The Buffums chain began in 1904, when two brothers from Illinois, Charles A. and Edwin E. Buffum, bought the Schilling Bros.
In 1904, with his brother, Edwin E. Buffum, he moved to Long Beach, California and purchased a store that would grow into Buffum's Department Stores chain.
Buffum's | Charles Abel Buffum | Buffum's Department Stores |
Her father, Charles Abel Buffum (later mayor 1921-1924), and her uncle, Edwin, opened the first of what would become the 16-store chain of Buffum's department stores.
It was built in 1973 and was renovated in 1994, and originally anchored by four major department stores: The Broadway, Buffum's, JCPenney, and Sears.