1950s menu from Woolworth's lunch counter

If you're too young to remember Woolworth's, then you're too young to remember the wafting aroma of the hamster cages. They were in the pet department in the back of Woolworth's stores, along with goldfish and those little pet turtles that are illegal now. It was one of the most comforting, welcome smells of my childhood. You kids don't know what you're missing.

Comments

[adchick]

I do remember Woolworths....great memories with my Grandmother took me there...we'd sit at the counter and have a Cherry coke and a hot dog....and then she'd let me stroll through the toys! Thank you for your web site and generating a great memory.

[Advertising Balloons]

It's sad to think that Woolworths has gone, at least here in the UK. It basically died from a mix of poor management and lack of interest from the public. The story is that too many people thought it was a bit old fashioned and not exciting enough.

Jim

[michael5000]

Well, everyone has their own nostalgia. For a whippersnapper like myself, thinking that if I had only been born a few years earlier I could have eaten American cheese sandwiches in a department store that smelled of hamster urine -- well, I can take that hit. And besides, you never had the sophisticated thrill of playing "Asteroids" as a teenager!

[PZR]

Actually, the lunch counters were already gone by the time my generation arrived on the scene. We had to make do with hamsters.

[Beth]

I remember browsing through Woolworth's and hearing the dishes rattling at the lunch counter and the wonderful smells coming from the griddles and the plates..

[Gail]

Ah yes, Woolworth's. Hamsters, turtles with those little dishes with the plastic palm tree, cherry limeades, grilled cheese sandwiches, banana splits, Barbie stuff galore, Cutex lipstick and nail polish, even bras and pantyhose. It was a cornucopia of wonderfulness of my youth . . . (born in 1953).

[tjc]

Best hotdogs on earth were served here!!!! Sometimes they had mac and cheese and that was yummy too. The world has gotten WAY to fast paced for these places. So sad!!!

[Gayle Smith]

I remember the lunch counter at Woolworths and Kressges. My mom would take me on the bus downtown to shop and we stopped in at the lunch counter and ate. One of them had balloons that you picked and could get ice cream for 1 cent to 25 cents.I whis we could go back to that era. So much calmer.

[peggygrinager@aol.com]

Help,

I would like to know if there was lunch counter in the Woolworth's store in Franklin,
PA

Peggy

[Kenneth Casper]

In Covington, KY if you were owed money by someone, all you needed to do to catch the person was to sit in the dime store lunch counter on a Saturday afternoon.

[Jean Hoefling]

It was at a Woolworth's lunch counter in Denver, Colorado when I was maybe 6 or 7 (early 60's) that my mother taught me about tipping, slipping a shiny dime underneath the rim of her plate. Our entire lunch would have cost about a dollar. Great memories at Christmas time, driving into Denver to eat at the lunch counter and shop at the dignified May D&F and Denver Dry.

[lydia shafer]

Loved Woolworth's. Best memory at my store in Washington Hgts. NYC..Banana splits....you could pick a balloon, pop it and pay anywhere from 2cents up to the regular retail of 39 cents. They were the best. Did your store have a custard counter? Vanilla and chocolate softserve for a dime. You could have strawberry or chocolate syrup at both the bottom and top of the glass!
Woolworth's had everything and it was good stuff. Not the junk we get today...Such good memories, wish they would come back!

Soooo good.

[Frank]

I remember Cokes for 10c Used to Mow a Lawn for a $1.00 and take my Girl to get a Coke. Big spender.