The first W.T. Grant dime store opened in Lynn, Massachusetts in 1906 and expanded rapidly across the country. When founder, William Thomas Grant, died in 1972, the company had grown to nearly 1,200 stores, although, unable to compete with large chain department stores like Kmart and Target, it declared bankruptcy a few years later.
W.T. Grant stores opened in Minneapolis and St. Paul in the mid-1950s, and an attempt was made to establish stores in the suburban shopping centers. Martha Doughty remembered shopping at the W.T. Grant store at Miracle Mile in St. Louis Park in the 1950s. This photograph, taken in 1957, shows the hobby department at the Minneapolis store.
Creator: Norton & Peel
Publisher: Minnesota Historical Society
Date: 1957
Identifer: location Norton & Peel 246075
