Woolworth’s Branded Chocolate Bars from Canada!

Several times here on this site I’ve reminisced about visiting my hometown Woolworth’s store while growing up and how those are some of my most vivid childhood candy memories.  I even dedicated a post to my love of Woolworth’s and my candy past with it.  In that piece I included examples of Woolworth’s branded candy packaging for bulk, unaware that (up in Canada at least) Woolworth’s got the full-on chocolate bar treatment.

My childhood Woolworth’s would eventually disappear and sadly I’ve never been able to track down any photos from inside the store.  I do have a postcard from my hometown which featured our store prominently and that’s where I pulled the background of today’s title image from.  Here’s a better look at the storefront:

My Childhood Woolworth’s Columbus Nebraska – Circa 1960’s

Though that image is from the 1960’s, the store still looked remarkably similar when I would candy shop there as a kid and young teenager, grabbing classics like Gobstoppers and Bazooka as well as memorable one-offs like Dip-It Candy.

Beyond the postcard, I’ve also enjoyed tracking down at least one holiday candy newspaper ad for Woolworth’s.

I was excited last year to write about Woolworth’s-branded bulk cellophane candy packages and I had assumed that was all there was to be uncovered with regard to official Woolworth’s candy packaging:

Woolworth’s – cellophane candy bag – old stock – 1970’s

As it turned out there was more to be discovered because up in Canada at least two different Woolworth’s chocolate bars were released over the years.  The earliest example in my collection coincides with the store’s 100th Anniversary in 1979:

Canada – Woolworth 100 Year Anniversary candy bar wrapper – 1979

Woolworth’s followed that Anniversary offering just a few years later with this (might this be for Woolworth’s sister store, Woolco?):

Canada – Woolworth – Chocolate and Almonds – candy bar wrapper – 1980’s

[Chocolate and almonds, one of my favorite confectionery combinations!]

It’s especially fun for me to tie my current hobby of candy package collecting directly to a store that was important in creating so many of my earliest candy memories.  With that in mind, I hope you enjoyed seeing these unusual Woolworth’s branded bar wrappers.

And that’s everything I’ve got to report on the subject for now.   But who knows… there could be a whole world of Woolworth’s candy packaging out there just waiting to be found.  I’m certainly going to be keeping my eyes peeled.

See you next time!