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110-583: The F. W. Woolworth Company (often referred to as Woolworth's or simply Woolworth ) was a retail company and one of the pioneers of the five-and-dime store . It was among the most successful American and international five-and-dime businesses, setting trends and creating the modern retail model that stores follow worldwide today. The first Woolworth store was opened by Frank Winfield Woolworth on February 22, 1879, as "Woolworth's Great Five Cent Store" in Utica, New York . Though it initially appeared to be successful,

220-645: A federal court building for the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania . The city is conventionally divided into nine districts: North Scranton, Southside, Westside, Eastside/Hill Section, Central City, Minooka, West Mountain, East Mountain, and Green Ridge, though these areas do not have legal status. The city is the geographic and cultural center of the Lackawanna River valley and Northeastern Pennsylvania, as well as

330-454: A steam railroad that entered Scranton in 1863. During this short period of time, the city rapidly transformed from a small, agrarian-based village of people with New England roots to a multicultural, industrial-based city. From 1860 to 1900, the city's population increased more than tenfold. Most new immigrants, such as the Irish, Italians, and south Germans and Polish, were Catholic, a contrast to

440-520: A £E 2.5 shop. Miniso is a Chinese variety store chain that specializes in household and consumer goods including cosmetics , stationery , toys, and kitchenware. In 2016, the company's sales revenue reached $ 1.5 billion. Miniso has expanded outside of the Chinese market and operates 1,800 stores in Asia, Europe, Oceania , Africa, North America, and South America. Scranton, Pennsylvania Scranton

550-464: A $ 56 billion industry. Colliers International claims there are more dollar stores than drug stores. With stores of other types closing in large numbers, dollar stores often replace other types of stores in shopping centers. They succeed partly because of impulse purchases . The common term in North America for a small general merchandise store is general store . Frank Winfield Woolworth had seen

660-510: A 20th-century fixture in American downtowns. They would serve as anchors for suburban shopping plazas and shopping malls in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. Criticisms that five-and-dime stores drove local merchants out of business would repeat themselves in the early 21st century, when big-box discount stores became popular. In the 1960s, the five-and-dime concept evolved into the larger discount department store format. In 1962, Woolworth's founded

770-871: A boy "...sat at the lunch counter and ordered a slice of pie, a soda and a sundae , all under the watchful eyes of the biracial committee which had organized the event." The names of the three black customers were not reported at the time, and are now unknown. While the incident was uneventful, other sit-ins were completed, also without incident, at 17 other segregated lunch counters in Roanoke. There were at least 3 sit-ins in Florida Woolworth's locations; two in March 1960, in Tampa and Sarasota , and in July 1963 in St. Augustine, Florida . In later years

880-434: A chain of large, single-floor discount stores called Woolco . In that same year, Woolworth's competitors opened similar retail chains that sold merchandise at a discount: the S.S. Kresge Company opened Kmart , Dayton's opened Target , and Sam Walton opened his first Wal-Mart store. The following year, in 1963, Woolworth expanded into the shoe store business with the purchase of Kinney Shoe Corporation , which led to

990-501: A considerable discount over other retailers, whereas others are at the same price point. There are two ways variety stores make a profit: Variety stores with single price points buy products to fit those price points (while making a profit) that are: Not all variety stores are "single price-point" stores, even if their names imply it. For example, in the United States, Dollar General and Family Dollar sell items at more or less than

1100-404: A dollar. Some stores also sell goods priced at multiples of the named price and, conversely, multiple items for the price. The discrepancy with the nominal price is also compounded if sales tax is added at the point of sale . In many countries, stock can be imported from others with lower variable costs, because of differences in wages, resource costs or taxation. Usually, goods are imported by

1210-670: A falling-out with the landlord; their next store, in York, Pennsylvania , likewise closed after only three months of operation. Finally, the "5¢ Woolworth Bro's Store" opened in Scranton, Pennsylvania on November 6, 1880, with Charles as manager. At this location, the "5¢ & 10¢" merchandising model was fully developed, and the store proved a success. Charles bought out Frank's share of the Scranton store in two installments, in January 1881 and 1882, making him

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1320-583: A garden and open-air theater, which soon became the city's social center. In 1910, Frank Woolworth commissioned the design and construction of the Woolworth Building in New York City . A pioneering early skyscraper, it was designed by American architect Cass Gilbert , a graduate of the MIT architecture school. The building was paid for entirely in cash. It was completed in 1913 and was the tallest building in

1430-501: A general importer and then sold to the stores wholesale . Another source of stock is overruns, surplus items and out-of-date food products. Real Deals, a regional dollar store in the Syracuse , New York area, is stocked almost entirely with surplus goods such as these. The legality of selling out-of-date goods varies between jurisdictions: in general, most items (with a few exceptions, particularly certain perishable food items depending on

1540-540: A landmark event in the civil rights movement. In 1993, an eight-foot section of the lunch counter was moved to the Smithsonian Institution and the store site now contains a civil rights museum , which had its grand opening on Monday, February 1, 2010, the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the sit-ins. Imitation sit-ins also occurred in other cities where there were segregated lunch counters at Woolworth's. In Roanoke, Virginia on August 27, 1960, two women and

