Your Woolworths or mine?

At different times across the 20th century to now. this brand was familiar to people throughout the English-speaking world and beyond. To some it was reliable and familiar, then later it was failure. And in one country it is about monopoly and domination.

In the US, F. W. Woolworth Company started in 1879 as the original “5c store” for discount goods. After several failures it gradually became a major success, before finally fading in the 1980s and filing for bankruptcy in 1997.

In the UK, Woolworths began as an offshoot of the US company in 1909 and initially had great success also, before being spun off as a separate company in the early 1980s. But it fell apart in the early 2000s, filing for bankruptcy in 2009 and being completely dissolved by 2015. Thousands of jobs were lost and it was seen as one of the biggest victims of the 2008-09 financial crisis.

In Germany, Woolworths also started as a spin-off from the American brand, but it was separated completely in 1998 and continues today. In South Africa, their version of Woolworths lives as a luxury retail brand, known for its high-end labels more than as a supermarket.

But only in Australia, does Woolworths really shine. Known as “Woolies” to most, it is the largest retail business in the country and the leading supermarket chain. While they have sold off most of their other interests since 2012, they are certainly not going anywhere! But they have faced concern and criticism for their duopoly with Coles and their predatory pricing.