A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

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Entry from February 02, 2006
Five and Ten Cent Store (5 & 10, or Five and Dime)
The "five and ten cent store" was popularized by the F. W. Woolworth Company, former owners of the Woolworth Building (once the world's tallest).

Today they're called "dollar stores" or "99 cent stores."

(Oxford English Dictionary)
five-and-ten (cent store) N. Amer., a store where all the articles were orig. priced at either five or ten cents; also colloq., five-and-dime store;

1880 in Sat. Even. Post (1940) 10 Feb. 23/3 Woolworth Bros. *5 & 10 Cent Store. 1907 'O. HENRY' Trimmed Lamp 115 Did you ever notice me..peering in the window of the five-and-ten? 1922 L. MUMFORD in H. Stearns Civilization in U.S. 9 In the five and ten cent store it is possible for the circumscribed factory operative to obtain the illusion of unmoderated expenditure. 1924 Antiques May 229/2 Of course, we are all familiar with the ordinary pink, white and baby blue celluloid thimble of the present-day five-and-ten-cent store! 1934 J. T. FARRELL Young Manhood in Studs Lonigan (1936) i. 160 A small American flag which he'd copped from the nearby five-and-dime store.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five-and-ten-cent_store
Five and dime was a common nickname in the United States for five-and-ten-cent stores (also called 5 and 10s), popular in the early to mid-20th century.

These stores in the century, the price range of merchandise expanded. Typical items were household sundries, toys, and candy.

Such stores have gone through various price-reference names: five-cent store, dime store, and ten-cent store, for example. Today, the dollar store occupies a similar marketing niche.

14 March 1879, Racine (WI) Daily Herald, pg. 1:
The five and ten cent store at 89 Main street, is doing a good business.

16 February 1919, Chicago Tribune, pg. A8S:
"I got the peachiest little record yesterday at the 'five and dime.'"
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Work/Businesses • Thursday, February 02, 2006 • Permalink


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