1650-524: A mil (referring to the one thousand Chilean pesos banknote). They are commonly located in middle-class neighbourhoods where big retail stores don't usually venture and in small commercial districts like the ones in Santiago . Variety stores in Colombia include Dollar City (Colombia version of Dollarama), D1, Ara, Miniso In South America, variety stores may be known as: In Egypt, a variety store may be called

1760-513: A port on the lake, the company could receive iron ore shipped from the Mesabi Range in Minnesota , which was being newly mined. Scranton forged ahead as the capital of the anthracite coal industry. Attracting the thousands of workers needed to mine coal, the city developed new neighborhoods dominated by Italian and Eastern European immigrants, who brought their foods, cultures and religions. Many of

1870-577: A precursor to the modern shopping mall food court . A Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina became the setting for the 1960 Greensboro sit-ins , protesting the company's racial segregation policies in the South , a key event of the Civil Rights Movement . The Woolworth's concept was widely imitated, and five-and-ten-cent stores (also known as five-and-dime stores or dimestores) became

1980-540: A renewed interest in the city's buildings and history. Some historic properties have been renovated and marketed as tourist attractions. The Steamtown National Historic Site captures the area's once-prominent position in the railroad industry. The former DL&W train station was restored as the Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel . The Electric City Trolley Museum was created next to the DL&;W yards that

2090-492: A straight line in Northeastern Pennsylvania's urban core act culturally and logistically as one continuous city, so while Scranton is a mid-sized city, the larger Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area contains half a million residents in roughly 300 square miles (780 km ). Scranton is the cultural and economic center of Northeastern Pennsylvania, a region of the state with over 1.3 million residents. Scranton hosts

2200-521: A year. Studies of food discounters in Great Britain show quite a varied demographic, and 99p Stores reported an increase in higher-income customers after the financial crisis of 2007–2008 . Dollar stores have been alleged by a number of studies, individuals, and organizations to proliferate food deserts : areas with limited access to healthy and affordable food. Dollar stores are alleged to outcompete local grocery stores, and end up being one of

2310-620: Is a city in and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania , United States. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 U.S. census , Scranton is the most populous city in Northeastern Pennsylvania and the Wyoming Valley metropolitan area, which has a population of 562,037 as of 2020. It is the sixth-most populous city in Pennsylvania. The contiguous network of five cities and more than 40 boroughs all built in

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2420-492: Is at or below 0 °F (−18 °C). Precipitation is generally slightly greater during late spring and summer, while winter is generally the driest. On average, each month sees 10 to 13 days of precipitation, and the mean annual total is 38.72 inches (983 mm). Snowfall is variable, with some winters bringing light snow and others bringing numerous snowstorms. For the 1991–2020 period, snowfall has averaged 45.1 inches (115 cm) per year, with January accounting for most of

2530-492: Is considered an after-effect of a decade-long recession of the Japanese economy. Despite the emphasis on value, however, some items, such as chocolate bars, may be priced higher than they are at other stores. For a few years, 100-yen shops existed not as permanent stores, but as vendors under temporary, foldable tents. They were (and still are) typically found near the entrance areas of supermarkets. A major player in 100-yen shops

2640-471: Is located 56 miles (90 km) north of Allentown , 104 miles (167 km) north-northwest of Philadelphia , and 99 miles (159 km) west-northwest of New York City . In 1778, during the colonial era , Isaac Tripp, the area's first known white settler, built his home here; it still stands in North Scranton, formerly a separate town known as Providence. More settlers from Connecticut Colony came to

2750-605: Is the Daiso chain. The first store opened in 1991, and there are now around 2,400 stores in Japan. This number is increasing by around 40 stores per month. Daiso has also expanded into North America, Australia, Asia, and the Middle East. In China, ¥ 2 (or ¥3, depending on the area's economic prosperity) shops have become a common sight in most cities. In Hong Kong, major department stores have opened their own $ 10 shops (US$ 1.28) to compete in

2860-592: Is the legal continuation of the original Woolworth; it retains Woolworth's pre-1997 stock price history. As part of celebrating F. W. Woolworth's centennial on the New York Stock Exchange on June 26, 2012, a news release featured 1912 Woolworth's store and a 2012 Foot Locker store. On February 1, 1960, four black students sat down at a segregated lunch counter in a Greensboro, North Carolina , Woolworth's store. They were refused service, touching off six months of sit-ins and economic boycotts that became

2970-548: The Great Railroad Strike , attracted workers from the steel industry and mining as well, and developed as the Scranton General Strike . Four rioters were killed during unrest during the strike, after the mayor mustered a militia. With violence suppressed by militia and federal troops, workers finally returned to their jobs, not able to gain any economic relief. William Walker Scranton , from the prominent family,

3080-703: The Knights of Labor as mayor of Scranton. After that, he became national leader of the KoL, a predominately Catholic organization that had a peak membership of 700,000 circa 1880. While the Catholic Church had prohibited membership in secret organizations since the mid-18th century, by the late 1880s with the influence of Archbishop James Gibbons of Baltimore, Maryland , it supported the Knights of Labor as representing workingmen and union organizing. The landmark Coal strike of 1902

