The chain was founded by four brothers, Stephan, Lawrence, Marvin, and Douglas Jemal, in New York City in 1977.

In 1996, the company threatened legal action against the Major League Soccer franchise the Kansas City Wiz, who were renamed the Wizards as a response.

the firm's revenues were $1.4 billion, with 2,000 employees, operating 94 stores in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maryland, and Massachusetts.

[7] In 1997 through 1998, Mono Puff would occasionally perform a song called "I Beat the Wiz", used to introduce the members of the band.

[8] In the 2013 film The Wolf of Wall Street, an unemployed Jordan Belfort sees a classified ad for a stockboy opening at Nobody Beats the Wiz and thinks that is a way to get hired as a salesman from the inside, but is dissuaded by his wife.