Long before big-box stores and dollar shops, the five-and-dime was where Main Street did its everyday shopping. Woolworth's, Kresge, Kress, McCrory, Grant's, Newberry's and Ben Franklin sold everything from sheet music to Halloween toys, and many of them served lunch too. These 30 vintage photos show what a trip to the dime store looked like.
Sheet music for a nickel at an early Woolworth's
Frank W. Woolworth opened his first five-cent store in Utica, New York, in 1879, and it closed within months. His second try in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, worked, and soon storefronts like this one were luring people in with 1,760 popular songs at 5 cents a copy.
Christmas lights at a 1910s Woolworth's
Garlands and hanging decorations filled this Woolworth's in New Albany, Indiana, during the Christmas season around 1910. The picture comes from a postcard, and postcards like this one were among the inexpensive little items Woolworth stores sold.
A window that promised nothing over 10 cents
This Washington, D.C., window promoted Whistle soda under a sign that summed up the whole idea: "F.W. Woolworth Co., Nothing Over 10¢." The chain added a 20-cent line in 1932 and dropped its price limits altogether in 1935.
Any article on this counter for a dime
Salesclerks lined up behind a long counter at the Globe 5 and 10 on Hamilton Street in Allentown, Pennsylvania, where a sign promised any article for 10 cents. Pennants for nearby Lehigh and Lafayette hung overhead, ready for college students and proud parents.
Barbecue sandwiches at the Kresge counter
Around 1920, the Kresge store in Allentown ran a luncheonette and soda fountain right on the sales floor. Signs promised Bar-B-Q sandwiches and ice cream sodas for a dime each. Sebastian S. Kresge had founded his company in Detroit in 1899.
Seattle's Woolworth's filled every window
Soap powder, bolts of fabric, notebooks and rows of socks crowded the windows of this Seattle Woolworth's around 1922. The sign across the front billed it as a "5-10 & 15¢ Store." Seattle's first Woolworth's had opened on Second Avenue, and another one followed on Pine Street.
Two kids and one bike outside Kresge's
Two kids shared a single bicycle outside an S.S. Kresge store in Washington, D.C., in 1924. The awning behind them advertised a "5 & 10¢ Store," the kind of place where a pocketful of coins could go a long way.
A birthday sale drew a crowd
Shoppers packed the entrance of the new Rhodes Ten Cent Store on Seattle's Fourth Avenue around 1924, drawn by a Birthday Sale. William C. Rhodes, one of four brothers who ran stores around Seattle and Tacoma, had opened this location that same year.
Kress decked out in flags
Flags and bunting covered the S.H. Kress & Co. building on Seattle's Pike Street around 1924, and a note on the back of the photo suggests it was opening day. Samuel H. Kress founded the chain in Memphis in 1896, and his stores became known for their handsome architecture.
Grapefruit for a nickel
Women in cloche hats and fur collars crowded the fruit display at Seattle's Rhodes Brothers Ten Cent Store around 1925. One Imperial Valley grapefruit cost 5 cents, and a Sunkist poster pitched citrus as "Santa Claus' most healthful gift."
A song named after the five-and-ten
Billy Rose and Fred Fisher published "I Found a Million Dollar Baby (In a Five and Ten Cent Store)" in 1926, but that version never caught on. Rose reused the title in 1931 for a new song with Harry Warren and Mort Dixon, and that one became a standard recorded by Bing Crosby and, decades later, Barbra Streisand.
The Kresge crew in Columbus, 1936
The staff of S.S. Kresge store No. 345 posed in their summer best in Columbus, Ohio, on July 2, 1936. Behind them, a banner advertised first-quality oilcloth, a kitchen-table favorite of the era. For plenty of young people, a dime store counter was their very first job.
McCrory's 5-10-25 cent store
This 1937 McCrory's storefront advertised goods at 5, 10 and 25 cents. Founder John G. McCrory opened his first store in Scottdale, Pennsylvania, in 1882, and he reportedly dropped an "e" from his last name to save money on sign lettering.
A WPA poster full of dime store treasures
Artists with the Federal Art Project in New York City made this silkscreen poster around 1941. Its checkerboard grid shows what a few coins could buy at the 5 and 10: a ring, a checkers set, a notebook, a frying pan, a potted cactus, a birthday card and a teacup.
