Talk:Variety store/Archives/2016

Not invented by Woolworth

The idea that Woolworth invented the variety store, as this article claims, seems to be mistaken. Woolworth's five and ten stores may not even be synonymous with variety store. The article claims that Woolworth opened the first variety store in 1879, but this book says "R. H. Pease, an engraver, lithographer, and variety store owner who lived in Albany, New York, distributed the first American-made Christmas card in the early 1850s." That's three decades earlier. Also from gbooks New Variety Store Opens in Baton Rouge Louisiana in 1865; I can't access the document but the date is clear enough from this snippet: "July 29, 1865. New Variety Store. New variety store opens in Baton Rouge Louisiana in 1865. The store sells 'fancy goods, stationery, crockery, tin ware, shoes, etc.' Published in the Tri-Weekly Gazette & Comet." And if that isn't enough, this page from the Massachusetts Historical Society describes a variety store existing in 1758. That's more than a century before Woolworth's store. SpinningSpark 22:42, 15 November 2016 (UTC)