February 22, 1879 - Frank Winfield Woolworth, sales assistant at Alexander Augsbury and William Moore's Augsbury and Moore Dry Goods Store in Watertown, NY since March 24, 1873 (Moore & Smith by 1877), opened  Great 5 Cents Store in Utica, NY with $300 credit in stock from William Moore; pledged to sell "nothing" that cost more than a nickel (had started 5 cent counter for Moore & Smith in September 1878); May 1879 - store failed - wrong location; June 21, 1879 - opened discount variety store in 14-foot storefront in Lancaster, PA (with leftover Utica stock, $300 loan from Moore);  1904 - opened some 120 stores in twenty-one states; November 5, 1909 - first British store opened in Liverpool (762 stores in UK by 1950); 1911 - merged with S. H. Knox & Co. (Seymour H. Knox, cousin, 112 stores), four rival companies in $65 million deal, 596 stores; 1912 - formed F. W. Woolworth Company; went public; 1913 - built Woolworth Building in New York City; 1924 - added to Dow Jones Industrial Average (until 1997); 1997 - company closed last 400 shops; June 12, 1998 - name changed to Venator Group; June 22, 1998 - Woolworth Building sold.

Frank Woolworth, Seymour Knox, Charles Woolworth - F. W. Woolworth Co. (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Shknox-ww.jpg)

1882 - John G. McCrorey founded McCrory Stores  in Scottdale, PA.

1886 - Richard W. Sears founded R. W. Sears Watch Co. in North Redwood, MN; 1887 - Alvah C. Roebuck joined company as watch repairman; company relocated to Chicago; 1889 - company sold for $72,000 profit; 1891 - Sears and Roebuck re-established business partnership; 1892 - formed A.C. Roebuck Inc.; 1893 - named changed to Sears, Roebuck and Co.; 1894 - catalog of 322 pages; 1895 - Roebuck lefty company;  Julius Rosenwald became  partner; 1925 - opened first retail stores; 1926 - Allstate brand created; 1945 - sales exceeded $1 billion; 1973 - Sears Tower opened; 1981 - acquired Coldwell Banker, Dean Witter; 1985 - introduced Discover Card; 1993 -  Dean Witter spun off, 20 percent of Allstate sold, Coldwell Banker, Sears Mortgage Banking Group sold; 2002 - acquired Lands' End (largest specialty apparel catalog company, seller of apparel on Internet in U.S.); March 24, 2005 - Sears Holdings merged with with Kmart

1899 - Sebastian Spering Kresge, former employee  and partner of James G. McCrorey (owned half interest in two stores), traded his interest in J. G. McCrory Memphis store and $3,000 for full interest in five and dime store on Woodward Ave. in Detroit; became sole owner; 1900 - started partnership with brother-in-law, Charles J. Wilson; 1907 - bought him out, founded S. S. Kresge Company;  1912 - incorporated; 85 stores, $10 million in sales; March 1, 1962 - Kmart opened first 'superstore' Garden City, MI; opened 417 stores in 8 years; 1977 - renamed K-Mart; 1979 - sales of $11.7 billion, 1,891 stores across United States and Australia; 2002 -filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection; 2004- announced merger with Sears.

March 1899 - George Clinton Murphy, cousin of John G. McCrorey, former manager of McCrory store (founded 1882) in Jamestown, NY in 1896, started five-and-10 in Pittsburgh, PA; 1904 - acquired by Woolworth; 1906 - opened variety store in McKeesport, PA; 1911 - acquired by John S. Mack, Walter C. Shaw, former McCrory executives; 1931 - went public; 1934 - 181 Murphy Co. stores in 11 states, Washington, DC; 1976 - operated 529 stores;  1985 - acquired by Ames Department Stores (118 Murphy's Marts, 263 G. C. Murphy variety stores); August 1989 - 131 G. C. Murphy stores (other units closed) acquired by Riklis Family Holdings (McCrory); 2001 - McCrory Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection; February 2002 - closed.

