![]() In November 1922, Saunders attempted a squeeze on the substantial short interest in the stock, running the share price up from 40 to 120 and profiting by millions on paper. ![]() At its peak in 1932, the company operated 2,660 stores and posted annual sales in excess of $180 million. The success of Piggly Wiggly was phenomenal, and other independent and chain grocery stores changed to self-service in the 1920s and 1930s. In 1937, Piggly Wiggly became the first company to provide shopping carts for customers, in their Oklahoma branch they were also the first company to use point of sale lanes for payment. Instantly, packaging and brand recognition became important to companies and consumers alike. The customers selected merchandise as they continued through the maze to the cashier. Customers at Piggly Wiggly entered the store through a turnstile and walked through four aisles to view the 605 items sold in packages and organized into departments. The concept of the "self-serving store" was patented by Saunders in 1917. Piggly Wiggly Corporation secured the self-service format and issued franchises to hundreds of grocery retailers to operate its stores. Others were initially experimenting with this format, which came to be known as a "groceteria", reminding people of cafeterias, another relatively new, self-service idea. Losses due to easier shoplifting were more than offset by profits from increased impulse purchasing. Piggly Wiggly introduced the innovation of allowing customers to go through the store, gathering their goods, thus cutting costs and lowering prices. This created greater costs and higher prices. ![]() Instead, a customer would give a list of items to a clerk, who would then collect them throughout the store. A replica of the original store has been constructed in the Memphis Pink Palace Museum and Planetarium, a mansion that Saunders built as his private residence, which was later sold to the city.Īt the time of its founding, grocery stores did not allow customers to gather their goods. It was founded on Septem (although it did not open until five days later due to delays in construction), at 79 Jefferson Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, by Clarence Saunders. Stores in South Carolina and Alabama have also recently closed, raising concerns about food deserts.Piggly Wiggly was the first self-service grocery store. But, like other supermarkets, the franchise has taken a hit during the pandemic from labor shortages. Piggly Wiggly is one of the oldest grocery store chains in the United States. “The Piggly Wiggly design is the basic design of every convenience store,” said Freeman. You should just put the products out in reach of the customers,'” he said.Īnother innovation was putting price tags on items for sale in the store. “Saunders thought, ‘Well you don’t need all these clerks to run a grocery store. Saunders changed the way stores did business, Freeman said. “When you went to a store, you called out your order to a clerk, and a clerk - listening to you - gathered what you wanted and then you paid,” said Mike Freeman, who has written about the rise and fall of Piggly Wiggly founder Clarence Saunders. In those days, people didn’t used to pick up their own items in a store. The first Piggly Wiggly opened in 1916 in Memphis. One developer has studied putting apartments and retail space there. Sutton said she sees Piggly Wiggly as the latest victim of the city’s changing landscape. “Probably have to catch a bus to go down to Kroger or Walmart, or pay somebody to take you,” she said. Now, she and other tenants are unsure how they’ll get by. She went to the Piggly Wiggly about three times a day on her motorized wheelchair, she said. Sutton lives two blocks away from the store that closed at a public housing building for the elderly and people with disabilities. The store closing is especially tough for Gwendolyn Sutton, who has a hard time walking. The store filled a critical need for some residents who don’t have easy access to groceries. Although the chain has two more locations in Nashville and hundreds across the country, community members said the closure feels personal. ![]() This Piggly Wiggly closed its doors for good in April. “Everybody down here is on a first-name basis,” Blair said. In the last week that the Piggly Wiggly near Nashville’s downtown was open, Ken Blair, a regular, said the store reminded him of the small mom-and-pop shops he used to go to.
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