As a child, she would go to the store in Altoona, Pa., and beg her grandparents
to buy her a toy.
As a teen-ager, she would share Cokes and fries with friends at the lunch
counter in Warren, Ohio.
And on Thursday, Mrs. Hengst, 50, went to the five-and-dime store in search
of envelopes _ her office had run out.
``Where else do you get envelopes, a pound of coffee, thread if you lose
the button on your clothes on the way to an interview? It's just awful they're
closing.''
After 117 years as America's general store, Woolworth Corp. said Thursday
it will close its remaining 400 U.S. F.W. Woolworth stores and change its
name. The move ends a shopping era that began in 1879, when Frank Woolworth
opened his first store in Lancaster, Pa.
There was nothing you couldn't get there _ and get it cheap. From hairnets
to handkerchiefs, turtles to tools, lipstick to lunch, Woolworth's five-and-dime
had it all.
Who didn't prowl the narrow aisles in search of bobby pins, hot salted peanuts
in a paper bag or dish rags?
What parent didn't drag a child past the popcorn machine and the mechanical
horse to stock up on underwear or school supplies?
What child didn't inspect every shelf in search of the finest birthday gift
for Mom that their tiny allowances could buy? How about that plastic champagne
bottle filled with bubble bath and a plastic rose?
Mrs. Hengst, who stopped by the downtown Columbus store Thursday afternoon,
said she still has the xylophone she talked her grandparents into buying
for her.
``I drove them crazy with it,'' she said with a smile. ``They'd tell me
to go out on the porch and play it. I also bought a little bunny that jumped.
I kept looking at and looking at it'' until they finally gave her the money
to buy the mechanical toy.
Maria Simpson remembers shopping for Christmas presents at Woolworth's five-and-dime
in her hometown of Brooklyn, N.Y.
``I would get ceramic things for Mom and toys for my brothers,'' Ms. Simpson,
44, said as she popped into Woolworth's to pick up a flea collar. ``It's
a family store. You'd sit at the counter and eat. Everybody was real friendly.''
For Pauline Jones, 59, it was bringing one of her 10 grandchildren _ ages
7 to 20 _ to pick out toys or celebrate a birthday with lunch at the store's
restaurant.
``They're the best for educational books and school supplies,'' said Mrs.
Jones as she looked for a birthday card. ``If it was their birthday, they'd
love to come in and have a hamburger and fries. I feel very sad they're
closing.''
Byron Rider, who has worked for Woolworth for 29 years _ as manager of the
downtown store for the last 10 _ has heard it all before.
``Every week I hear from someone who said they grew up in this place and
their grandma brought them here,'' he said.
``It's home to many.''
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