3190-1079: The Montage Mountain ski resort , the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins , AHL affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins ; the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders , AAA affiliate of the New York Yankees , PNC Field , and the Toyota Pavilion at Montage Mountain concert venue. On September 22, 2024, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant , which produces 155mm artillery shells that Ukraine's military uses. Scranton's total area of 25.4 square miles (66 km ) includes 25.2 square miles (65 km ) of land and 0.2 square miles (0.52 km ) of water, according to

3300-525: The New York, Ontario and Western Railway (NYO&W). As the vast rail network spread above ground, an even larger network of railways served the rapidly expanding system of coal veins underground. Miners, who in the early years were typically Welsh and Irish, were hired as cheaply as possible by the coal barons. The workers endured low pay, long hours and unsafe working conditions. Children as young as eight or nine worked 14-hour days separating slate from coal in

3410-511: The Scranton General Strike of 1877. This was in part due to the larger Great Railroad Strike , in which railroad workers began to organize and participate in walkouts after wage cuts in Martinsburg, West Virginia . The national economy had lagged since the Panic of 1873, and workers in many industries struggled with low wages and intermittent work. In Scranton, mineworkers followed the railroad men off

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3520-740: The United Mine Workers . The sub-surface mining weakened whole neighborhoods, however, damaging homes, schools, and businesses when the land collapsed. In 1913 the state passed the Davis Act to establish the Bureau of Surface Support in Scranton. Because of the difficulty in dealing with the coal companies, citizens organized the Scranton Surface Protection Association, chartered by the Court of Common Pleas on November 24, 1913 "to protect

3630-760: The United States Census Bureau . Scranton is drained by the Lackawanna River . Center City is about 750 feet (229 m) above sea level, although the hilly city's inhabited portions range about from 650 to 1,400 feet (200 to 430 m). The city is flanked by mountains to the east and west whose elevations range from 1,900 to 2,100 feet (580 to 640 m). Scranton has a humid continental climate ( Köppen Dfa ), with four distinct seasons. Summers have occasional heat waves bringing temperatures well above 90 °F (32 °C), while winters can have cold snaps bringing temperatures below 0 °F (−18 °C). The monthly daily average temperature in January,

3740-436: The breakers . Often, the workers were forced to use company-provided housing and purchase food and other goods from stores owned by the coal companies. With hundreds of thousands of immigrants arriving in the industrial cities, mine owners did not have to search for labor and workers struggled to keep their positions. Later miners came from Italy and eastern Europe, which people fled because of poverty and lack of jobs. Business

3850-688: The "Woolworth's Great Five Cent Store" in Utica, New York , on February 22, 1879. The store failed and closed in May 1879, after Woolworth earned enough money to pay back William Moore. Woolworth soon made a second attempt, and opened his "Woolworth's Great Five Cent Store", using the same sign, on June 21, 1879, in Lancaster, Pennsylvania . Lancaster proved a success, and Woolworth opened a second store in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in 1879, with his brother Charles Sumner Woolworth as manager. The Harrisburg store closed after

3960-486: The 1950s and 1960s, Americans shopped more and more in malls rather than downtown shopping districts and although Newberry's and Woolworth's stores did open in the malls, starting around the 1970s, variety stores lost business to other retail formats such as office stores, low-price shoe chains, fabric stores, toy stores and discount drug stores like Thrifty Drug Stores . Grocery stores and drug stores sold more and more candy. The last US Woolworth's closed in 1997. Newberry's

4070-603: The British Woolworth's company, originally operating Woolworth's department stores in Cyprus. In 2003, these stores were rebranded Debenhams , but the commercial property arm of the business retained the Woolworth's name. The F.W. Woolworth Co. had the first five-and-dime stores , which sold discounted general merchandise and fixed price , usually five or ten cents, undercutting the prices of other local merchants. Woolworth, as

4180-667: The Erie Railroad in Great Bend, Pennsylvania . Thus they could transport manufactured rails from the Lackawanna Valley to New York and the Midwest. They also invested in coal mining operations in the city to fuel their steel operations, and to market it to businesses. In 1856, they expanded the railroad eastward as the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad (DL&W), in order to tap into

4290-614: The F. W. Woolworth Company or Foot Locker, Inc.; it did, however, take the name from the original company, as it had not been registered or trademarked in Australia at the time. Similarly, in South Africa, Woolworths Holdings Limited operates a Marks & Spencer -like store and uses the Woolworth name, but has never had any connection with the American company. The property development company Woolworth Group in Cyprus began life as an offshoot of

4400-596: The Hill and Green Ridge sections of the city. The industrial workers, who tended to be later immigrants from Ireland and southern and eastern Europe, were predominately Catholic. With a flood of immigrants in the market, they suffered poor working conditions and wages. In 1902, the dwindling local iron ore supply, labor issues, and an aging plant cost the city the industry on which it was founded. The Lackawanna Steel Company and many of its workers were moved to Lackawanna, New York , developed on Lake Erie just south of Buffalo . With

4510-584: The Laurel Line ceased passenger service. The Scranton Transit Company, whose trolleys had given the city its nickname, transferred all operations to buses as the 1954 holiday season approached; by the end of 1971, it ceased all operations. The city was left without any public transportation system for almost a year until the Lackawanna County government formed COLTS , which began operations in late 1972 with 1950s-era GM busses from New Jersey. Scranton had been

