Frank Winfield Woolworth - Legacy

Legacy

His granddaughter Barbara Hutton would gain much publicity for her lifestyle, squandering more than $50 million. Hutton likely named her London, UK, mansion after her grandfather's Long Island estate.

Bronze busts honoring Woolworth and seven other industry magnates stand outside between the Chicago River and the Merchandise Mart in downtown Chicago, Illinois.

By 1997, the original chain he founded had been reduced to 400 stores, and other divisions of the company began to be more profitable than the original chain. The original chain went out of business on July 17, 1997, as the firm began its transition into Foot Locker, Inc..

The UK stores continued operating (albeit under separate ownership since 1982) after the US operation ceased under the Woolworth name and by the 2000s traded as Woolworths Group. The final U.K. stores ceased trading January 6, 2009. The UK Woolworths brand was bought by Shop Direct Group in the UK who plan to run the store online only.

Woolworths continues to operate in Germany. Woolworths pty. Ltd. retailers in Australia have no connection to F. W. Woolworths or the original Woolworths corporation.

Mr. Woolworth was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1995.

He has a cemetery named for him east of Watertown, NY where he started his first store.

In 1978, the Woolworth Estate became the home of Monica Randall, a writer and photographer. She wrote a memoir of her experiences there entitled Winfield: Living in the Shadow of the Woolworths. Other notable residents of Winfield were the Reynolds family of R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company and Reynolds Aluminum. The mansion was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.