Five & Ten Cent Bonds

Dr. Scholl's corn pads . . . President Roosevelt, 8 x 10 . . . floor polish . . . screw drivers . . . garters . . . Melorol Mammoth Tulip Sundae . . . Flit . . . feathers . . . razor blades . . . Lucky Sapphire Birthday Brooches. . . .

To satisfy their need for these and other human necessities people trooped last week into 2,747 F. W. Woolworth stores in Canada (143), England (677), Germany (82) and the U. S. and Cuba (1,845). Yet if the phrase "five & ten" still trips off many a buyer's tongue, the "five & ten" has nonetheless joined the buggy and the speakeasy in the outdated past. From 1879 to 1932 Woolworth sold no single item for more than ten cents. Since 1932 WToolworth's U. S., Canadian and Cuban stores have sold items priced up to 20-c-, since 1935 up to 40-c-, since last year up to $1 and in theory there is no longer any top to Woolworth prices. These were milestones in F. W. Woolworth Co.'s career. Another came last week when for the first time since 1911 the company sold securities for new capital.

It never thought of doing so in 1923 when its earnings reached the giddy peak of $31.84 a share, nor in 1927 when its profits on 1,581 U. S. and Canadian stores averaged $16,805 per store. But when profits per store began to drop in 1928 and Depression accentuated the skid, Woolworth contemplated changes. By 1932 when profits per store were down to $8,093, Woolworth's moved towards higher prices to compete with rival chains which offered a line of merchandise broader in price and quality. This year with profits per store down to $9,580 (1936),* it made another decision.

To counteract the downward trend of per store profits and to make room for the new goods brought in by higher prices, Woolworth has long contemplated a wholesale modernization of its stores. Last week it announced that it would start at once. To finance the operation, it had sold privately (rumor said to a large life insurance company) $10,000,000 in ten-year, 3% debentures. To start, the famed Woolworth Store No. 1,000, on Fifth Avenue at 40th Street, Manhattan will be abandoned in favor of a 5 1/2-story, air-conditioned, granite and steel store now abuilding on Fifth Avenue at 39th Street. Ranking with the abandonment of price limit and the borrowing of new capital as a sign of the times, is the fact that this new store will not have even the famed red-banded front.

*Profits per store rose momentarily to $10,700 in 1934, have fallen steadily since.

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