Woolworth/Woolco Hallowe'en

[Hepcat]

SO many chains copied not only Woolworth's business pattern - but also the "Two Initials and Last Name" title! In my Midwestern home town, the dear departed store of sainted memory (MAD paperbacks - Beatles 45s - View-Masters - etc.) was a:



(And OH, MAN - what a heavenly, giant-U-shaped glass candy counter!)

We had both a Woolworth's and Kresge's in my hometown of Wilkes-Barre, PA - where coincidentally, S.S. Kresge was born. I always considered Kresge's the better of the two, but I honestly couldn't tell you why, because both carried similar product. Maybe it was "Aunt Claire", who ran the toy section at Kresge's. I do remember perusing the Halloween section in both stores.

There were a wealth of these five-and-dime stores in downtown London, Ontario and the shopping district of East London when I was a kid. There were two Woolworth's, two Kresges, two Metropolitans(Mets) and one Zellers. They also seemed to close down at once around 1990.

I miss so much about these stores. Not just the toy departments with their Aurora monster model kits and the Ben Cooper and Collegeville Halloween costumes hanging from the ceiling, but the budgies, goldfish and little turtles in the pet department, the glorious candy counters, the decorated birthday cakes in their windows, the luncheonette counters where you could get hamburgers, french fries and sundaes and the fabulous neapolitan ice cream sandwiches sold at Woolworth's. So very sad that they're all gone. I'm going to cry....

[Dr.Cyclops]

This S.S. Kresge was in my neighborhood and what I remember most other than the creaking old wooden floors and  spinning round on the chrome lunch-counter stools (whose well worn bearings were greased for extreme spinarama) was the smell.There was no other smell like it I can still to this day close my eyes and picture that cornucopia of aromas - a mingling of Buttered Popcorn/Hamster cage/Rubber Gloves/Frying Hamburgers/Turtle terrariums/Budgie cages/brewing coffee and old wooden mops.

[Hepcat]

Sadly all S.S. Kresge stores were gone by the time I moved into the general neighbourhood.

There were still dozens of Kresge and Woolworth stores in Metro Toronto right through the eighties but somehow as a young adult I just didn't much appreciate their in-store luncheonettes, primarily because such lunch counters were still commonly found in diners. But not many traditional lunch counters remain these days. Most diners have gone upscale, converted their lunch counters to bar type counters or simply closed. Very sad.

[Dr.Cyclops]

Sadly all S.S. Kresge stores were gone by the time I moved into the general neighbourhood.

There were still dozens of Kresge and Woolworth stores in Metro Toronto right through the eighties but somehow as a young adult I just didn't much appreciate their in-store luncheonettes, primarily because such lunch counters were still commonly found in diners. But not many traditional lunch counters remain these days. Most diners have gone upscale, converted their lunch counters to bar type counters or simply closed. Very sad.

I think the last time I ever ate at the lunch counter would have been pre -1975.

[Mike Scott]

But not many traditional lunch counters remain these days.

Killed off by the fast food joints.

[Hepcat]

To the detriment of regional variety in cuisine and choice for the individual.

[gracebuster]

I'm  pretty confident that the retro counter pictured here is in the former woolworth's building in Bakersfield California which is now a wonderful ANTIQUE MALL!
The food at the counter was great and it was there that I had one of the greatest hamburgers in my life!

If you are in Southern Cal, it's a nice day trip up there. I was not aware that the town had so many antique malls as I had not really been there since we shot CAVEGIRL in 1984!

My mother spent many an hour haunting the aisles of Woolworth and the other three five-and-dimes in downtown London - Kresge, Zellers and Metropolitan - for bargains. She'd frequently have me in tow but I didn't mind at all. I'd spend my time eyeing the toys including the Aurora monster models, the bulk candies, the goldfish, budgies and little turtles. My end game though was to get my mother to buy me an ice cream or a milkshake at the fabulous lunch counter with which these stores were invariably equipped. Here's a picture of a Woolworth menu:



And here are some shots of various Woolworth lunch counters:









These often came equipped with a very cool Campbell's or Heinz soup display:

[The Batman]

Ok, yes but let us not forget Foster's Ol' Fashion' Freeze still exists and provides the same exact taste sensation as it did so many moons ago. I went there for a choc chip swirl cup and the taste was the same as over 20 YRS ago. Rock on for being retro and keeping a piece of great old America retro wonderful fun still alive... at least in Northern CA.

[The Batman]

I'm  pretty confident that the retro counter pictured here is in the former woolworth's building in Bakersfield California which is now a wonderful ANTIQUE MALL!
The food at the counter was great and it was there that I had one of the greatest hamburgers in my life!

If you are in Southern Cal, it's a nice day trip up there. I was not aware that the town had so many antique malls as I had not really been there since we shot CAVEGIRL in 1984!

'Love all of these cool retro shots.

[The Batman]

FEEL good that you can still experience an ol' fashion' taste sensation at a Foster's in Northern CA and if you last tasted 'em in the 60's I want you to know the same exact taste is here today for us now...

[Hepcat]

Hmmmm. You're not professionally associated with Foster's in any way, are you?

[Hepcat]

Those five and dime stores in downtown areas were indeed Halloween central for many a baby boomer kid. Halloween has certainly lost something since the days a young fellow could see a score of Ben Cooper or Collegeville costumes hanging from the ceiling of the local five-and-dime in the weeks before Halloween and if he was very lucky get his parents to spring for one.

I still have fond memories of the Kresge's, Woolworth, Zellers and Metropolitan stores in downtown London, Ontario. My mother used to haunt all these looking for bargains. As a youngster I was very often in tow. I didn't mind of course as there was never a shortage of items to capture a young boy's interest, little turtles, goldfish, budgies, the bulk candy counter, the fancy birthday cakes in the front window and all those toys!

How many of you other UMA members grew up in small cities with populations of 50,000-175,000 in which five-and-dimes such as Woolworth, Kresge, Grant's, Zellers, Met, etc. were among the feature shopping attractions of the downtown business sections?

[skully]

Hepcat, goes without saying, the downtown here in Reading was the place to be, be it Halloween, Christmas, or anytime. Woolworth's, Kresge, Grants, Greens, Pomeroy's, all the movie theatres, the way the streets were decorated at Christmas and other times, and not to forget all the small corner stores and variety stores that were everywhere. Many of the mom and pop type food grocery stores also sold toys, model kits, etc. It was these types of smaller stores that I have the best memories of monster toys, gum cards, really obscure items such as the MPC Haunted Hulk in one of these small grocery type corner stores, magazines, box and wax-filled monster candys of all types, comic books, all those great gumball machines!!

[Hepcat]

Oh man! That must have been heaven for any little kid. In fact it still sounds like heaven to a grown-up (just barely) monster kid like me!

[skully]

Hepcat, it surely was "heaven".  I grew up on the south side of the city, which was predominantly Polish and Ukrainian culture at the time.