five-and-dime
noun
variants
or less commonly five-and-ten
plural five-and-dimes also five-and-tens
: a retail store that carries a variety of chiefly inexpensive merchandise
When I was a little girl you could still buy things at the five-and-dime.—
Nikki Giovanni
Nikki GiovanniBut most five-and-dimes faded away, done in by competition from big box stores, or failure to adapt to changing tastes quickly enough.—Carl Nolte
Carl NolteAfter the grocery store came the five-and-ten, a rambling, comfortable hodgepodge of unrelated items and scents.—Lee Ebler
Lee EblerExamples of five-and-dime in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Some considered Woolworth’s the first national discounter, but Woolworth’s is best classified as a Main Street, five-and-dime store, with counters for sandwiches and chocolate egg cremes.
—David Moin, WWD, 21 Oct. 2024
Back in February 1960 in Nashville, a group of mostly Black college students famously took seats at the lunch counter of Woolworth’s five-and-dime downtown to stage a nonviolent protest against segregation.
—Joseph Hudak, Rolling Stone, 13 Aug. 2024
The prominent corner store has seen a succession of uses over the years: it’s been a variety store (the G.C. Murphy five-and-dime shop), a dollar store, an antique mall and, most recently, a restaurant called the Five and Dime Ale House, which closed last year.
—Amanda Yeager, Baltimore Sun, 22 Apr. 2024
The sit-in movement had been touched off on Feb. 1, 1960, when four Black college students sat down at a White-only lunch counter at an F.W. Woolworth five-and-dime store in downtown Greensboro, N.C.
—Emily Langer, Washington Post, 13 Mar. 2024
Kmart started in the late 1800s as the S.S. Kresge Co., becoming a small chain of five-and-dime discount stores.
—Dallas News, 26 Feb. 2023
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David Moin, WWD, 21 Oct. 2024
Back in February 1960 in Nashville, a group of mostly Black college students famously took seats at the lunch counter of Woolworth’s five-and-dime downtown to stage a nonviolent protest against segregation.
—Joseph Hudak, Rolling Stone, 13 Aug. 2024
The prominent corner store has seen a succession of uses over the years: it’s been a variety store (the G.C. Murphy five-and-dime shop), a dollar store, an antique mall and, most recently, a restaurant called the Five and Dime Ale House, which closed last year.
—Amanda Yeager, Baltimore Sun, 22 Apr. 2024
The sit-in movement had been touched off on Feb. 1, 1960, when four Black college students sat down at a White-only lunch counter at an F.W. Woolworth five-and-dime store in downtown Greensboro, N.C.
—Emily Langer, Washington Post, 13 Mar. 2024
Kmart started in the late 1800s as the S.S. Kresge Co., becoming a small chain of five-and-dime discount stores.
—Dallas News, 26 Feb. 2023
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Cite this Entry
“Five-and-dime.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/five-and-dime. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.
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