HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1959-03-12, Page 111
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LOCAL BOY WINS
WRESTLING TITLE
The intermediate intercollegiate
wrestling championship (157 -pound
class) was won by William Craven
at Toronto on February 28.
Bill is the son of Mr. and Mrs.
W. R. Craven, of Goderich.
This isn't the ftrst time he has
won an intercollegiate wrestling
title; two years ago, he won in the
147 -pound .class. He is a student
at University of Toronto. • ;
An executive is a man whO
knows • how to get things done,
and who to get to do it.
• ...
Work was rushed with 'all poisIble speed- in
order to have the new Woolmdith store opened
by Thursday, March 12th. A battery of some
15 girls from other Woolworth stores in
the Province were !brought in to -set up mer-
•••.,
ohandite and to train local will:Ai:Wed help
„ in store operation... Here' is shown the front
of the new store as it appeared at the latter
' part of• last week when uit was'being readied
for the official opening. S -S Photo by R -H.
Goderich Store Marks The, 213th
Woolworth Link In Canadian Chain
F. W. Woolworth, Jounder. of
the great merchandising organiz-
ation that is his personal ,monu-
ment, lived in the era of the horse -
car but he planned and .built. for
the future.
There is no better evi,dence of
his sound thinking than the pre-
sent F. W. Woolworth Co: Ltd.
With the opening today of a,mod-
ern new store on The Square—the
first Woolworth's in Goderich—the
company .will have inserted the
213th link in a chain of branches
serving the country from coast to
coast. .
Canada's own Woolworth's was
founded men 30, 1897, when S.
H..Knox, a ousin of F. ,W. Wool-
worth, opened his .first" store in
Toronto. A few months Tater E.
P. Charlton opened a second store
In Montreal.
The variety store idea was read-
ily accepted andforthe next 15
years the Woolworth stores. in
Canada functioned as a loose fed-
eration with each partner adher-
ing to commori policies but oper-
ating independently.
In 1912* the F. W. Woolworth
Co. Ltd. was established. It then
had 31 stores, Its growth since
that time has been continuous
until today the Woolworth network
is represented in every provinee.
The Canadian F. W. Woolworth
Co. Ltd. is an integral part of• F.
W. Woolworth Co. It receives the
support and benefit of the total
res urees of the parent cOmpany.
Though essentially a vibrant ex-
-.ample of the North American ideal
of private enterprise, Woolworth's
has been equally successful out-
side this continent -4n the United
Kingdorn,'Ireland, Germany, Cuba
and Hawaii.
Frank Winfield Woolworth was
born April 13, 1652, in a cottage,
in upstate New York. When young
Woolworth was seven, his •father
moved the family to a farm in the
Township of Champion. The near -
•est community of any size was
Watertown, the county seat. about
ten miles away. •
This was the setting in which
Frank Woolworth got his upbring-
ing. - He ,was educated in the local
schoolhouse and later, for one
term, at a* commercial college in
Watertown.
Just before• his 2Ist birthday,
in response to a strong desire for
merchandising, he found a job as
a stockroom helper,. errand boy,
janitor; general handyman and re-
lief' clerk in Watertown's leading
MARRIED CANADIAN GIRL._
• F: W. Woolworth, founder of the
Woolworth chain, was married h
1876 to Jennie Creighton, a 23 -
year -old seamstress from Pictori.
Ontario. „...
store. He was hired on a three
months' trial—without pay. His
hours. were 7 am. to a p.m. -and
sometimes later; an 84 -hour week
At the end of his trial he 'went
on the payroll at a wage of $3.50
er week. This was increased in
ptember tO $4.00; in the follow,
ing Ma.rch to $4.50 and by Septem-
ber, 1875, to $6.00. He then be-
came head clerk g a local dry
goods store. 'His galary was $10
a week and for this he was requir-
ed to live in the basement of the
store and serve as night watch-
man.- ,
After a' few months he became
.111 and returned "to his father's
farm. On June 11, 1876, he mar-
ried -Jennie Creighton, a 23 -year-
old seamstress from Picton, On-
tario. A year later he returned to
the store of his first .employer as
head clerk and there helped in-
• • He was educated at Setitli-arnplOii
Opening of the quarter million
dollar store of F. W. Woolworth
Co. Ltd., in Goderich today at the
corner of The Square and Southfr
street marks the 213th Woolworth
branch_ store in Canada.
Mr, R. D. Camitbell, general man,
ager of the F. W. Woolworth Co.,
Ltd., has .described the opening
of the first Woolworth store in
Goderich as an expression of the
company's confidence in the "con-
tinued growth and prosperity of
the area."
