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-c-For 50 years the "five-and-ten-cent store" has occupied a position of increasing stability in the merchandising scheme, hence has figured in joke and song ("I Found a Million Dollar Baby in a 5 & 10-c- Store"). But last week Hubert Templeton Parson, president of F. W. Woolworth Co., said that his red-fronted emporiums may become "5, 10 & 20-c- Stores." The experiment will be tried first in the West and South, then, if successful, will become permanent policy in the 1,905 Woolworth stores. Reason for the change was thought to be that lower commodity prices make available at 20-c- many articles formerly costing around 50-c-, hence enable Woolworth to compete more with department stores. The 20-c- articles will be mostly in china and glassware. The move will throw Woolworth into much hotter competition with the chains which have hitherto resembled Woolworth stores but have not had a 10-c- limit, including S. S. Kresge, S. H. Kress, McLellan, F. & W. Grand-Silver, W. T. Grant and Schulte-United Stores.

An ancient Manhattan department store, James A. Hearn & Son, founded in 1827, changed hands last week. Hearn's used to be on Canal Street, has been on 14th Street and Fifth Avenue since 1879. Prices low, aisles crowded, it retains the air of an old fashioned department store.

Control of the store was bought by bankers and cotton textile concerns headed by Fred A. Powdrell who became treasurer. Mr. Powdrell is chairman of the executive committee of the McLellan Stores Co., and treasurer of Powdrell & Alexander, large curtain goods manufacturer. Outstanding installment accounts were given as the reason Hearn's needed new capital. Mr. Powdrell said up to $1,000,000 will be put into the store by his group.

L. P. Hollander Co., Inc., smart ladies tailors of Boston and Manhattan, last week went into voluntary bankruptcy. In 1930 the company remodeled its Boston building, opened a new Manhattan store, said it was contributing towards restoring prosperity.

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