Wise Stores was a department store chain located in Eastern Canada. It was founded in 1930 in Montreal by Alex Wise.[1]
By October 1988, the company had 28 stores and acquired 15 Continental outlets in eastern Quebec, New Brunswick and Ontario to bring to 43 the total number of Wise locations.[2]
In 1992, the company acquired the even longer running and competitor Peoples department stores from British retailer Marks & Spencer.[1] Under the terms of the purchase, the Wise and Peoples chains could not completely merge until the outstanding balance owed to Marks & Spencer for the transaction had completely been paid in full.[3] Because of this restriction, Peoples was instead operated as a subsidiary of Wise.[4]