Wing on Wo & Co Survived All of Chinatown’s History

For over 130 years, Wing on Wo & Co has served Manhattan’s Chinatown while witnessing nearly every chapter of Chinese American history along the way.

Wing on Wo & Co is Manhattan Chinatown’s oldest operating storefront that has managed to survive every era of its history.

It was founded as a general store serving the city’s growing Chinese immigrant community in the 1890s by Walter Eng, who was a Chinese immigrant himself. Wing on Wo sold canned food, dried goods, and other necessities that connected immigrants to home during a time of intense anti-Chinese discrimination.

Just eight years before the store’s opening, the Chinese Exclusion Act became a federal law that banned most Chinese labor immigration and restricted Chinese communities for over 60 years. This made businesses like Wing on Wo & Co more than just a general store. It became a place of meaning and survival.

The shop evolved with Chinatown and moved to its current location at 26 Mott Street in 1925. An herbalist counter and roasting pit was added to the shop, giving locals more reasons to stop by. Then in 1964, third generation owner Nancy Seid shifted the shop’s focus towards Chinese porcelain, which would permanently shape Wing on Wo & Co’s identity because now they are best known for its handpicked porcelain goods.

In 2016, fifth generation owner Mei Lum stepped in to help the family business, running it alongside her family members Nancy & Shuck Seid after her grandparents considered selling the store. But instead of letting Chinatown’s oldest store disappear, she modernized it, while still staying true to its traditional Chinese roots. Lum has also founded the W.O.W. Project, a community focused on preserving Chinatown through youth programs, art, and activism.

Manhattan’s Chinatown endured exclusion laws, economic hardship, rising rents, 9/11 and most recently, the wave of anti-Asian hostility during COVID-19, but somehow Wing on Wo & Co remained standing through it all. Today the shop is still acting as a symbol of Chinese resilience, representing the generations of immigrants who managed to preserve the culture and community.