Wise Company
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The Wise Company (stylized The Wise Co., a.k.a. The Wise Store) was a department store in Long Beach, California founded in the early 1900s by W. H. ("Herb") Wise.
In 1894 Wise opened a grocery store at Cherry Ave. and Third Street in Long Beach. On July 28, 1902, he opened "The Cash Store" grocery in 27-by-75-foot (2,200 sq ft (200 m2)) quarters that W. H. Wise rented for $30/month at Pine and First street (later the site of the Bank of Italy). Wise offered the first grocery delivery by motor vehicle in Southern California, an early Oldsmobile "one-lunger".[1] Wise added dry goods to his assortment, then removed groceries to deal exclusively in dry goods.
It moved to successively larger quarters: in 1906 to 333 Pine between Third and Fourth (later home to a Woolworth store).[2] The Cash Store Co. added linens and furniture to its lines. In 1911, Wise moved to a larger location again, this time to Broadway west of Pine, where it would do business until December 2, 1925. In 1915 Wise doubled the size of the 1911 store.[3]