Five and Dime General Store is about to open the seventh store of the Santa Fe-based retail chain, this one in early June in Charleston, S.C.

In addition to Santa Fe and Charleston, there are two stores in San Antonio, Texas; and one each in San Diego, Calif.; Monterey, Calif.; and Branson, Mo.

The company name is UTBW Inc., which stands for Used To Be Woolworth, a reference to the Santa Fe F.W. Woolworth that closed in 1997 after first opening here in 1935.

The new chain has already made a mark for itself despite the weak economy and the difficulties experienced by many retailers around the country.

"The stores are all profitable,'' said Mike Collins, the CEO of the business. He was manager of the Santa Fe F.W. Woolworth store when it closed.

Earl Potter, a retired Santa Fe attorney, and Deborah Potter, Earl's wife, are also on the board of directors. It was Deborah Potter who read about the Woolworth closing and urged her husband to do something about it.

Collins was all ears when it came to the Potters' plan to "save" the Santa Fe Woolworth by creating a new retail chain.

"I was toying with the idea of opening a new store to replace the Santa Fe Woolworth when Earl approached me," Collins said.

"We met, and we hit it off. It seemed to make sense for our team to join with them" to start a new business.

Now, with a growing number of stores all around the country, "I'm on the road a lot," Collins said. "I follow up on the stores."

How much can the company grow?

"It just depends on the market," Earl Potter said. "We'll see where the company wants to go and the markets that exist. We're enjoying ourselves, and as long as we can do that, we'll keep going."

Some companies spend more for overhead than they should, but that's not a problem for UTBW.

"We run the entire company out of Mike's 10-by-12 office in the basement of the Santa Fe Five and Dime," Potter said. "We're not into high overhead and expensive consultants."

And Collins doesn't mind the frequent travel. "All the stores are in nice places to visit, and I like working with managers."

Collins said he may eventually let someone else handle the stores, which would allow him to concentrate on the corporate side of the business.

The Five and Dimes are all in busy tourist areas and sell a variety of goods in stores with shelves stacked to the ceiling with all kinds of merchandise.

As the company's website puts it, "Five and Dime stores carry souvenirs, cold drinks, band-aids, sunglasses, snacks, toys, non-prescription drugs, sunscreen, cosmetics, office supplies, school supplies, batteries, post cards, tote bags, hats, tourist items, clothing items, travel items and everyday convenience store necessities."

Porter added: "We adjust the mix based on the places we are in. We're very sensitive to that. We carry a base of items for locals at very competitive prices."

And in San Antonio, the busiest stores, "our huge best-seller is a pink cowboy hat," Potter said, adding that the hat with flashing lights goes for $9.99, while the one without the lights costs $7.99.

"Believe it or not," he laughed.

A best-seller in Santa Fe is the venerable Frito pie. But don't look for it if you're on the road — it's a Santa Fe favorite and doesn't appear in the Five and Dime stores in any other place.

There's still a recession out there, which means a shortage of jobs, making it easy to find staff for the stores. "When we opened the San Diego store, more than 300 people showed for the 12 to 18 positions," Collins said.

"And they were well qualified, too."

Contact Bob Quick at 986-3011 or bobquick@sfnewmexican.com.