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4620-699: The New York City metropolitan market. This railroad, with its hub in Scranton, was Scranton's largest employer for almost one hundred years. The Pennsylvania Coal Company built a gravity railroad in the 1850s through the city for the purpose of transporting coal. The gravity railroad was replaced by a steam railroad built in 1886 by the Erie and Wyoming Valley Railroad (later absorbed by the Erie Railroad). The Delaware and Hudson (D&H) Canal Company, which had its own gravity railroad from Carbondale to Honesdale , built

4730-545: The Steamtown NHS occupies. Since the mid-1980s the Scranton Cultural Center has operated the architecturally significant Masonic Temple and Scottish Rite Cathedral, designed by Raymond Hood , as the region's performing arts center. The Houdini Museum was opened in Scranton in 1990 by nationally known magician Dorothy Dietrich . According to The Guardian , the city was close to bankruptcy in July 2012, with

4840-538: The U.S. were Dollar General , Dollar Tree (which owns Family Dollar ), the 99 Cents Only Stores , and Five Below . Increasing revenue has led to growth for dollar store chains: by 2018, Dollar Tree had 14,000 locations in the U.S., and its expansion continued; in 2019, Dollar General had 15,000 locations in the US, and its expansion continued; and Five Below had 745 stores. In Japan, 100-yen shops (百円ショップ hyaku-en shoppu or 百均 hyakkin) have proliferated since around 2001. This

4950-495: The US. US Dollar stores were founded by entrepreneur Gaurav Sahni, owner of Nanson Overseas Private Limited. Nanson, operated by Gaurav Sahni and his brother Gautam Sahni, has had an established sourcing and consolidation network for over two decades, with supply bases worldwide. Direct sourcing without intermediaries and stocking a large variety of merchandise as and when needed has given the company an advantage. In Russia, Fix Price started selling all its items at 30 roubles and as

5060-570: The area in the late 18th and early 19th centuries following the end of the American Revolutionary War , since their state claimed the area as part of their colonial charter. They gradually established mills and other small businesses in a village that became known as Slocum Hollow. People in the village during this time carried the traits and accent of their New England settlers, which were somewhat different from most of Pennsylvania. Some area settlers from Connecticut participated in what

5170-486: The authorizing process. Scranton was designated by the state legislature as the county seat of the newly formed county, which was also established as a separate judicial district, with state judges moving over from Luzerne County after courts were organized in October 1878. This was the last county in the state to be organized. Creation of the new county, which enabled both more local control and political patronage, helped begin

5280-525: The brand subsequently lasted a full twelve years longer in the United Kingdom than it did in the United States. On October 15, 1993, Woolworth's embarked on a restructuring plan that included closing half of its 800-plus general merchandise stores in the United States and converting its Canadian stores to a closeout division named The Bargain! Shop . Woolco and Woolworth survived in Canada until 1994, when

5390-483: The business grew, up to 55 roubles. It has now cancelled this practice and has become a typical discount store ). Marks & Spencer opened a stall in Kirkgate Market Leeds in 1884, proclaiming “Don’t ask the price, it’s a ’Penny”. Woolworth's opened its first store in the United Kingdom in 1909, when they were also colloquially known as " threepenny and sixpenny " stores, "3 d and 6d" being displayed on

5500-459: The chairman rather than the president was frequently the chief executive officer. Gibbons (1919–1982) succeeded Burcham (1913–1987) as chairman-CEO in 1978 and died in office, succeeded by vice chairman John W. Lynn (1921–2013) who was succeeded in 1986 by president (since 1983, replacing Richard L. Anderson (d. 2015)) Harold Sells. Farah joined the company as chairman and CEO in December 1994 and Hennig

5610-453: The city centre), suffered a fire in May 1979. Despite the store being rebuilt even larger and up to the latest fire codes, the negative stories in the press and loss of lives in the fire sealed its fate; it ultimately closed in 1986. During the rebuilding and partly as a result of the bad press, the British operation was separated from the parent company as Woolworths plc. This proved fortuitous, as

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5720-419: The city population had swelled beyond 140,000 due to growth in the mining and silk textile industries. World War II created a great demand for energy, which led to the highest production from mining in the area since World War I. After World War II , coal lost favor to oil and natural gas as a heating fuel, largely because the latter types were more convenient to use. While some U.S. cities prospered in

5830-422: The city. Rev. David Spencer, a local Baptist minister, later proclaimed Scranton as the "Electric City". The city's industrial production and population peaked during the 1930s and 1940s, caused by demand for coal and textiles, especially during World War II . But while the national economy boomed after the war, demand for the region's coal declined as other forms of energy became more popular, which also harmed

5940-593: The coal companies to continue their operations. "The case of Penman v. Jones came out differently. The Lackawanna Iron & Coal Co. had leased coal lands to the Lackawanna Iron & Steel Co., an allied interest, which passed the leases on to the Scranton Coal Co. Areas of central Scranton, the Hill Section, South Side, Pine Brook, Green Ridge and Hyde Park were affected by their mining activities. Mr. Penman

6050-403: The coldest month, is 28.0 °F (−2.2 °C), while the same figure in July, the warmest month, is 73.7 °F (23.2 °C). Extremes in temperatures have ranged from 101 °F (38 °C) down to −21 °F (−29 °C) on January 21, 1994; there is an average of 15 days of 90 °F (32 °C)+ highs, 39 days where the high fails to rise above freezing, and 3 days where the minimum

