Advertising cover for Kelly's, an early "Five and Dime" store in Hughesville, NY.
The orginator of the concept of a variety store with a very large amount of very inexpensive goods (also known as a "5 & 10" store, a "Nickel & Dime" store or a dimestore)
is generally believed to have been Frank Woolworth in Watertown, NY in 1878. When "Woolies" began to shut down in England in the 1980s, tearful customers staged protests. The last U.S. Woolworth's to close was in Globe, Arizona in 1997 (it had opened in 1916).
Other "Five and Dime" chains included W. T. Grant's, Kresge's, Ben Franklin Stores, Knox's, McLellan's, Walton's and J. J. Newberry's.