This article is about William Thomas Grant, for the stores see W. T. Grant

W. T. Grant

W. T. Grant or Grants was a United States-based chain of mass-merchandise stores founded by William Thomas Grant that operated from 1906 until 1976. The stores were generally of the variety store format located in downtowns.-History:...

 

William Thomas Grant (1876 - 1972) was the founder of a chain of U.S.

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 mass-merchandise stores bearing his name, W. T. Grant

W. T. Grant

W. T. Grant or Grants was a United States-based chain of mass-merchandise stores founded by William Thomas Grant that operated from 1906 until 1976. The stores were generally of the variety store format located in downtowns.-History:...

 and an important American philanthropist

Philanthropist

A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...

.

Biography

Grant was a born salesman with a will to succeed. He was born in Stevensville, Bradford County

Bradford County, Pennsylvania

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 62,761 people, 24,453 households, and 17,312 families residing in the county. The population density was 54 people per square mile . There were 28,664 housing units at an average density of 25 per square mile...

, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

 and his family moved to Massachusetts when he was approximately 5 years of age.

At age 7, he began his sales career by selling flower seeds. Years later,he wanted to sell people what they needed at prices they could afford, with only a modest profit. In 1906, at 30 years of age he opened his first "W. T. Grant Co. 25 Cent Store" in Lynn, Massachusetts

Lynn, Massachusetts

Lynn is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 89,050 at the 2000 census. An old industrial center, Lynn is home to Lynn Beach and Lynn Heritage State Park and is about north of downtown Boston.-17th century:...

.

His initial capital was $1,000 he had saved from his work as a salesman. This modest profit, coupled with a fast turnover of inventory, caused Grant's business to grow to almost $100 million a year in sales by 1936, the same year that he started the (http://www.wtgrantfoundation.org) W.T. Grant Foundation. The stores were generally of the dime store format located in downtowns.

Among his avocations were philosophy, painting, and local philanthropy. In his later years, William Thomas Grant was Chairman of the Board of the W.T. Grant Company, and President of the W.T. Grant Foundation, and later Chairman of the Board. He received honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from Bates College

Bates College

Bates College is a highly selective, private liberal arts college located in Lewiston, Maine, in the United States. and was most recently ranked 21st in the nation in the 2011 US News Best Liberal Arts Colleges rankings. The college was founded in 1855 by abolitionists...

 in Maine and the University of Miami

University of Miami

The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...

.

He retired from both the W. T. Grant Company and the Grant Foundation at age 90, yet still served in an honorary capacity until his death in 1972 at age 96. By that time his nationwide empire of W.T. Grant Stores had grown to almost 1,200, though it failed in 1975.