
Name Īccording to the Piggly Wiggly web site, Saunders was "reluctant" to explain the origin of the company's name. Īccording to John Brooks, Piggly Wiggly's "greatly changed corporate structure.flourished into the 1960s," and hundreds of stores "operated under a franchise agreement with the Piggly Wiggly Corporation, of Jacksonville, Florida.

However, he remained interested in automated shopping, with which he experimented initially with the Keedoozle store until he died in 1953. Īfter losing control of Piggly Wiggly, Saunders had no further association with the company. In 1935, all 179 Canadian Piggly Wiggly were also sold to Canada Safeway, which merged with Sobeys in 2013. įollowing these events, the company was divided into strategic units and sold to regional grocery chains, including Kroger, Safeway, National Tea, and Colonial. Saunders reputedly lost $9 million in the attempted corner. The Stock Exchange Governors responded by deciding that a corner had been established in Piggly Wiggly and removed the stock from the Board, eventually forcing Saunders to turn over his assets to the banks that had financed his leveraged position. 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 (see Clarence Saunders), 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.

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. Piggly Wiggly was the first self-service grocery store. Historical marker near the site of the first Piggly Wiggly store in Memphis, Tennessee
