Woolworth attempted a rebrand as Woolco, but they couldn't shed the ancient image.
It's currently doing business under the name Foot Locker, which was originally part of its Kinney Shoe subsidiary.
I worked in college at a Kmart that was, coincidentally previously a Woolco. Initially after the conversion, they shrink the sales floor, leaving a stock area that had been part of the floor still adorned in Woolco signage until they remodeled and reclaimed that floor space.
Back then, our store was hopping all the time. At peak hours, we could operate 15 registers plus a few outlying ones in departments. Couldn’t chase the crowds out at closing time. People lined up at 4 am Black Friday for a 6 am opening. No Walmart anywhere nearby—the only nearby competition was a Bradlees, formerly Jefferson Ward, formerly Two Guys. Not much competition, really. A Clover (regional discounter) wasn’t that far away, but also not close enough to do significant harm.
That location has so far been spared the axe. Passing through the area a while back, I decided to take a look. Depressing and desolate. Calling it a dump would be an insult to dumps. Sure, the hanging signage was changed, but most of the layout was unchanged in a quarter century. The floors looked like they might have been cleaned last sometime around the Bush administration. The old pizza/cafe was ripped out, but they left the different tiles in place, and simply threw more merchandise in the spot. Threw being the operative word. The restrooms in that corner still had the signage on the wall, but were blocked off by a rack.
My old stomping ground of electronics had been shrunk and seemingly left for dead. What was once a fairly impressive forefather of a modern day Target electronics space was indistinguishable from any other space. The fixtures looked every bit of the 25 years or so since I left.
In fairness, they did change up the front end. There were now six registers. Six. The most crowded they could expect to be could be managed with a maximum of six registers. We never had less than five operating. Ever. They had one.
We did blue light specials out the wazoo. I should know, as the regular announcer...and a pretty decent one at that. They now had a manager who sounded world weary half heartedly begging people to take some expired snack cakes for a dime or something like that.
I happened to end up living near what, back then, was considered the regional showcase store. The prize was to be assigned there. I had stopped in a few times out of pure locational convenience. Whatever it once was, it, too, was a dump waiting for the sweet release of death. That axe finally swung, the last holdout in my area. At least a half dozen within a five mile radius reduced to none. Meanwhile, both of my nearby Targets have recently been refreshed yet again, easily the third or fourth time in 10 years.
Kmart is for all intents and purposes dead. It just hasn’t officially stopped breathing yet.
