Inventing Self-Service Shopping

The Piggly Wiggly franchise was founded in Memphis, Tennessee in 1916 by Clarence Saunders. His store concept was the original self-service "super" market. Although the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (later simply A&P) preceded Piggly Wiggly by some 46 years, customers needing groceries at A&P would hand their shopping list over to a clerk who would fill the order from the shelves and hand shoppers a bag full of their items. Piggly Wiggly turned that routine on its head by establishing the model for the modern market. 

Customers entered the store through a turnstile, handed a shopping basket, and were left to wander the aisles to fill their carts with whatever products caught their eye. The employees wore uniforms and the store price-marked items from merchandise that was organized into departments. Instantly, packaging and brand recognition became important to companies and consumers alike. By 1930, markets across the country adopted Saunder's concept. In 1937, Piggly Wiggly's Oklahoma branch became the first company to provide shopping carts for customers. Certain franchises had a pig mascot that would attract attention by welcoming customers approaching the store. Piggly Wiggly was among the first to develop a loyalty card discount membership program similar to many other national merchants. 

Through a series of questionable stock transactions, Saunders lost control of the company in 1922. By 1928, the Kroger chain purchased a controlling interest in Piggly Wiggly Corporation, buying approximately 400 franchised Piggly Wiggly stores, mostly in the Midwest. Near this time, Safeway acquired most of the West Coast Piggly Wiggly stores. After additional buyouts and selloffs, those Piggly Wigglys were absorbed into the chain's operation. Today, the Piggly Wiggly headquarters is in Keene, New Hampshire, operating over 500 stores in 18 states, mostly in smaller communities in the southeast. 

Note: Clarence Saunders was reluctant to explain the origin of the company's name, leaving it to consumers and the business world to conjure up their own legends. The original Memphis store is pictured above in 1916.