For more than 90 years, C&S has provided first-class warehousing and distribution services to its customers.
Piggly Wiggly, LLC is an affiliate of C&S Wholesale Grocers, Inc., ranked as the 10th largest privately held company in the nation by Forbes magazine in 2010. The company also provides the retailers with services such as support, marketing programs and a line of promotional items. It issues Piggly Wiggly franchises to qualified independent grocery retailers. Piggly Wiggly, LLC’s corporate headquarters are in Keene, N.H. All Piggly Wiggly stores are independently owned and operated, and are located primarily throughout the Southeast and as far north as Wisconsin. Today there are more than 600 Piggly Wiggly stores serving communities in 17 states. Saunders' creative genius was decades ahead of his time.
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Sadly, his death came just as the full impact of his better idea for grocery merchandising was becoming apparent. Until the time of his death in October, 1953, Saunders was developing plans for another automatic store system called the "Foodelectric." But the store, which was to be located two blocks from the first Piggly Wiggly store, never opened.Ĭlarence Saunders never fulfilled his dream of opening a truly automated store. Once again, Saunders had captured the country's attention with his latest venture although, mechanical failures eventually closed the store. Then, in 1937, Saunders designed and constructed a prototype of an automated store, which he called the "Keedoozle" (for "Key Does All"). Put employees in uniforms for cleaner, more sanitary food handling.ĭesign and use patented fixtures and equipment throughout the store.įranchise independent grocers to operate under the self-service method of food merchandising.Īfter Saunders' disassociation with Piggly Wiggly®, he opened a chain of stores which operated under the name "Clarence Saunders, Sole Owner of My Name Stores," and although it was successful, the Depression forced Saunders to close the chain. Use refrigerated cases to keep produce fresher longer. Give shoppers more for their food dollar through high volume/low profit margin retailing.įeature a full line of nationally advertised brands. In fact, many of the conveniences and services that American shoppers now enjoy were introduced first by Piggly Wiggly®. Piggly Wiggly's introduction of self-service grocery shopping truly revolutionized the grocery industry. Someone once asked him why he had chosen such an unusual name for his organization, and Saunders' reply was, "So people will ask that very question." He wanted and found a name that would be talked about and remembered.
One story is that he saw from a train window several little pigs struggling to get under a fence, and the rhyming name occurred to him then. Saunders' reason for choosing the intriguing name Piggly Wiggly® remains a mystery he was curiously reluctant to explain its origin. Piggly Wiggly Corporation continued to prosper as franchiser for the hundreds of independently owned grocery stores allowed to operate under the Piggly Wiggly name and during the next several decades, functioned successfully under various owners.
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The stock was successfully traded on the New York Stock Exchange for some time, but through a series of stock transactions in the early 1920s, Saunders lost control of Piggly Wiggly and had no further association with the company. The original Piggly Wiggly Corporation became owner of all Piggly Wiggly properties: the name, the patents, etc., and Saunders began issuing stock in the Corporation. 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 shelve and no clerks to shop for the customer-all unheard of! 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. Back then shoppers would present their grocery orders to clerks who then gathered the goods from the store shelves. Piggly Wiggly®, America’s first true self-service grocery store, was founded in Memphis, Tenn.
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