Piggly Wiggly Corporation, established by Saunders when he opened the first store in Memphis, secured the self-service format and issued franchises to hundreds of grocery retailers for the operation of Piggly Wiggly stores. There were shopping baskets, open shelves and no clerks to shop for the customer, something that had never been tried before. Operating under the unusual name Piggly Wiggly, it was unlike any other grocery store of that time. Saunders, a flamboyant and innovative man, noticed that this method resulted in wasted time and expense, so he came up with an unheard-of solution that would revolutionize the entire grocery industry: He developed a way for shoppers to serve themselves.ĭespite predictions that this novel idea would fail, Saunders’ first store opened Septemat 79 Jefferson Street in Memphis. In grocery stores of that time, shoppers presented their orders to clerks who gathered the goods from the store shelves.
Piggly Wiggly was founded in Memphis, Tenn. It holds the distinction as America’s first true self-service grocery store. The demise of the Piggly Wiggly brand means the loss of a historic icon in the grocery business in America., The Starkville prescriptions have been transferred to the CVS location on Highway 12 while the Columbus store’s prescriptions have been transferred to the Rite Aid pharmacy on Alabama St. The purchase price was not disclosed.Īlthough Belle Food officials said no regular employees are likely to be laid off, the company has closed 16 pharmacies in the stores, including those at the Starkville Piggly Wiggly and the Columbus Southern Family Market. Belle Foods, which operates out of Birmingham, Ala., began the process of buying the 57 stores from C&S Distributors and Southern Family Markets in February. All 57 of the stores will undergo a complete make-over and will operate under the Belle Foods name. The purchase will include the Piggly Wiggly store in Starkville and the Southern Family Market store in Columbus.
Belle Foods, which recently purchased 57 grocery stores across the Southeast – including the remaining Piggy Wiggly franchises – will mean an end to the historic brand that ushered in the modern supermarket concept 96 years ago.
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