Main Street. Gorin's Department Store, Toyland, F.W. Woolworth and Fox Drug Store, Watertown Square. The F.W. Woolworth Co. had the first five-and-dime stores, which sold discounted general merchandise at fixed prices, usually five or ten cents, undercutting the prices of other local merchants. Woolworth, as the stores popularly became known, was one of the first American retailers to put merchandise out for the shopping public to handle and select without the assistance of a sales clerk. Earlier retailers had kept all merchandise behind a counter and customers presented the clerk with a list of items they wished to buy. The stores eventually incorporated lunch counters a precursor to the modern shopping mall food court. Boston owned Gorin Department Store sold clothing (children to adult), uniforms and linens. It was more upscale than Woolworth?s and limited in merchandise. Fox Drug store was locally owned by the Joseph Fox family and carried the usual personal items found in today?s drug stores.
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