Wise Office Supply to leave the square, set for move to South Brundidge Street

Published 9:49 pm Thursday, August 12, 2010

A longtime fixture of Troy’s downtown area will soon be on the move.

Wise Office Supply will be moving from its location at 68 West Court Square to a new home at Brundidge Street Plaza near Townsend Building Supply.

Wise Office Supply has been a fixture on the square since T.J. Wise, the original owner, first opened its door in 1956.

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However, it has not always been located at 68 West Court Square. Wise Office Supply moved from 76 West Court Square, the current home of Alabama-Florida Real Estate, in the mid 1960s, and has been there ever since.

But, co-owner Layne Wise said the moving of the business from the square to South Brundidge Plaza will make the day-to-day operations easier.

“We’ll be there in the Brundidge St. plaza where we have our warehouse,” Wise said. “The business has just grown to the point where it is big enough now to have the warehouse and the office together. We’re not leaving because we’re mad at anybody on the square or anything like that, but being in this location has just gotten hard on us with our trucks.”

Wise said the business has grown to a point where it is difficult to load and unload trucks on the square.

“Our trucks come nightly, whereas 10 years ago, they came monthly,” Wise said. “Sometimes we’ll have 3 or 4 trucks in a day, and we have to unload right there in the street, which is tough. But, the new location will have a loading dock, so that will make things easier for us. We hate to leave, but this is just easier for us.”

While the location may be changing, Wise Office Supply will remain a family-owned business, just as it has since it opened.

T.J. Wise passed away in 2000, but his sons Layne and Lyle Wise now co-own the business they have both worked in for 30-plus years.

Their, sister Lisa Wise came on board to serve as bookkeeper roughly 3 years ago, and said her feelings on moving were mixed.

“It’s kind of bittersweet because it’ll be great to have more room and more furniture in the new location, but it’s also very hard to leave emotionally,” she said.

The first day of business at the new location will be August 23, but some employees will remain at the old location to help sell used office equipment.

“We’ll be selling all our used office equipment here, like the shelves and some of the desks, and it’ll be cash and carry for those. We’ll have somebody at the old location the last week of August in case people want to come pick those items up.”

In addition to the Wises, Wise Office Supply also employs Elizabeth McMillan as a customer service specialist and Charles Walker for delivery.