Wise Company

The Wise Company

Company type	Private
Industry	Retail (department store)
Founded	1894
Founder	W. H. ("Herb") Wise
Defunct	1934
Headquarters	Long Beach, California , United States
Products	Dry goods, linens, furniture

Photograph of the Wise Company store in 1925

Illustration depicting the Wise Company store as it appeared in 1925

Long Beach circa 1930. The Wise Company’s 1929 building is visible near the left edge, close to the bottom, characterized by its plain square design topped with two square towers.

The Wise Company (also known as The Wise Co. or The Wise Store) was a department store located in Long Beach, California, established in the early twentieth century by W. H. ("Herb") Wise.

In 1894, Wise launched a grocery business at the intersection of Cherry Avenue and Third Street in Long Beach. On July 28, 1902, he inaugurated "The Cash Store" grocery within a 27-by-75-foot (approximately 2,200 sq ft (200 m²)) space that was leased for $30 monthly at Pine and First streets—this location later became the Bank of Italy site. Notably, Wise pioneered grocery delivery by motor vehicle in Southern California, utilizing an early model Oldsmobile "one-lunger". Gradually, Wise expanded his merchandise to include dry goods while discontinuing the grocery segment to focus solely on dry goods.

The business relocated multiple times to accommodate growth: in 1906 it moved to 333 Pine Avenue between Third and Fourth streets (a site later occupied by Woolworth). At this stage, The Cash Store Co. broadened its inventory to include linens and furniture. By 1911, Wise relocated again to a larger venue on Broadway west of Pine, where operations continued until December 2, 1925. In 1915, the store’s size was doubled to accommodate increasing business.

1925 store

In 1925, Wise acquired The Wall Company department store and rebranded The Cash Store Co. as The Wise Company. Subsequently, on December 3 of that year, the company unveiled a new facility spanning 57,000 sq ft (5,300 m²) at 113-123 Broadway (now demolished), constructed at an estimated cost of $500,000 (Template:Usdcy). The building’s architect was W. Horace Austin, who also designed the competitor Buffums’ stores in 1912 and their expansion in 1924. The Long Beach Press-Telegram praised the new structure as "splendid" and ranked it among "the finest department stores on the Southern California Coast." Within a few years, the Wise Company would once again captivate Long Beach and contribute further to local civic pride.

1929 Building

On October 5, 1929, a new six-story structure opened at 216 Pine Avenue, positioned immediately west of the 1925 Wise Co. store at the northeast corner of Broadway. Designed in the Art Deco style, this building featured approximately 150 feet of frontage on both Pine Avenue and Broadway, encompassing a total floor space of around 135,000 square feet. Of this area, four floors—equating to about 90,000 square feet—were allocated for retail purposes.

This new construction complemented and expanded upon the existing Wise Co. building established just four years earlier in 1925. Within the Wise Co. premises, a Van de Kamp's Holland Dutch Bakery outlet was also in operation.

Closing and epilogue

Wise retired and closed his department store in 1934, after which the building largely remained vacant for many years. Montgomery Ward occupied the eastern section of the store (the 1925 portion) for a period but ceased operations there in 1958.

A longstanding "blot on Downtown Long Beach"

For several decades, Buffums department store along with the Independent and the Press-Telegram newspapers regarded the prominently underutilized building as detrimental to the economic vitality of Downtown Long Beach’s retail district and central business area.

In 1960, Buffums expressed their concerns as follows:

Throughout our 56 years at the southwest corner of Pine and Broadway, we have enjoyed excellent neighbors—except for one notable exception: the Wise Building since our esteemed colleague and competitor Herb Wise retired from retailing some 26 years ago. The prolonged neglect and poor use of this distinguished property bearing his name over the last twenty-five years represent a significant waste and an eyesore to all of Downtown Long Beach.

Syndicate efforts to acquire control

At that time, ownership of the building was split: Claude John held the eastern (1925) section while National Dollar Stores owned the western (1929) portion. John sold his share to Belcher Investments, which then partnered with Buffums and the two newspapers to form a syndicate. This group secured an option agreement with National Dollar Stores that would grant them control over the western section if they succeeded in attracting a major retail anchor tenant. Despite investing $81,105 by April 1960, they were unable to secure such a tenant.

By then, retail expansion had largely shifted toward suburban areas. Notably, Lakewood Center had opened in 1952 at Long Beach’s northern boundary. May Company California—operator of Downtown Los Angeles’ largest department store occupying an entire city block with over one million square feet—had launched a 347,000-square-foot branch at Lakewood, which was recognized as the largest suburban department store globally at that time. This single May Company Lakewood location surpassed Downtown Long Beach’s Buffums store in size—a store that had once been a symbol of civic pride during the early twentieth century.

Library proposal

In June 1960, voters in Long Beach considered Measure C, which proposed locating a new library within the Wise Building. Strong backing for this plan came from Buffums. An alternative plan involved Long Beach issuing bonds to fund the construction of a new library facility at the Long Beach Civic Center, a choice that ultimately prevailed over the Wise Building proposal.

Present condition

The structure remains standing in Downtown Long Beach, having undergone a modernization that includes a glass and steel exterior. The original two square towers that once crowned the building have been removed.

Herb Wise

Alongside expanding and managing his retail enterprise, W. H. "Herb" Wise held leadership roles as president of both the Long Beach Merchants' Association and its Rotary Club.

Photographs of the 1929 structure

• "The Wise Co. Building in 1932 (7 views)". California State Library. The Mott Studios. 1932. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
• "Wise Building, Long Beach — Horace Austin, Architect". Architectural Digest. 8 (2). 1931. Retrieved 4 December 2023.

About The Wise Co.

• Addison, Brian (4 April 2019). "Long Beach Lost: Downtown's 'Gray Ghost,' the Art Deco masterpiece known as the Wise Building". the Hi-lo. Retrieved 4 December 2023.