April 14, 1902 - James Cash (J. C.) Penney (26) opened first store, The Golden Rule, dry goods and clothing store, in Kemmerer, WY, in partnership with his employers, merchants Thomas M. Callahan, William Guy Johnson; first-year profit of $8,514.36 on annual sales of $28,898.11; 1907 - bought out his partners, opened stores that sold soft goods in small towns; 1913 - incorporated in Utah as J. C. Penney Company, Inc.; 1914 - moved  headquarters from Salt Lake City to New York City to be closer to major sources of merchandise; 1929 - went public; October 11, 1929 - J. C Penney opened store #1252 in Milford, DE; stores in all 48 U.S. states; 1951 - sales over $1 billion; 1973 - 2,053 stores, 300 of which were full-line establishments; 1992 - moved headquarters to Plano, TX; 1997 - acquired Eckerd Drug Stores (nearly 1,750 stores) for $3.3 billion; 2000 - closed about 50 department stores, 300 Eckerd drugstores; January 2002 - name changed to J. C. Penney Corporation; 2008 - launched American Living,  largest brand launch in company's history; October 2010 - 16.5% interest acquired for $13 billion by Pershing Square Capital Management; September 2011 -entered swap contracts for additional 15.9 million shares; late 2011 - acquired worldwide rights for Liz Claiborne family of brands for $288 million; April 2013 - 7.91% interest (17.4 million shares) acquired by Soros Fund Management LLC.

1906 - William Thomas Grant (30) opened the first "W. T. Grant Co. 25 Cent Store" in Lynn, MA with $1,000; 1936 - about $100 million a year in sales; 1972 - 1200 WT Grant Stores in 40 states; October 2, 1975 - largest financial collapse in retailing history occurred, second biggest U.S. company ever to enter bankruptcy proceedings (the biggest was Penn Central Transportation Co. in 1970).

1908 - Edward A. Filene founded Tunnel Bargain Basement (named for its proximity to Washington Street Subway tunnel) to sell overstock from his father's department store (upstairs); January 4, 1909 -  doors opened; launched concept of "off price" store; renamed Automatic Bargain Basement as new pricing system introduced, “Automatic Mark Down System” (price tag on each item marked with date it hit  selling floor, longer unsold, more price automatically  reduced, first 25%, then 50% , finally 75%; items unsold  given to charity; guaranteed bargains, fast inventory turnover; name changed to Filene's Basement; 1990s - operated 56 stores; August 1998 - filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection; March 2000 - acquired by Value City Department Stores Inc. (later Retail Ventures, Inc.); September 2007 - closed flagship store (20% of annual sales) for renovation; April 22, 2009 - acquired by Buxbaum Group (California liquidation company) for nothing (no sale proceeds to RVI); operates 25 stores (closed 11 stores in 2009); May 4, 2009 - filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware, second time in 10 years; plans to sell 17 of 25 stores to Crown Acquisitions for $22 million.

1913 - Abraham "Pop" Cohen, employee of harness shop in Lechmere Square (Cambridge, MA), bought store, renamed it Lechmere Harness Shop; 1923 - converted it to tire store; reamed Lechmere Vulcanizing Company; 1948 - added appliances; name changed to Lechmere Tire & Sales Company, business incorporated; 1965 - became pioneering chain store in discount electronics; February 28, 1969 - acquired by Dayton Hudson Corp.; 1981 - name changed to Lechmere, Inc.; 1987 - sales of $636.3 million (24 stores), $22.7 million profit; July 1989 - acquired by management, with help Berkshire Partners, mall developers Steve Karp and Steve Wiener for $600 million; 1993 - sales of more than $800 million, 24 stores in New England; March 1994 - acquired by Montgomery Ward Holdings for more than $200 million; November 8, 1997 - all (27) stores closed as part of bankruptcy reorganization.

Edward A. Filene (http://filene.org/assets/images-general/Filene_head.jpg)