Woolco “Die gute Schallplatte” · Pre-war and wartime record sleeves up to 1945

Woolco: “Die gute Schallplatte mit dem volkstümlichen Repertoire”

The sleeve of Woolco, the cheap record label sold in Woolworth’s German stores.

Dating at a glance

Printed: c. 1929 – 1935
In use: The life of the label, 1929 to about 1935
Confidence: Medium-high
Basis: The documented life of the Woolco label

The sleeve

Tan paper printed in brown: Woolco in large outlined script across the top and Die gute Schallplatte mit dem volkstümlichen Repertoire (“the good record with the popular repertoire”) below the hole. No company name, address or printer’s imprint is visible.

Simon reports that the back is blank or the same as the front, so only the printed face was photographed.

Tan Woolco sleeve printed in brown with large Woolco script and the words Die gute Schallplatte mit dem volkstümlichen Repertoire. — Simon’s sleeve. Select the image for a larger view.

The evidence

DocumentedA short-lived store label. Woolco was Woolworth’s German budget label, sold only in its stores from 1929 to 1935, first on small 17 cm records and later on 20 cm records. The recordings came mostly from Kristall (The 78 rpm Club). Another discography lists Woolco issues from 1931 to 1935.
DocumentedDisappeared in the early 1930s. Reinhard Otto’s IASA paper says the store labels Derby, Hertie and Woolco disappeared early in the 1930s.
InferredSo, about 1929–1935. We have not measured Simon’s sleeve, so we cannot say which record size it was made for.

Sources

The 78 rpm Club, Woolco: https://78rpm.club/record-labels/woolco/
musiktiteldb, Woolco (D) label list (German): http://musiktiteldb.de/Label/Woolco_00.html
Reinhard Otto, IASA 2003 (PDF, German): https://iasa-online.de/files/2003_Babelsberg.pdf

What we could not find

The sleeve’s size, and so whether it held a 17 cm or a 20 cm record.
A dated example.

Researched 12 November 2026 from Simon’s photographs of that evening.