6160-421: The company acquired the mail order catalog athletic retailer Eastbay . On March 17, 1997, Wal-Mart replaced Woolworth's as a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average . Analysts at the time cited the lower prices of the large discount stores and the expansion of supermarket grocery stores – which had begun to stock merchandise also sold by five-and-dime stores – as contributors to Woolworth's decline in

6270-467: The company contributed to its downfall. The Woolworth company moved away from its five-and-dime roots and placed less emphasis on its department store chain as it focused on its specialty stores. Still, the company was unable to compete with other chains that had eroded its market share . While it was a success in Canada, the Woolco chain closed in the United States in 1983. Europe's largest F. W. Woolworth store, in Manchester , England (one of two in

6380-406: The company did a strictly "five-and-ten cent" business, but in the spring of 1932 it added a 20-cent line of merchandise. On November 13, 1935, the company's directors decided to discontinue selling-price limits altogether. The stores eventually incorporated lunch counters after the success of the counters in the first store in the UK in Liverpool . These counters served as general gathering places,

6490-412: The company merged with Regal, Cameo, Banner, and the U.S. branch of Pathé (makers of Pathé and Perfect ) to become the American Record Corporation . By 1938, the Scranton company was also pressing records for Brunswick , Melotone , and Vocalion . In 1946, the company was acquired by Capitol Records , which continued to produce phonograph records through the end of the vinyl era. By the mid-1930s,

6600-433: The company sold the majority of the Woolco stores to Wal-Mart . The Woolco stores that Wal-Mart did not purchase were either converted to The Bargain! Shop , sold to Zellers or closed permanently. Approximately 100 Woolworth stores in Canada were rebranded as The Bargain! Shop , and the remainder closed. Amid the decline of the signature stores, Woolworth began focusing on the sale of athletic goods. On January 30, 1997,

6710-450: The company was pursuing an aggressive strategy of multiple specialty store formats targeted at enclosed shopping malls. The idea was that if a particular concept failed at a given mall, the company could quickly replace it with a different concept. The company aimed for ten stores in each of the country's major shopping malls, but this never came to pass, as Woolworth never developed that many successful specialty store formats. Also attempted

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6820-406: The company's first franchisee. In 1884, Charles partnered with his longtime friend, wholesaler Fred Morgan Kirby , on a location in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania , which they called "Woolworth and Kirby". This location, too, was successful, and the brothers continued persuading family members and other associates to join them in forming a "friendly rival syndicate" of five-and-ten-cent stores. Each of

6930-438: The construction of loft-style apartments in older, architecturally significant buildings have attracted young professionals and artists. Many are individuals who grew up in Scranton, moved to big cities after high school and college, and decided to return to the area. Many buildings around the city that were once empty are currently being restored. Some of the newly renovated buildings are already being used. Attractions include

7040-441: The current Foot Locker, Inc. , changing its ticker symbol from its familiar Z in 2003 to its present ticker ( NYSE :  FL ). Retail chains using the Woolworth name survived in Austria, Germany, Mexico and the United Kingdom as of early 2009. The similarly named Woolworths supermarkets in Australia and New Zealand are operated by Australia's largest retail company, Woolworths Group , a separate company with no historical links to

7150-488: The few options available for purchasing food in some communities. Dollar Tree has disputed this claim; it claimed that in a number of cases it created food options in food deserts. In 2023, Dollar Tree reportedly stopped selling eggs when the price of eggs increased. In line with these allegations, a number of U.S. states have passed restrictions on where new dollar stores can be opened. According to IBISWorld , dollar stores have grown 43 percent since 1998 and have become

7260-436: The former grounds of the Lackawanna Steel Company, and operations started in 1903. Beginning in 1907, Scrantonians could also ride trolley cars to the northern suburbs of Clarks Summit and Dalton . They could travel to Lake Winola and Montrose using the Northern Electric Railroad. After the 1920s, no new trolley lines were built, but bus operations were started and expanded to meet service needs. In 1934, Scranton Railways

7370-614: The founding of the sporting goods store Foot Locker in 1974; the company would specialise in sporting goods and exclusively focus on sporting goods by 2001. By Woolworth's 100th anniversary in 1979, it had become the largest department store chain in the world, according to the Guinness Book of World Records . During the 1980s, the company began expansion into many different specialty store formats, including Afterthoughts (which sold jewelry and other accessories for women), Northern Reflections (which sold cold-weather outerwear), Rx Place (later sold to Phar-Mor ), and Champs Sports . By 1989,

7480-449: The hub of its operations until the Erie Lackawanna merger, after which it no longer served in this capacity. This was another severe blow to the local labor market. The NYO&W Railroad, which depended heavily on its Scranton branch for freight traffic, was abandoned in 1957. Mine subsidence was a spreading problem in the city as pillar supports in abandoned mines began to fail; cave-ins sometimes consumed entire blocks of homes. The area

7590-440: The immigrants joined the Democratic Party. Their national churches and neighborhoods were part of the history of the city. Several Catholic and Orthodox churches were founded and built during this period. A substantial Jewish community was also established, with most members coming from the Russian Empire and eastern Europe. Working conditions for miners were improved by the efforts of labor leaders such as John Mitchell , who led

