Dreams never hurt anybody if you keep working right behind the dreams to make as much of them become real as you can.

Frank W. Woolworth was born in 1852 in Rodman, New York, the son of a farmer. Frank was a sickly child, however, and was not suited to farming. He wanted to do something different and talked his mother into sending him to night school for bookkeeping. Every day he would complete his chores at the family farm, then travel to town for classes. In 1873, Frank left the family farm and tried to find a job as a store clerk. Since he had no experience, Frank offered to work at Augsbury and Moore, a Watertown, New York, dry goods store, unpaid for three months. They took him up on his offer. One day the owners of the store decided to start a 5 cent table to boost sales. Frank was in charge of selecting and displaying the items for the table. It was such a success that Frank felt a store could operate on 5 cent lines. He borrowed money and stock from William Moore and opened his own store in Utica, New York in 1878. While the store did well in the beginning, sales declined and he closed the store. He decided to find a new location in the center of a town where a business could be more lucrative. He found the perfect location on North Queen Street in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. His new store opened on June 21, 1879.

The Lancaster store was a huge success, the customers pleased with the quality items being offered for sale at such low prices. Frank personally supervised the purchase of goods for his store.

Frank's brother, Charles Sumner ("Sum"), opened a second store in Scranton, Pennsylvania, when Frank asked partner managers to join him. If Charles put up half the money to start the store, he could keep half of the profit. As word got around, more stores with other associates opened in a similar fashion.

Frank maximized discounts on buying trips by inviting friendly rival companies to join him on those trips, especially to Europe. In 1909, seeing a potential market for his business abroad, he opened his first British store in Liverpool.

F.W. Woolworth Company was formed in 1912 with the merger of his brother's company and the companies of several friendly rivals. He also began building the Woolworth Building in New York, the world's tallest building. Business continued to grow in both the United States and Europe.

Frank died in 1919, just shy of his 67th birthday. At that time, there were approximately 1,250 stores worldwide.

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