandise at a low price point and was the first Five and Dime store. It was also the first store to allow customers to handle merchandise on their own, unaided by store clerks.

F. W. Woolworth Company incorporated in 1916 with 596 stores in North America and additional stores in Britain, an early international chain of an eventual 3,000 stores. Merchandise offerings were expanded to a 20-cent line in 1932, before discontinuing price limits in 1935. Well respected, on F.W. Woolworth’s death in 1919, rival Sebastian S. Kresge closed all his stores for the funeral.

In 1916, Woolworth’s established their first store in Medicine Hat at 640 Third St. S.E. in the Robert Mitchell building, newly built following a fire. The company remained at this location for a decade before moving to a larger space in the Becker Block at 635 Second St. S.E.

In 1941, the F. W. Woolworth store moved to the purpose-built building at the corner of Third Street and Sixth Avenue S.E. The brick and steel building was designed and constructed by the Principle Investment Company for $40,000. Several early commercial blocks, including the Dixon Block, were demolished. Construction experienced delays due to wartime shortages of steel so wood was substituted where possible. The new commercial block possessed 7,100 square feet of floor space, a lunch counter, and all the latest service amenities. The partial second storey included “restrooms for the girl clerks.” Woolworth’s remained at this location for nearly 25 years before moving to its final location up Third Street.

The 1941 F. W. Woolworth store is valued as a rare expression of pre-modern Stripped Classical style of architecture, with minimal ornamentation. The building exhibits classical tenets including symmetry, rectangular massing, and flat roof that give it a linear effect. More recently added simulated sandstone has obscured the original entrance.

Woolworth’s was an institution in the retail landscape of Medicine Hat but has faded from view. Its premise of all merchandise for fixed low price is continued today by “dollar stores” but you can’t buy much for a dime these days!

Malcolm Sissons is the chair of the Heritage Resources Committee of the City of Medicine Hat.

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