Wise Stores

Wise
Industry Department store
Fate Bankruptcy
Founded 1930
Founder Alex Wise
Defunct 1995
Headquarters Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Wise Stores was a department store chain located in Eastern Canada. The company was founded in 1930 in Montreal by Alex Wise. [1] Wise Stores expanded their presence in the 1950s with the arrival of shopping centres. In 1992, the company acquired the even longer running and competitor Peoples department stores from British retailer Marks & Spencer.[1] In the 1990s, Wise also created a larger liquidation stores chain under the banner Wizmart.

In 1994, Wise shuttered 13 underperforming Wise and Wizmart stores.[2]

Wise went bankrupt in 1995.[3] Although the initial plan was to keep the Wise division as an ongoing business and to shut down the Peoples division, both chains finally closed down together. The original Wise store, located on St-Hubert street in Montreal, operated until the company's bankruptcy in 1995. Many of Wise's vacated spaces are now Hart Stores, a department store with a similar concept.[4]

Peoples logo

At their peak, Wise/Peoples had 128 stores doing $265 million in sales.

Locations

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References

  1. 1 2 https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/2184/index.do
  2. ↑ Wise Stores Inc closes 13 stores.
  3. ↑ https://www.ceic.gouv.qc.ca/fileadmin/Fichiers_client/centre_documentaire/358RP-2852.pdf
  4. ↑ http://www.ledevoir.com/economie/actualites-economiques/122137/portrait-hart-au-coeur-des-meres-de-famille

See also

Peoples Department Stores Inc. (Trustee of) v. Wise


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