Mr. Campbell said he was con-
fident that the new, modern store
would bring ."an additional mea -
Dollar Woolwor
t Goderich To
sure of prosperity and a great deal
of added convenience to the
people of Goderich."
"The range and quality of the
merchandise," he said, ""is of the
very. finest. . . It has been •select-
ed .the wholehearted endeavor
to give the ,citizens of this coin-
Inunity just what they want."
Mr. Campbell said it had always
been a company policY to support
local and national industry and
that today all but a very small pro-
portion of the goods sold in Can-
adian Woolworth stores originate
in this country.
He .eniphasized the national char-
acter of the F. W. Woolworth Co.
Woolworth Store
Manager Native
UnderiNood, Ont.
Ltd., pointing Li that the total,
employee force, from the ' most
junior clerk to the highest execu-
tive, is Canadian and that every
promotion and appointment is
made from within the organization.
Himself a native of Ridgetown,
Ont., Mr, Campbell started his
Career with Woolworth in the com-
pany's Windsor store in 1916.
He briefly traced the history of
the F. W. Woolworth Co. Ltd. from
its beginnings with, two stores in
Montreal and Toronto in 1897 to
the present coast-to-coast network
that serves all ten provinces.
"This growth," the 'general man-
ager said, Ins kept pate with, and
has been an integral part of, the
development of Canada Well. The
world Ncognizes this as a very
notable achievement and welc,omeig
Canada's new, status as a world
Rower in her own well-earned
right." - •
The new store in Goderich
he said, a reflection of OWn
firm conviction that "the year 1959
will bring to Goderich ahil tO the
whole of 'f3tanada, a large measure
of prosperity.",
The F. W. Woolworth Co- Ltd
Mr. Campbell said, , is detexmined
to aid this progress in all possible
ways—by Prornothig. local indu.stry
and by untirin 'efforts to "serve
the people erever we meet
them.'
• Purchasing power is' not increas-
ed by wage increases unless they
are accompanied by increases in'
productivity and stable prices:
All funds raised by youthful
members of the Canadian Junior
Red Cross are devoted to their
special projects for youtfg people.
The money raised by the • Can-
adian Junior Red Cross has pro-
vided medical treatment and care
for over 555,000 children.
,••--- -.• - • ._
Starting out as a stack room boy
for the F. W. 'WcOworth Co. eight
years ago, Clare Sockett, 28, steps
into a new life here on March 12th
when he takes over as manager of
the new Woolworth store. He, and
his' wife, and two ,small children
have been looking forward to liv-
ing her, he says, 'because they
both came from smaller centres in
Western Ontario. For the past two
years he ,shas been manager of one
of the Woolworth stores in Tor-
onto, "The big city has its at-
tractions," he commented, "but, we
like the smaller places." ...
Born in Underwood, Ont:, 111344
50 miles from Goderich, Mr. Sock.
ett went with his parents to South-
troduee the- "five -cent counter,-arampton_ when he was_a smallboy.
revolutionary , experiment in retail,
mercthandising. •
Reoognizing the potential' in the
new idea; Woolworth opened a.
"five -cent" .store of his own in
Utica, New York. That was in
1879. A poor location soon brought
failure. But Woolworth was un-
dismayed and three 'months later
opened a second store in Lancaster,
Pennsylvania. It was a -success
and F. W. Woolwbrth was on his
way,
. The rapid expansion of his busi-
ness necessitated an administra,
live- and buying 'office inNoW Yerks
'Finally in 1912, in associatron WTth
five other merchants, he establish-
ed the Woolworth organization as
we now know it.
•r.1
High School, and was an active
hockey and baseball player. Now
his recreatipn is limited to an
occasional game of golf. "It's dif-
ficult to play much golf ,when liv-
ing in Toronto," he said. "Ihope
to,.get,auore of it here, and maybe
some fishing too."
He is proudof his new store and
its many modern features. "It is
the most up-to-date store in the
whole Woolworth chain," he %said
"and it is the second Woolworth
ito-re -in Canada to have a new
decor_ -in the lunch counter area."
Some 25 local people will be- em-
ployed in the new store, which"
will be of self-service type for the
convenience of shoppers,
Ametosiorimermmileat...
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,ret1;•7 ,:„ •
This is what the sitG of the present Woolworth
store looked like last November ,,as workmen
put-otr theroof following -the erection:. of_ the
steel -framework of the building. Soon ' after
this, the walls of the building were bricked in
••
.$o that work -off ;..the interior °I the building
might proceed 'during the stormy winter months:
Today, the site of the old British Exchange
Hotel presents a vastly difterent ipi)earance te
that of bygone years. ,
TO TI -1
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S EEL BY . .
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