Five & Dime Lofts

Entrance to The Lofts at the Five & Dime in Clarksdale, Mississippi.

In Clarksdale’s historic downtown Arts & Culture District

(This is via the Five & Dime Lofts website. Check it out, or contact the lofts at 662-510-9604.)

Welcome to the Lofts at the Five & Dime. Located in the historic Woolworth building in downtown Clarksdale, the Lofts at the Five & Dime is a hotel offering apartment-style accommodations that blend modern style and amenities with traditional Southern charm and comforts.

Centrally located in downtown Clarksdale, Mississippi, the Lofts at the Five & Dime offer overnight accommodations in a small town setting with modern conveniences and amenities. Our building is a two story walk-up (no elevators), and a smoke-free facility. The building and the lofts are secure, keyless entries with security cameras outside and in the stairs and hallways leading to the lofts.

Each loft has 1 bedroom, 1-1/2 bathrooms, a full kitchen and great room. The full size bathrooms have a large marble shower; there is a half bathroom in the hallway. The bedrooms have a king size bed and a pull-out queen size sleeper sofa in the living rooms. Flat-screen TVs are in the living rooms and bedrooms. Housekeeping services are included and our manager is available during daytime hours (and most evenings as well). Coffee is provided and the refrigerator is stocked with complimentary soft drinks and bottled water. Each loft has a washer/dryer, iron/ironing board and a hairdryer; we also provide free wi-fi.

The Lofts at the Five and Dime, Clarksdale, MS Hotels and Lodging

The F.W. Woolworth building in Clarksdale, Mississippi in 1955.

Five & Dime Lofts History

The F.W. Woolworth store was one of the oldest stores in downtown Clarksdale, having opened in 1924 at 228 Yazoo Avenue. While Clarksdale has never had a so-called “Main Street,” Yazoo Avenue served as the main street for variety, department and clothing stores. In 1955, the 200 block of Yazoo Avenue was packed with more than a dozen such stores, with the Woolworth building serving as the anchor on the northeast corner.

The Lofts at the Five and Dime On October 25, 1955 — the eve of the new store’s opening at 207 Yazoo — the entire front page of section two of the Clarksdale Press Register was devoted to the new store, citing the “handsome new $200,000 F.W. Woolworth store in the heart of downtown Clarksdale,” as being “one of the most modern in the vast Woolworth chain.” The new building was a classic example of the modern, international style of architecture, which was popular at the time. One of the modern additions to the new store was the 27-stool lunch counter, a signature component of Woolworth stores since the 1940s. The Woolworth lunch counter served as a common meeting place, but Woolworth lunch counters will be long remembered as the site of civil-rights sit-ins in 1960.

Social Change (a long time coming)

In Clarksdale, the wheels of change turned much more slowly. The N.A.A.C.P.’s Coahoma County Youth Council members started “demonstrating” at Walgreen’s and Woolworth’s during the spring of 1960. No “sit-ins” were permitted since, after consulting the N.A.A.C.P. national office, it was agreed that the youth didn’t have enough experience, planning or resources to properly conduct a sit-in. A group of youths held a “shopping tour,” and while at Woolworth’s, their appearance drew comments, stares and, eventually, police attention. By late 1963, the Clarksdale Woolworth’s had shut down its lunch counter, rather than integrate.

The Woolworth building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in March, 2009, and the Lofts at the Five & Dime — which are housed in the upper level — opened in 2010.

The Woolworth building represents the heyday of commercial prosperity and development in downtown Clarksdale, serving as a reminder of what downtown Clarksdale once was and is working to become again.