What Happened to Woolworth’s Beauty Counter? Where Every Girl Bought Her First Lipstick

For generations of American girls, the Woolworth’s beauty counter was more than a place to buy lipstick. It was where a first tube of red, a cake of Maybelline mascara, a tiny bottle of Evening in Paris, or a little compact of powder could make a young girl feel grown-up for the very first time. This video explores what happened to Woolworth’s beauty counter, from the rise of the five-and-dime store to the affordable makeup counters that made beauty available to working girls, schoolgirls, mothers, and daughters across America. It follows Woolworth’s from its nickel-store beginnings to its Main Street heyday, its lunch counters, its role in American memory, and the 1997 closure that ended one of the most beloved rituals in everyday retail history.