Woolco
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| Subsidiary of F.W. Woolworth | |
| Traded as | NYSE |
| Industry | Discount department store |
| Fate | Rebranded as Woolworth in United States and UK Canadian chain later acquired by Walmart Canada |
| Successor | Woolworth and Walmart Canada |
| Founded | 1962 (Columbus, Ohio, United States) |
| Defunct | 1983 (United States) 1986 (UK) 1994 (Canada) |
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Key people
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F.W. Woolworth (CEO/Chairman) Charles Woolworth (President) |
| Products | Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, electronics, toys, housewares |
| Parent | F. W. Woolworth Company |
Woolco was an American-based discount retail chain. It was founded in 1962 in the city of Columbus, Ohio by the F.W. Woolworth Company. It was a full-line discount department store unlike the five-and-dime Woolworth stores which operated at the time. At its peak, Woolco had hundreds of stores in the US, as well as in Canada and the United Kingdom. While the American stores were closed in early 1983, the chain remained active in Canada until it was sold in 1994 to rival Walmart which was looking to enter the Canadian market. All of the former UK Woolco stores were sold by Kingfisher, who had bought the UK Woolworth business, to Gateway who subsequently sold them to Asda.
The creation of Woolco coincided with the expansion of suburbia. Woolworth's flagship stores were still doing well, but the company wanted to tap into the growing discount department store market without diluting its dominant position in the variety store business. The first Woolco store was located in Columbus, Ohio. By 1966, there were 18 in the United States and nine in Canada. Plans were for 30 stores to be added per year. This led to tremendous growth as over 300 Woolco stores opened up across North America by the mid-1970s. Some stores were converted from regular Woolworth stores, including the location at Westland Mall in West Burlington, Iowa.
The company experimented with both Woolco and a more downscale merchandising unit called Worth Mart in the mid-1960s. Woolco was the eventual winner with customers, and the Worth Mart stores were folded into Woolco's store base by the 1970s.
At the outset, Woolco stores were considered by the company to be "promotional department stores," with expanded product lines and other amenities not typically found at namesake Woolworth stores.
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Wikipedia