Bob Schwartz

In the 1950s, Woolworth’s was one of America’s retail giants, with hundreds of stores everywhere in the nation. It was known as the “five-and-ten-cent store”, though by that time, while it was still a value variety store, most items weren’t a nickel or dime.

At Christmas, Woolworth’s published a comic book, Woolworth’s Happy Time Christmas Book. It contained a few holiday comics, but mostly it was page after page of product promotions aimed at kids—and at parents who did the shopping.

Below are just a few of the pages, a taste of the experience of Christmas, shopping, childhood and parenthood in America circa 1952.