Woolworths! A name that everyone knew with a branch on every high street in Britain and abroad. A typical story of ‘from small acorns large Oak trees grow’. Two brothers, Frank Winfield aka ‘The Merchant Prince’ and Charles Sumner aka ‘Sum’, created, perhaps, the largest business empire in history with over 5,000 stores around the world,

The germ of the business model stemmed from the time when the brothers were humiliated as they tried to buy a scarf for their mother as a Christmas gift.

The shop staff ridiculed them when they produced a handful of nickels and dimes they had saved over the course of the year.

Remembering this, Frank had the idea to create his own store where purchases of low value could be made, advertising themselves as ‘5 cent and 10 cent stores’, and all people would be treated equally.

Frank and his brother opened their first store in Utica, New York, USA in February 1879. Following a faulty start and the creation of another store in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, sales reached $127.65, far more than expected.

By 1900 the chain had 100 stores across the USA – and the growth continued.

In the Summer of 1917 with WW1 raging abroad, the 995 American stores saw an extremely high demand for an 80-rpm vinyl gramophone record which sold over one million copies.

The song ‘Over There’, echoed the thoughts of the families at home, whilst the men of the family were fighting abroad.

Woolworths reached Basingstoke on November 19th 1921 at 5 London Street occupying a previous butchers’ shop.

This was extended in 1935 into the premises of a drapery shop next door.

The advertising slogan was changed for the British market as ‘3d and 6d stores’, (3 pence and 6 pence), the equivalent to the pound stores of today who sell cheap in order to sell more, a radical idea in those days.

A further extension and modernisation in the Basingstoke store occurred in February 1959, and in October 1970 the Basingstoke branch moved to new premises in the new Town Centre; a building called Chiswick House, occupying all three floors of this huge building.

The shop also sported a restaurant and became self-service following the modern trend of the time.

The Basingstoke Post Office took occupancy of the building in London Street.

But by 1993 trends and customer requirements were changing and the Basingstoke store was reduced in size with other companies occupying some of the building: Poundland, Vision Express and Specsavers.

Things continued to decline into the 2000s and eventually in January 2009 the stores closed their doors for the final time, a sad end to the chain that shook the commercial world.

To view a Woolworth’s store today you would have to travel to the Caribbean, Zimbabwe, Mexico or Germany.