Woolies started selling Christmas Cards right back in 1879, and we've sold cards in the UK since our first store opened in Liverpool in 1909.  Back then rather than the folded cardboard and envelopes we're used to today, Christmas Cards were in postcard format.

Woolies published their own cards from day one in the UK, and have always sold own-branded cards. 

The first cards, before World War I were chosen by Frank Woolworth himself.  Although he was an American, Frank was very proud to be of English descent, and could trace his roots back to Woolley in Cambridgeshire.

Believing that the British liked "quaint" designs, many of his early cards featured old English spelling, which was well out of date.

But at one old penny each (about ½p) or 7 for sixpence (2½p) the cards sold very well as soon as they went on sale.

The cards above and on the right were all part of the Woolies range in the years 1909-1920, and were kept in private collections by the people who received them, making them around 90 years old.

The company also sold printed floral wrapping paper and ribbons and bows to wrap parcels, alongside more practical brown paper, ceiling wax and string, and a wide range of calendars and diaries.

Right through into the 1930s prices for basic cards were held down to a single old penny (½p), but in the late 1920s the first folded cards and envelopes were put on sale, with the larger and more luxurious single cards selling for 2^D (1p).

Budget cards have changed surprisingly little since these pictures were taken in 1939.

Woolworths hired whole railway trains to deliver supplies of cards and wrapping paper to the stores.  To keep prices down, stocks were ordered a full year in advance - the great majority from British suppliers - and were shipped to stores in the early summer, before the school holidays.  The Company took the suppliers' first production in their low season, leaving them free to pursue other business later in the year, with the suppliers charging other companies much higher prices.

This type of supplier partnership was one of the ways that Woolworths managed to sell their ranges at lower prices and better margins than most of their smaller competitors.  

The War Office were keen to raise people's spirits at Christmas and particularly to make sure that troops would receive cards and parcels from home, and helped the company to keep a good range available.

Sales of paper products grew by an average of 30% year on year from 1940 to 1943. 

Displays were given an overhaul in the 1950s, with canopies installed above the Christmas counters to allow calendar and gift bows to be displayed, and to make them clearly visible from the store front, even though displayed in the middle or rear section of the store.  Bold wall features of single sheets of wrapping paper in the early 1950s gradually made way for folded sheets in flat packs.  Both types are visible in the picture from Commercial Road Portsmouth (above).

By 1957 modern card racks were in use for display, freeing the walls for an expanding range of Toys and general merchandise.  These were among the first counters where customers served themselves rather than asking for help when they were ready to make a purchase.

By 1960 Woolies were selling millions of packets of assorted Christmas Cards at prices from 1/- (5p) to 2/6^D (12½p).

In the late 1960s Woolworths launched a major re-branding exercise in which all own label products were sold under the Winfield label.  By the mid 1970s, at a time of rapid inflation, high interest rates and competition on price, the Company's policy of buying a year in advance and bringing in stocks early in gave problems.  Lower price point, lower quality items were introduced and fewer customers made repeat purchases.

One of the first challenges facing the new owners of Woolworths after the Paternoster (Kingfisher) management buy-in of 1982 was to arrest the decline and refocus the department.

By 1983 quality standards were reinstated, with new designs and more flexible supply arrangements.  Sales growth was strong and, backed by a strong TV campaign the range was back in business.

The key developments in the latter half of the 1980s were to move the mix of wrapping paper from packet to rolls (now the established standard, but at the time a radical move) and to develop an improved range of gift tags and calendars.

Building on other developments within the Company's focus strategy, new character brands were added to the ranges (for example Disney, product links to Dudley Moore's "Santa Claus - the Movie" and the like), and a much improved range of pop calendars linked to the improved Entertainment offer in the stores.

Despite increase competition in the 1990s and a focus on other things in the later Kingfisher years, Woolies went into the millennium with a strong, but declining market share.

Range development had re-established the range of single cards and sharpened the offer of wrap and tags.

The challenge was to find ways of dealing with an increasingly competitive marketplace.

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