Woolies: the shop that lost its way

Woolworths, the troubled chainstore seems to be doomed after almost a century’s presence in the UK.  Woolies is one of the few American imports that seems to have been taken up wholly and accepted affectionately by the British people.
  Singer/songwriter Nanci Griffith recalls her girlhood visiting the Woolworth store in Austin, Texas and her wish to go into a big Woolworths store in London and fill up a bag with unnecessary plastic objects. This inspired her to write her hit song, Love at the Five and Dime.
  I always recall visiting the Wee Woolworths in Upper North Street (now a Bingo house) and the Big Woolworths in Cornmarket (now Dunne’s).  The huge self-service cafeteria in the big Woolies was the cheapest place to eat on a Saturday afternoon’s visit to town. It was a good place for cheap records and pick’n’mix sweets.
  Today though, the ‘wonder of Woolies’ has faded - perhaps forever - as it lost its way over the past two decades.