Sun Wing Wo & Company

Sun Wing Wo and Company. . , The Sun Wing Wo Company was one of the first general merchandise stores in the original Chinatown. The owner, Ow Bue Lew opened its doors in 1891. The store remained in business on this site until it was relocated to Broadway in 1948. , Among the first set of tenants to inhabit the Garnier Block, Sun Wing Wo saw the earliest days of the old Chinatown and witnessed generations of changes and diversity. And as one of the last to depart, Sun Wing Wo also saw the final removal of the original Chinese community from the Plaza area. , Sun Wing Wo was a traditional Chinese store that sold a large variety of Chinese products and grocery items imported from China. The store also carried American-made supplies including furniture. It served not only the Chinatown residents but a diverse group of customers including European, Japanese, and Mexican Americans who came to the store for Chinese goods and rattan furniture. The Sun Wing Wo Company once had over twenty partners. Most of the partners were either relatives or village compatriots of the Lew family. It was a place for the family members who worked in farms, restaurants, laundries and private homes outside of Chinatown to spend the weekend after a hard week of work. As an agent for the Bank of Canton in San Francisco, the firm became a communication center for many early Chinese pioneers by providing local news and transmitting money and letters to their relatives in China.