7700-538: The job, as did others. A protest of 5,000 strikers ended in violence, with a total of four men killed, and 20 to 50 injured, including the mayor. He had established a militia, but called for help from the governor and state militia. Governor John Hartranft eventually brought in federal troops to quell the strike. The workers gained nothing in wages, but began to organize more purposefully into labor unions that could wield more power. The nation's first successful, continuously operating electrified streetcar (trolley) system

7810-405: The largest of the former anthracite coal mining communities in a contiguous quilt-work that also includes Wilkes-Barre , Nanticoke , Pittston , and Carbondale . Scranton was incorporated on February 14, 1856, as a borough in Luzerne County and as a city on April 23, 1866. It became a major industrial city and a center of mining and railroads; it attracted thousands of new immigrants. It

7920-431: The largest retail chains in the world through most of the 20th century, increased competition led to its decline beginning in the 1980s apart from the company's growing sporting goods division. The chain went out of business in July 1997, when the company decided to focus primarily on sporting goods and renamed itself Venator Group . By 2001, the company focused exclusively on the sporting goods market, changing its name to

8030-579: The last mine operations in Lackawanna County (which were in what is now McDade Park , and another on the Scranton/ Dickson City line) were closed. During the 1960s and 1970s, the silk and other textile industries shrank as jobs were moved to the South or overseas. In 1962, businessman Alex Grass opened his first "Thrif D Discount Center" drugstore on Lackawanna Avenue in downtown Scranton. The 17-by-75-foot (5 by 23 m) store, an immediate success,

8140-503: The late 20th century. On July 17, 1997, Woolworth's announced that it would be closing its remaining department stores in the United States. The company also changed its corporate name to Venator. In 1999, Venator moved from the Woolworth Building in New York City to offices on 34th Street . On October 20, 2001, the company changed names again; taking the name of its top retail performer and became Foot Locker, Inc. , which Woolworth started in 1974 under Kinney Shoes . Foot Locker, Inc.,

8250-558: The lives and property of the citizens of the City of Scranton and the streets of said city from injury, loss and damage caused by mining and mine caves." In 1915 and 1917, the city and Commonwealth sought injunctions to prevent coal companies from undermining city streets but lost their cases. North Main Avenue and Boulevard Avenue, "both entitled to surface support, caved in as a result" of court decisions that went against civil authorities and allowed

8360-590: The majority-Protestant early settlers of colonial descent. National, ethnic, religious and class differences were wrapped into political affiliations, with many new immigrants joining the Democratic Party , and, for a time in the late 1870s, the Greenbacker-Labor Party . In 1856, the borough of Scranton was officially incorporated. It was incorporated as a city of 35,000 in 1866 in Luzerne County, when

8470-452: The market, and there are now "$ 8 shops" (US$ 1.02) and even "$ 2 shops" (US$ 0.26) competing at lower prices, especially in poorer communities. Low prices are helped by Hong Kong's lack of a sales tax and its access to the mainland. In Taiwan , fixed price stores can be found in many locations, including night markets, regular shopping streets, regular market stalls, and department stores. Two typical price points are NT$ 39 and NT$ 49. Given that

8580-408: The name "F. W. Woolworth Company". Frank Woolworth served as president; Charles Woolworth, Fred Kirby, Seymour H. Knox I , Earle Charlton , and William Moore each became a director and vice president. In 1900, Frank Woolworth bought up adjoining properties in a low-rent area of Lancaster. On the newly acquired land, he had a building erected with five floors of offices above a large store, as well as

8690-561: The post-war boom, the fortunes and population of Scranton (and the rest of Lackawanna and Luzerne counties) began to diminish. Coal production and rail traffic declined rapidly throughout the 1950s, causing a loss of jobs. In 1954, Worthington Scranton and his wife, Marion Margery Scranton , contributed one million dollars to establish the Scranton Foundation (now the Scranton Area Community Foundation ), which

8800-541: The prevailing thought was an entire store could not maintain itself with all low-priced goods, but with Woolworth's success, many others followed their lead. Well-known dime store companies included: Of these, only Ben Franklin continues to exist in this form, while Kresge and Walton's became mega-retailers Kmart and Walmart , respectively. Beginning around the 1960s, others tried the larger " discount store " format, such as TG&Y Family Centers, W. T. Grant , and Woolworth's Woolco stores. With suburbanization in

8910-579: The rail industry. Foreseeing the decline, city leaders formulated the Scranton Plan in 1945 to diversify the local economy beyond coal, but the city's economy continued to decline. The Knox Mine disaster of 1959 essentially ended coal mining in the region. Scranton's population dropped by over 67,000, from its peak of 143,433 in the 1930 census , to 76,089 in the 2010 census , but had rebounded slightly by 2020. The city now has large health care, academic, tourism, railroad, and manufacturing sectors. Scranton

9020-546: The retail environment in Taiwan is already highly competitive, it is not unusual to see such stores fail. In India, US Dollar Store , founded in 2003, is a pioneer of single price stores. The merchandise for pilot stores was sent from America. As sales grew over the years with more than 200 operational stores in India, the merchandise is now imported from China, Indonesia, Thailand, Spain, Portugal, UK and various other countries as well as

