In the early twentieth century Woolworths took the British High Street by storm. With fixed prices of three and six pence they offered remarkable value on decently-made mass produced goods. By the late 1950s there were more than a thousand branches across Great Britain and Ireland, serving twelve million customers a week. The firm's shares were second only to ICI. But by the 1970s the chain was in decline and had fallen behind. It was taken over in the Eighties and reinvented itself for a new generation, but made a series of tactical blunders in the 21st Century as executives decided to sell mainly toys, kids clothes and music. After 33 billion transactions Woolworths collapsed at the height of the credit crunch, shocking the five million a week who still shopped there. Just weeks later the stores closed for the last time, coming to symbolise the banking crisis. Today Woolworths lives on as an internet brand after a rescue by Shop Direct Group. A Sixpenny Romance tells the whole story in words and pictures, as the firm reached for the sky before falling back to the ground. It explores the reasons for the collapse and gives an insider's view of the highs and lows of a much-loved and much-missed retail icon. It includes the early history of the Woolworth Five and Ten in the USA and Canada, including the great pioneers Fred M. Kirby, Earle P. Charlton, Seymour H. Knox, William H. Moore,and Charles Sumner Woolworth who merged their businesses with Frank Winfield Woolworth to form the F. W. Woolworth Co. in 1912. The 194 page book is in the coffee table format, with 100 full page photos, many of which have not been published before. It is fully indexed and has been described as the definitive history of the Company. The author was described as 'Mr Woolworth' by BBC television's Panorama and has appeared on ITN's News at Ten and BBC Radio, as a historian and in recognition of his work to find new jobs for displaced Woolworths staff.