The five-and-ten-cent store, also called the five-and-dime, was one of the most popular institutions in the United States from the late 1880s to the middle of the twentieth century. The dime store was more than a place where shoppers met to find a bargain and sip a limeade at the lunch counter. It also sparked a revolutionary change in American shopping habits and was the direct ancestor of the modern discount store. Dime stores have figured in films, such as Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982), and in popular music, as in the 1920s song by Billy Rose (1899–1966) and Fred Fisher (1875–1942), "I Found a Million Dollar Baby (in a Five and Ten Cent Store)." Although they have disappeared from American streets, the five-and-dime still has a firm place in American popular culture.

Woolworth's stores were a familiar sight in cities across...