Frank Winfield Woolworth (April 13th 1852 – April 8th 1919)

Frank W. Woolworth was born into a farming background, but decided at a very young age he wanted to be a merchant. He built an enormous retailing fortune by pioneering a very simple idea: low, fixed prices.

His first five cent store (founded in New York for three hundred borrowed dollars) failed within weeks. But he opened again just two months later in Pennsylvania as a "five and ten cent store" and never looked back.

He realized the need buy in items in large quantities to obtain the best prices, and that only a chain of stores could sell the necessary volume of goods priced at a nickel or a dime.

Candy became a significant part of his five and dime stock, and he visited Europe to source new goods. He kept expanding the number of stores relentlessly.

His original employer, who he had worked for without pay for his first three months, was eventually taken on as a partner, along with Woolworth's brother, Charles.

In 1913, the F. W. Woolworth company's hundreds of stores were profitable enough to fund the $13,500,000 construction of the world's then tallest building - the 792 feet tall Woolworth Building in New York City.

Woolworth's personal fortune allowed him to build "Winfield Hall" - an enormous mansion with dozens of servants in attendance, and grounds so extensive they required the full-time services of seventy gardeners.

All of the profits which allowed such an extravagant lifestyle came about through Frank W. Woolworth taking a simple idea and maximizing its potential.

He had seen how a little side table in his original employer's store was piled high with leftovers: end-of-line items or "odds and ends", all priced at a fixed five cents.

Frank Woolworth had noticed how people always took a look at what was on the clearance table. It proved to be an efficient method of profiting from otherwise unwanted items. But only Woolworth saw it as the basis for an entire business empire.

Why not take a look at the other "Success Masters" on this site by checking out the links at the foot of the index page - Success Leaves Traces - and you may well find that spark of inspiration you need to take the next step to success in your own life.

Orison Swett Marden - Homepage

Copyright 2009 - www.MardensKeysToSuccess.com