Benjamin Franklin’s aphorism, “A penny saved is a penny earned,” inspired the name of the Ben Franklin Five and Dime stores that eventually popped up in thousands of locations all around the United States.
History Five and Dime Store
The chain originated in Boston in 1877 as Butler Brothers, a mail order wholesaler selling general and variety store items. Butler Brothers had more than 100,000 clients in the US at the start of the 20th century. As variety stores were gaining in popularity, the company founded the Ben Franklin chain in 1927. They operated under a franchise model, where people were able to independently operate their own locations. They eventually sold the company in 1959. At Ben Franklin’s peak, the chain had 2,500 stores nationwide.
In 1877, George and Edward Butler established their first store in Boston. From then on, the company operated mostly as a mail order company until the 1920s, when it added the Scot and LC Burr stores to its brick and mortar operation. But it was their Ben Franklin retail franchise founded in 1927 that created the Butler Brothers’ greatest dime store legacy.
There were a number of famous franchise owners over the years, perhaps none more famous than Sam Walton. In 1945, Sam and Helen Walton, founders of Walmart, launched their first Ben Franklin Five and Dime store in Newport, Arkansas. Within five years, Sam reached his goal of running the top Ben Franklin franchise in the entire state. But when it came time to renew the lease for his business, his landlord refused, wanting to give the store to his son. Sam and Helen were forced out and had to look for a new location.
After exploring a number of possible locations in Arkansas, Sam found a small variety store in Bentonville whose owner, Luther Harrison, was willing to sell. After negotiating the deal, the family moved to Bentonville in 1950 to open a new Ben Franklin variety store. Sam called this location “Walton’s Five and Dime.” Sam began an extensive remodeling program, which was completed in March of 1951. He advertised his new store as Northwest Arkansas’s most modern, up-to-date variety store.
In 1952, Sam opened a second Walton’s Five-and-Dime in Fayetteville, Arkansas. This store was a Ben Franklin franchise, same like his others. By the early 1960s, the Waltons owned 16 Ben Franklin stores in Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas. It was the nation’s largest chain of independently owned variety stores. To service his multitude of stores that were in isolated small towns, Walton learned to fly an airplane. On July 2nd, 1962, Sam Walton opened his first Walmart store in Rogers, Arkansas.
In 1973, Dallas businessman Michael J. Dupey founded Michael’s in Dallas, Texas, when he converted a money-losing Ben Franklin Five and Dime store into Michael’s, an arts and crafts store. Ben Franklin Stores purchased Texas retailer Duke and Ayers in the early 1970s. Duke and Ayers was a chain of five and dime stores based in Dallas, Texas, with stores that were located throughout the state from approximately 1910 to 1990.
In the 1970s, Ben Franklin operated some Ben Franklin Family Center locations, which were larger discount stores offering merchandise not found at regular Ben Franklin stores, including clothing. They also launched Ben Franklin Crafts stores.
The chain functioned largely as a wholesaler, providing variety and craft merchandise sold to its franchisees under the name Ben Franklin Retail Stores Inc. In the early 1990s, it began opening its own stores. However, those stores were not successful and interfered with the chain’s ability to deliver goods to its franchisees. In 47 states, the company went bankrupt and started closing the corporate-owned Ben Franklin stores in 1996.
While the Ben Franklin Company itself went bankrupt in 1996, most of the stores were franchised and lived on. Promotions Unlimited stepped in as a supplier for many Ben Franklin franchisees during the corporation’s descent into bankruptcy.
It acquired the name of the chain in 1997. The chain supplied goods to the craft stores and variety stores that closely resembled the original five and dime stores. Promotions Unlimited also provided similar advertising and promotional services for thousands of other retail stores until they eventually went bankrupt in 2017.
After they went out of business, HM Stores BFC LLC purchased the Ben Franklin and Ben Franklin Crafts trademarks. They’re a family-owned business that has operated their own Ben Franklin and Ben Franklin Craft stores since 1955.
So while there aren’t thousands of Ben Franklin Five and Dimes anymore, there are still Ben Franklin and Ben Franklin Craft stores around. You may just have to look a little harder.
