Buffums, originally written as Buffums' with an apostrophe, was a chain of upscale department stores, headquartered in Long Beach, California. The Buffums chain began in 1904, when two brothers from Illinois, Charles A. and Edwin E. Buffum, bought the Schilling Bros. Mercantile Store in Long Beach. The chain started as an old-fashioned general store and it grew slowly over the years to a total of 16 stores in Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego counties at the time of its closure in 1990. Over the years, the stores gained a reputation as the “Grand Dame” of department stores in the area. The stores’ interiors were known for large chandeliers and other upscale touches. The chain marketed itself as “Buffums Specialty Store,” in an attempt to differentiate itself from other local chains, including The Broadway and Bullock's, and the national stores such as May Co. and Robinson’s. Its most famous advertising line, “I’ve been to Buffums,” was used in newspaper and television advertisements during the 1970s and '80s. It was also known for its “Bag-A-Bargain” promotion that placed actual shopping bags in local newspapers. Shoppers were to take the bag to a Buffums location and were given a discount on merchandise that would “fit” into the bag. Many of the stores had restaurants with famous recipes and bars. Like other local department stores of the era, Buffums was challenged by old-fashioned business models, changing consumer tastes, and the arrival of Seattle-based retailer Nordstrom. The chain was bought in the 1970s by the Australian-based David Jones Ltd, which looked to sell the struggling chain in the 1980s. By the time of the sale it had become part of Adelaide Steamship, an Australian conglomerate, who never found a buyer. In a last-ditch effort to modernize, Buffums installed new point-of-sale registers in all stores in 1990, only to enter liquidation following the 1990 Christmas shopping season.
Stores
Flagship
In 1912, the Mercantile Company became Buffums' and left its quarters at 100 W. Broadway. Buffums' Downtown flagship grew as follows:
1912: the first building, a new 3-story store on Pine at Broadway, opened
1924: added a new six-story building; the “New Buffums’” opened in stages in early May, 1924
1964: added 14,000 sq. ft., expanded to occupy the full block of Broadway between Pine and Pacific, for a total of 180,000 sq. ft. of floor space in the Downtown flagship complex. The new space housed a full Interior Design and Home Furnishings area as a "Sportsman's Shop".
The store competed downtown with smaller, local Long Beach department stores like Marti and Wise Cos. as well as Sears and Ward's, all of which opened large new stores downtown in 1928-9. In the early 1950s Lakewood Center would provide competition with May Company California and Los Altos Center, with The Broadway for the suburban shopper. The complex was sold in 1981 and was demolished in 1985 to create office space (as of 2020 a WeWork, and Buffums moved its Long Beach store operation and headquarters to the nearby Long Beach Plaza mall when it opened in 1982.
