The first five cent table

 

In Winter 1877 times in America were hard. The country was still recovering from the ravages of civil war, with weak infrastructure and much damage to repair. The population was expanding rapidly, but disposable income per head was falling. The shop where Frank Woolworth worked, Moore and Smith, was really feeling the pinch with a surplus of $35,000 of unsold stock.

Frank had spent a time away from Moores - first taking a job with A.A. Bushnell, a rival store, then recovering from illness on the farm. William Moore had missed him and his spectacular displays and had hired him back on the princely salary of $10 a week. But as times got hard he demanded that staff members accept pay cuts, asking Frank to settle for $8 a week. The reduction came at a bad time, as the Woolworths were expecting their first child.

 

As fate would have it an old friend came calling at Moore and Smith. Mr. Golding had once been Head Clerk at Bushnells across Public Square, Watertown, before leaving with a co-worker, Ed. W. Barrett, to set up a "99¢ store" in Port Huron, Michigan. Frank listened in on the conversation.

William Moore admitted times were hard; Golding responded with news of his progress in Port Huron. He and Barrett had come across a salesman called Joseph C. Bennett, who had devised a novel way of clearing surplus handkerchieves from one of his suppliers. He had put the job-lot on sale at 5¢ each rather than 20¢. Every item sold out in no time!

 

 

Moore was dubious until Golding revealed that the supplier was Spelman Bros. He enquired about the best method of display. Golding suggested using a table at the back of the store with a sign reading "Nothing on this table over 5¢". Bennetts' had majored on "Yankee Notions" with pots, pans, napkins and combs and had achieved a respectable cash margin despite the low ticket price.

The 99¢ men had set a rule that if an item gathered dust on their shelves its sales must be too low and it should go on their fixed-price table. Sales had rocketed, as shoppers turned all the surplus into cash, just in the nick of time to pay the month's bills and wages. They had asked Spelmans if they could supply more 5¢ bargains and had been impressed at the imaginative range they had put together.

 

Golding planted the idea and left Moore to consider it. Later that day he picked Frank's brains on the subject, and was impressed at how quickly the young man spotted the potential. Woolworth urged his boss to give it a go, saying "leave it me, I won't let you down". Moore duly placed a small opening order, after obtaining Golding's promise that more would be available quickly if Frank was right. He set his young apprentice to work, telling him it was a one-off chance to prove himself and only the best would do.

 

The next time Moore was in New York in August 1878, he ordered $100.00 worth of 5¢ lines.

Woolworth was put in charge of the table. It was displayed during the Watertown County Fair - a high point of the Jefferson County social calendar.

 

The goods arrived with a week to spare. Woolworth prepared a smart display, as Fred Kirby watched on. To supplement the special buys, Moore had extracted slow moving lines from around the store. To complete the display Frank prepared a neat cardboard sign, which he suspended from the ceiling. It read "Any article on this display 5¢".

The feature consisted of two old sewing tables butted together in the central aisle. Each measured about 1.75m by 0.6m. Woolworth had draped it in red cambric. The products included: