The F.W. Woolworth Co. was among the first five-and-dime stores, which sold discounted general merchandise at fixed prices, undercutting the prices of other local merchants. As  the stores popularly became known, it 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. After working in a dry goods store, Frank Winfield Woolworth (shown below) opened his first Woolworth’s store  in Utica, New York (pictured above).  

Frank W. Woolworth