W.T. Grant's streamlined corner in Tampa
This postcard shows the W.T. Grant store on a Tampa corner around 1940, with a tall vertical sign and wraparound windows. William T. Grant had opened his first store in Lynn, Massachusetts, in 1906 as a "25 Cent Store."
Newberry's dressed in red, white and blue
Patriotic bunting draped the J.J. Newberry Co. store in Asbury Park, New Jersey, on this postcard, which also peeks inside at the busy aisles. John Josiah Newberry founded the chain in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1911, and it grew to 565 stores by 1961.
G.C. Murphy's 5 & 10 in Middletown
A woman and two young girls lingered by the windows of the G.C. Murphy Co. 5 & 10¢ Store in Middletown, Ohio, in 1941. George C. Murphy founded the chain in McKeesport, Pennsylvania, in 1906, and it kept going until 2002.
Dolls and toys in a 1941 Christmas window
Rows of dolls, toy drums, little cars and model kits packed this Woolworth's Christmas window in Montreal in 1941. Price tags reading 25 and 45 cents show how far the chain had moved past its old 10-cent limit.
Downtown shoppers on State Street
Shoppers in overcoats hurried past the W.T. Grant Co. store on Chicago's State Street in this color snapshot from 1952. The chain kept growing through the postwar years and had nearly 1,200 stores by 1972.
Halloween toys at Kresge's, 1953
Stacks of plastic jack-o'-lanterns filled the Halloween toy counter at this Kresge store in Boston's Jamaica Plain neighborhood in October 1953. Most were priced at 29 cents, while a battery-lit version cost 99 cents.
McCrory's on Duval Street
Four days before Christmas in 1953, shoppers came and went from McCrory's at 400 Duval Street in Key West, Florida. The low, modern storefront still carried the chain's familiar "5.10.25" prices on its sign.
The record department at Woolworth's
This Woolworth's in Ottawa, Canada, ran its own "Hi-Fi Shop" in the late 1950s, with album racks and wall displays for Johnny Mathis, Pat Boone, Perry Como and Mantovani. Dime stores sold records for decades, and this one leaned on the easy-listening stars of the day.
The Durham sit-in, February 1960
Three African American protesters sat at the Woolworth's lunch counter in Durham, North Carolina, on February 10, 1960, during a wave of sit-ins against segregated service. The movement began at the Greensboro Woolworth's on February 1, and part of that counter now belongs to the Smithsonian.
Shopping day on Flagler Street
A wave of shoppers crossed Flagler Street in downtown Miami outside W.T. Grant in 1960, many of them carrying handbags and woven totes. Grant's still kept its "5-10-25¢ Store" sign out front, and its 1976 bankruptcy became the second largest in U.S. history at the time.
Woolworth's moved to the mall
By 1962, Woolworth's had followed families to the suburbs, with stores like this one at River Roads Mall in Jennings, Missouri. Its Steamboat Room restaurant, marked with the Woolworth "W," drew shoppers in from the mall concourse for a sit-down meal.
A stroll past Woolworth's in Corpus Christi
A couple walked arm in arm past the Woolworth's in downtown Corpus Christi, Texas, sometime in the 1970s. By then the company was also running Woolco, a discount chain it had launched in 1962 to keep up with the new big stores.
A quiet lunch counter in 1979
The coffee shop inside the Woolworth's at South Shore Mall in Bay Shore, New York, was empty when this photo was taken in April 1979. Its curved counters and padded stools look familiar to anyone who grew up eating at the dime store, though most of these counters closed during the 1970s and '80s.
A Ben Franklin store in Nebraska
John Margolies photographed this Ben Franklin store on 6th Street in Seward, Nebraska, in 1980. The franchise chain dates back to 1927, and one of its best-known operators was a young Sam Walton, who ran a Ben Franklin in Newport, Arkansas, beginning in 1945, years before he founded Walmart.
The longest lunch counter in the world
This postcard showed off the Woolworth's at 431 South Broadway in Los Angeles, which billed its lunch counter as the longest in the world. Dime store food was big business: in 1964, Woolworth ran about 1,950 eating spots, far more than McDonald's 611.
Kresge's and Woolworth's side by side
S.S. Kresge Co. and F.W. Woolworth Co. did business just a few doors apart on Lackawanna Avenue in Scranton, Pennsylvania, around 1978, a pairing seen in many American downtowns. By then Kresge had renamed itself Kmart, and the last U.S. Woolworth's store closed in 1997.
