'A Sixpenny Romance, celebrating a century of value at Woolworths'
by Paul Seaton

• 194 pages, in a mix of black and white and colour
• 100 incredible full page photographs and cartoons, many of which you won't have seen before
• the whole story from Frank Woolworth's childhood to the launch of the new website, from 1879 to 2009
• the rollercoaster ride of highs and lows, heroes and zeroes, saints and sinners that made the store-based company
• the circumstances behind the collapse into Administration and the set-up of WoolworthsReunited
• the words of - among other things - Wolverhampton's wonderful Bohemian Rhapsody, in full, along with some of your comments and stories from the final days
• some things that you knew and others that you simply won't believe ... like 33 billion low value transactions

• it doesn't slag anyone off, in particular it doesn't blame Shop Direct - far from it. Love them or loathe them, they are quite simply the best in their field, and if anyone can make a go of an online business, it's them. In fact the book says, as I honestly believe, that if Frank WW was setting up today (in 2009 rather than 1909) Woolworths would have started out as a web company, because of the low set up cost and massive reach that this can give
• it doesn't seek to blame
• It's a celebration not a funeral

The front and back coves

The inside front cover (double-page panorama view of Store 1 Liverpool in 1923)

The original store in Church Street Liverpool, which opened on 5 November 2009 but didn't sell anything until the next day!

Store colleagues admired the firm's Buyers very much. Their ability to find ways of selling items for under sixpence was legendary, with the firm often selling things as specials that would be ten times as expensive in rival stores. This cartoon, drawn by a Sales Assistant, speculates about what they might think of next - with a piano, elephant, sofa or three saxophones which are giant versions of the firm's popular tobacco pipes, all suggested.

Another cartoon, this time lightening the dark days of World War II. It shows a store manager kitted out with all the things he might need to cope with the perils of running a store while most of the key staff were off serving in the forces. Some Woolies old hands have observed that the drawing appears to be based on popular District Manager David P.M. Smith, even though that would have made him about 110 when he was my boss! (Can you see the likeness?)

One of the firm's darkest hours as 4 Manchester went up in flames with dreadful loss of life, the same day that Margaret Thatcher took over at 10 Downing Street - 8 May 1979. Many people believe that it was this incident that resulted in the business being taken over in 1982, as it highlighted how old fashioned the firm's management had become. The book tells the whole story behind the fire for the first time, thanks to Graham Hill, who also provided the evocative photograph.

That's the end of the preview, you can see more at the Sixpenny Romance website - as you'll see there are loads more great pictures in the book from more recent times!