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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. provide shopping carts for customers, starting in 1937 in Oklahoma.The original Piggly Wiggly Store, Memphis, Tennessee, 1918 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 store's 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 for the operation of 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 a greater cost and higher prices. Instead, a customer would give a list of items to a clerk, who would then go through the store, gathering them. 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 own 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