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| Piggly Wiggly | |
|---|---|
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| Type | Private |
| Founded | Memphis, Tennessee in 1916 |
| Headquarters | Keene, New Hampshire |
Piggly Wiggly is a supermarket chain in the in Midwest and South regions of the United States, run by Piggly Wiggly Corporation. The current company headquarters is in Keene, New Hampshire. Piggly Wiggly was founded in 1916, in Memphis, Tennessee, by Clarence Saunders. It was the first true self-service grocery store, a concept patented by Saunders in 1917. Because customers could choose their products directly, packaging and brand recognition became very important. Other grocery stores adopted the self-service format. At its peak, the company was operating 2,660 stores and posting sales of $180 million a year. However in the 1920s, the company was taken over and its stores sold to regional grocery store companies. At present over 600 independently owned stores operate in 17 states.
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History
Piggly Wiggly was the first true self-service grocery store.[1] It was founded on September 6, 1916, at 79 Jefferson Street in Memphis, Tennessee, by Clarence Saunders. A replica of the original store has been constructed in the Memphis Pink Palace Museum, which was originally a mansion that Saunders built as his private residence which was later sold to the city. Piggly Wiggly Corporation secured the self-service format and issued franchises to hundreds of grocery retailers for the operation of Piggly Wiggly stores. The concept of the "self-serving store" was patented by Saunders in 1917. Customers at Piggly Wiggly entered the store through turnstiles and walked through four aisles to view the store’s 605 items sold in packages and organized into departments. They selected their goods as they continued through the maze to a cashier. Instantly, packaging and brand recognition became important to companies and consumers. Without self-service, modern branded packaged goods would not exist. The success of Piggly Wiggly was phenomenal. At its peak, the company was operating 2,660 stores and posting sales of $180 million a year. So much so that other independent and chain grocery stores changed to self-service in the 1920-1930s. In the 1920s, however Saunders lost control of the company in a famous Wall Street bear raid, and his company was soon carved up by Merrill Lynch and sold off to regional grocery chains, including Kroger, Safeway, National Tea, and Colonial.[2] After losing control of Piggly Wiggly, Saunders had no further association with the company although he remained interested in the concept of automated shopping until his death in 1953.[3] The smaller Piggly Wiggly Corporation continued to prosper as franchiser for the hundreds of independently owned grocery stores franchised to operate under the Piggly Wiggly name and over the next several decades, functioned successfully under various owners.
Present company
There are presently over 600 independently owned and operated stores in 17 states. The company headquarters is in Keene, New Hampshire[4]. Some of the stores have formed a retailers' cooperative to manage distribution, while using the Piggly Wiggly name. See e.g. the Piggly Wiggly Alabama Distributing Company. Piggly Wiggly stores are found predominately in medium- to smaller-sized towns and can still be found in prevalence in many rural communities. In many areas (especially faster growing areas), competitive grocers have built bigger stores with larger selections and have tried targeting a more upscale clientele. This has forced the closure of many Piggly Wiggly stores and has given the chain a reputation in many areas as having lower quality products, limited selection, older run-down stores, and in some cases higher prices than the competition. In response, Piggly Wiggly has developed a discount card/member program similar to many other grocers.
See also
References
- U.S. Patent 1,242,872 - Self-serving store -- C. Saunders
Notes
- ^ See you at the Piggly Wiggly. Pink Palace Family of Museums. Retrieved on 2007-10-22.
- ^ Lebhar, Godfrey M. (1959) Chain Stores in America 1859-1959, Colonial Press: 31.
- ^ Piggly Wiggly: About Us. Piggly Wiggly LLC. Retrieved on 2007-10-22.
- ^ Piggly Wiggly Today. Piggly Wiggly. Retrieved on 2007-06-30.
