Memory Lane: Woolworth’s

An institution that hearkens back to simpler times in Boro Park, and is one of the select few establishments that withstood the many changes that Thirteenth Avenue in Boro Park underwent throughout the decades was Woolworth’s, which stood between 43rd and 44th Streets from a time when Boro Park was in its infancy until well into the 1990’s. 

In this time, the all-in-one shopping center with the red-and-gold signage created a lifetime of memories for Boro Park’s children and adults. 

Woolworth’s

According to an interview with Mr. Frank Miceli by Mrs. Lucille Posner of the Boro Park Historical Society which appeared in I Remember Boro Park, the site of Woolworth’s had a number of previous occupants. “I was nine years old in 1925 when my family moved from South Brooklyn to Boro Park,” Micelli recalled. “My parents, Josephine and, moved to Boro Park with the family because they wanted to live in a better neighborhood. We were eight children: myself, my brothers Louis, Peter, and Salvatore, and my sisters, Angie, Josephine, Nancy and Nettie. My father bought a two-family, brick house at 1317 44th Street. We lived upstairs and rented out the downstairs apartment,” he said. 

He recalled a time when 4318 13th Avenue was occupied by the Berkshire Dairy, a large grocery store. “I delivered orders for Berkshire after my classes at P.S. 164, 14th Avenue and 43rd Street. I next attended Montauk Junior High School, 16th Avenue and 43rd Street. Unhappily, Montauk was the last school I attended. This was in the height of the Depression and I had to leave school and work in a hat factory in order to help support my family,” he remembered wistfully. 

Memories for Life 

As one can imagine, a store such as Woolworth’s can capture the imaginations of children, and instill them with fond memories that last a lifetime. One child of that time relates, “if memory serves me well, when first walking in, to the right, there was a photo booth—4 or 5 pics to a quarter! Me and my first best friend [took a picture together over there]—we still are, all the way from California to Brooklyn.” Another anecdote goes that “My dentist, Dr. Wortman, was in the building across the street, on the corner, top floor. While he worked on my teeth, I was thinking of what I was going to buy in Woolworth’s.” 

Larry Traub recalls that there was a mechanical horse outside Woolworth’s, which the little kids would ride. But some paint was chipped off the back, exposing some bare wiring, leading to an electric shock when touching it. “We had a contest to see who could get electrocuted the longest. Then came the philosophical, moral, and social/collective test of whether to tell Woolworth’s about it to save humanity or say nothing and continue to enjoy our daily electrocution contests…”

Woolworth’s sold the largest variety of items, from ready-to-eat food to goldfish and everything in between—and the experience of just walking around the store captured the imaginations of children and created memories for life. 

The store most-likely closed up around the same time the rest of the chains closed—in 1997, when the company went defunct—bringing to a close a golden era in American retail, with a chapter in that era having been written in Boro Park of yesteryear.