The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1919-05-01
MILLIONS FROM DIMES.
Story of wooiworth, the Merchant
Prince.

Richard Spillane in Commerce and
Finance.
1t has been printed that Frank w.
Woolworth left a fortune of&s5,000,-
600 To have amassed such a sum
as the result of a retail in articles
selling for or 10 cents is the most
extraordinary. achievement in mer-
chandising history.
s Stewart Marshal Field, Altman,
Wannamaker and others we term our
merchant princes followed the beaten
lines and broadened them Woolworth
did something new. He made little
things big, small profits immense
He gloried the cent. His career, his
fortune, his buildings, the most ma
jestic in America, il not the world
typify the power Of the smallest coin
the country knows. His success Illus
trates better than does that OF any
ether man in America the opportuni-
lies there are in things considered
small when touched by the alchemy
Of genius, which is nothing but hav-
ing the right idea and keeping at it
until you work it out.
Woolworth was genius and yet
what was his idea?
Simply If a store specialized in
selling at cents all the goods it
handled the time saved in making
change would be sufficient to reduce
the overhead charge greatly, and that
people would buy more Of what SEEM
ed like bargains than they would or
ainarily.
1t was not his idea in the sense
that he originated it. The idea was
that OF another person, but t took
hold of him and he kept it before
him always. He was only poor coun-
try boy. He had labored on a. farm,
and when he sought job in q coun-
try store, he had to work several
months for nothing for the privilege
Of getting employed. He was a grown
man when he embarked on his first
store enterprise. 1t was a failure.
That did not daunt him. lie tried
again. This time he succeeded. But
he found the cent store idea was
not wholly sound. Not until he
changed to 5 and 10 cent trading did
he make real headway. Later he sold
spme articles for more than 10 cents
but 95 per cent of. possibly sS per
cent, his trade was in 5 and 10
cent items.
In the light of the huge success
he made of his business it is odd to.
learn that in various instances, par
ticularly in the earlier stages Of his
enterprise, woolworth stores failed
to succeed. It was not until he had
trials enough TO test his patience to
The limit that he began to get full
reward. When profit came big 1t came
extraordinarily big.
Mr.. Woolworth wasn't a man of
particularly fine sensibilities, and he
was asked one day how it happened
that he got the ambition to build such
structure, and particularly such a.
beautiful structure.
II built that magnificent affair
when / was a boy" he said. my
folks were poor and we lived in a.
very small house. Back Of our house
there were stone piles and / started'to
build house of my own, After was
making lot OF money as merchant
j wanted to build something bigger
than any other merchant had. The
Woolworth Building is the result
A story that is little known about
woolworth has to do with his first
day as merchant in Pennsylvania.
He, put every dollar he had in the
world, and he didn't have many, into
his stock, his fixtures and his rent.
His opening day was circus day. The
streets were crowded, but nobody
came into the store. The parade was
a bigger attraction. But along in the
late afternoon there was sudden
change After the circus the people
seemed to find particular attraction
in the new store that had just opened.
When he counted his cash that night
he found his total sales exceeded his
early forecast. Later in life he said
that first day was the most trying o,
his life.
One thing the death of Mr.. Wool
worth may clear up is the mystery OF
the City Park of Watertown, N. Y.
The park was built, and year after