The recent demise of Woolworth’s brought back memories of the company’s high-profile presence in Oxford city centre.

The company occupied two prime sites in Cornmarket Street for a total of nearly 60 years.

Greetings cards, records, paint, lighting, glassware, tobacco, tools, bootlaces, broken biscuits and lots more – you could always guarantee to get what you wanted at dear old Woolies.

Frank Winfield Woolworth started the business in America in 1879 when he opened a small shop in the market town of Utica and proudly billed it ‘The Great Five Cent Store’.

But even in those days, the range of goods that could be sold for as little as five cents was limited and the business quickly failed.

Undeterred, he relaunched with the maximum price raised to 10 cents and business took off.

The first British shop opened in Liverpool in 1909, with goods sold for three pence and six pence.

Woolworth’s arrived in Oxford in 1925, when it took over the old Roebuck Inn, in Cornmarket Street, the site now occupied by Boots.

Shoppers flocked to the store and it was not long before it was too small.

Woolworth’s bought the famous Clarendon Hotel across the road in 1939, but it was not until the 1950s that the hotel was demolished and the site redeveloped.

The new store, five times larger than its predecessor and featuring a cafeteria, was opened by the mayor and mayoress of Oxford, Alderman and Mrs RF Knight, on Friday, October 18, 1957.

A 12-page supplement in the Oxford Mail proudly announced that the new store would “make your shopping a pleasure”.

The mayor told guests: “When I look at this very wonderful building from the Mayor’s Parlour, I realise what you have achieved.

“The inside is staggering and, inside and out, you have nothíng to be ashamed of. I can say that, as a city, we are very proud of your frontage.”

However, 25 years later, the Wonder of Woolies was beginning to wane. In March 1982, the firm announced that the Oxford store was one of 25 to close.

It shut its doors for the last time in January, 1983.

The ground floor of the store became the Clarendon Shopping Centre and Littlewoods.

Any memories of Woolworth’s to share with readers?