9130-428: The seasonal total; on average, the first and last dates of measurable (≥0.1 in or 0.25 cm) snowfall are November 14 and March 31, respectively, with snow in October and April a rare occurrence. The hardiness zone is mostly 6b with 7a from downtown downriver and 6a up on Montage Mountain . [1] As of the 2020 census , there were 76,328 people and 31,039 households residing in the city. The racial makeup of

9240-499: The shops' frontages. More modern counterparts include B&M , Boyes , Home Bargains , OneBeyond , Poundland and Poundstretcher . Variety stores in Guatemala include Dollar City. In Argentina, variety stores are called todo por dos pesos (everything for 2 pesos). Brazilians sometimes use the expression um e noventa e nove ( R$ 1,99) to refer to cheap, low quality things or even people. In Chile , they are called todo

9350-656: The significance of these negotiations, the statue and the Courthouse were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. John Mitchell is buried in Cathedral Cemetery in Scranton." At the 1900 United States census , the population of Scranton was about 102,026, making it the third-largest city in Pennsylvania and 38th-largest U.S. city at the time. At the turn of the 20th century, wealthy businessmen and industrialists built impressive Victorian mansions in

9460-632: The south, the industries that precipitated the city's early rapid growth were iron and steel . In the 1840s, brothers Selden T. and George W. Scranton , who had worked at Oxford Furnace in Oxford, New Jersey, founded what became Lackawanna Iron & Coal, later developing as the Lackawanna Steel Company . It initially started producing iron nails, but that venture failed due to low-quality iron. The Erie Railroad 's construction in New York State

9570-400: The state) can be sold in the United States regardless of their sell-by date, but in the United Kingdom it is illegal to sell goods after their "Use by" date. Although some people may link variety stores with low-income areas, this is not always true. For example, Atherton , California has a variety store within its city limits, even though it has a median household income of nearly $ 185,000

9680-607: The store soon failed. When Woolworth searched for a new location, a friend suggested Lancaster, Pennsylvania . Using the sign from the Utica store, Woolworth opened his first successful "Woolworth's Great Five Cent Store" on June 21, 1879, in Lancaster. He brought his brother, Charles Sumner Woolworth , into the business. The two Woolworth brothers pioneered and developed merchandising , direct purchasing, sales, and customer service practices commonly used today. Despite its growing to be one of

9790-635: The stores popularly became known, was one of the first American retailers to put merchandise out for the shopping public to handle and select without the assistance of a sales clerk . Earlier retailers had kept all merchandise behind a counter and customers presented the clerk with a list of items they wished to buy. After working in Augsbury and Moore dry goods store in Watertown, New York , Frank Winfield Woolworth obtained credit from his former boss, William Moore, along with some savings, to buy merchandise and open

9900-526: The success in Michigan and western New York of so-called nickel stores , where everything cost five cents (the U.S. five cent coin is called a " nickel "). On February 22, 1879, Woolworth opened his Great Five Cent Store in Utica , New York, and it was his later success and expansion of that format as the F. W. Woolworth Company that would create the American institution of the "five and dime". There were many names for this type of store: Before Woolworth,

10010-411: The surrounding boroughs of Hyde Park (now part of the city's West Side) and Providence (now part of North Scranton) were merged with Scranton. Twelve years later in 1878, the state passed a law enabling creation of new counties where a county's population surpassed 150,000, as did Luzerne's. The law appeared to enable the creation of Lackawanna County , and there was considerable political agitation around

10120-484: The syndicate chain's stores looked similar inside and out, but operated under its founder's name. Frank Woolworth provided much of the merchandise, encouraging the rivals to club together to maximize their inventory and purchasing power . By 1904, the syndicate had six chains of affiliated stores operating in the United States and Canada, which began incorporating separately during the next few years. In 1912, however, all 596 stores merged into one corporate entity under

10230-403: The wages of all municipal officials, including the mayor and fire chief, being cut to $ 7.25/hour. Financial consultant Gary Lewis, who lived in Scranton, was quoted as estimating that "on 5 July the city had just $ 5,000 cash in hand." Since the revitalization began, many coffee shops, restaurants, and bars have opened in the downtown. The low cost of living , pedestrian-friendly downtown, and

10340-491: The world until 1930. It also served as the company's headquarters until the F.W. Woolworth Company's successor, the Venator Group (now Foot Locker), sold it in 1998. After Frank Woolworth's 1919 death, his brother Charles took on the role of chairman of the board, and the company's treasurer Hubert T. Parson took over the presidency. In 1925 the company reported $ 253 million in sales, in 1926 $ 239 million. For many years

10450-426: Was a revision of the classic Woolworth store model into Woolworth Express , a small, mall-oriented variant which was dubbed "a specialty variety store'', stocked with everyday convenience items such as health and beauty aids, greeting cards, snack foods, cleaning supplies and school supplies (somewhat like the non-pharmacy, mall-based locations of CVS/pharmacy and other drug store chains). The growth and expansion of

10560-471: Was booming at the end of the 19th century. The tonnage of coal mined increased virtually every year, as did the steel manufactured by the Lackawanna Steel Company. At one point the company had the largest steel plant in the United States, and it was still the second largest producer at the turn of the 20th century. By 1900, the city had a population of more than 100,000. In the late 1890s, Scranton

10670-538: Was called by anthracite miners across the region and led by the United Mine Workers under John Mitchell . The strike was settled by a compromise brokered by President Theodore Roosevelt . A statue of John Mitchell was installed in his honor on the grounds of the Lackawanna County Courthouse in Scranton, "the site of the Coal Strike of 1902 negotiations in which President Roosevelt participated. Because of

10780-504: Was delayed by its having to acquire iron rails as imports from England. The Scrantons' firm decided to switch its focus to producing T-rails for the Erie; the company soon became a major producer of rails for the rapidly expanding railroads. In 1851, the Scrantons built the Lackawanna and Western Railroad (L&W) northward, with recent Irish immigrants supplying most of the labor, to meet

10890-523: Was established in the city in 1886, inspiring the nickname "The Electric City". In 1896, the city's various streetcar companies were consolidated into the Scranton Railway Company , which ran trolleys until 1954. By 1890, three other railroads had built lines to tap into the rich supply of coal in and around the city, including the Erie Railroad, the Central Railroad of New Jersey and finally

11000-628: Was home to a series of early International League baseball teams. Scranton has had a notable labor history; various coal worker unions struggled throughout the coal-mining era to improve working conditions, raise wages, and guarantee fair treatment for workers. The Panic of 1873 and other economic difficulties caused a national recession and loss of business. As the economy contracted, the railroad companies reduced wages of workers in most classes (while sometimes reserving raises for their top management). A major strike of railroad workers in August 1877, part of

11110-568: Was known as the Pennamite Wars , where settlers competed for control of the territory which had been included in royal colonial land grants to both states. The claim between Connecticut and Pennsylvania was settled by negotiation with the federal government 's involvement after the Revolutionary War. Though anthracite coal was being mined in Carbondale to the north and Wilkes-Barre to

11220-601: Was launched to support charitable and educational organizations in the city of Scranton. The Knox Mine Disaster of January 1959 virtually ended the mining industry in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The waters of the Susquehanna River flooded the mines. The DL&W Railroad, nearly bankrupted by the drop in coal traffic and the effects of Hurricane Diane , merged in 1960 with the Erie Railroad. Demand for public transportation also declined as new highways were built by federal subsidies and people purchased automobiles. In 1952,

11330-473: Was left scarred by abandoned coal mining structures, strip mines, and massive culm dumps , some of which caught fire and burned for many years until they were extinguished through government efforts. In 1970, the Secretary of Mines for Pennsylvania suggested that so many underground voids had been left by mining underneath Scranton that it would be "more economical" to abandon the city than make them safe. In 1973,

11440-552: Was re-incorporated as the Scranton Transit Company, reflecting that shift in transportation modes. Starting in the early 1920s, the Scranton Button Company (founded in 1885 and a major maker of shellac buttons) became one of the primary makers of phonograph records. They pressed records for Emerson (whom they bought in 1924), as well as Regal , Cameo , Romeo , Banner , Domino , Conqueror . In July 1929,

11550-479: Was replaced by Dale W. Hilpert as president in May 1995. That changed after the company's transition into a sporting goods company. Five and dime Dollar stores that sell food have been alleged to create food deserts : areas with limited access to affordable and healthy food. This is alleged to occur when dollar stores outcompete local businesses, and soon become some of the only grocery store–like businesses available in some areas. Some items are offered at

11660-655: Was sold to McCrory (who maintained the brand) in 1972, McCrory itself went bankrupt in 1992 and all their brands disappeared in 2002. Starting in the late 1990s, dollar stores expanded enough to gain the attention of the national press. They were popular not only their value but because freestanding smaller stores were located in small towns, downtowns, and across the cities and suburbs, they were often more convenient than mall stores. They continued to grow and by 2019, for example, Dollar Tree had higher annual sales than Macy's . Dollar and variety store revenue reached $ 77 billion in 2018. As of 2018, main dollar store chains in

11770-531: Was the private property owner in the case. The coal operators were defeated in this case." The public transportation system began to expand beyond the trolley lines pioneered by predecessors of the Scranton Railways system. The Lackawanna and Wyoming Valley Railroad , commonly referred to as the Laurel Line, was built as an interurban passenger and freight carrier to Wilkes-Barre . Its Scranton station, offices, powerhouse and maintenance facility were built on

11880-456: Was the progenitor of the Rite Aid national drugstore chain. During the 1970s and 1980s, many downtown storefronts and theaters became vacant. Suburban development followed the highways and suburban shopping malls became the dominant venues for shopping and entertainment. Since the mid-1980s, the city has emphasized revitalization. Local government and much of the community at large have adopted

11990-500: Was the site of the Scranton general strike in 1877. The city was designated as the county seat when Lackawanna County was established in 1878, and a judicial district was authorized in July 1879. The city's nickname "Electric City" began when electric lights were introduced in 1880 at the Dickson Manufacturing Company . Six years later, the United States' first streetcars powered only by electricity began operating in

12100-474: Was then general manager of Lackawanna Iron and Coal. He later founded Scranton Steel Company. The labor issues and growth of industry in Scranton contributed to Lackawanna County being established by the state legislature in 1878, with territory taken from Luzerne County. Scranton was designated as the county seat. This strengthened its local government. The unions failed to gain higher wages that year, but in 1878 they elected labor leader Terence V. Powderly of

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