How Piggly Wiggly Paved The Way For Modern Grocery Stores

Piggly Wiggly has, in recent years, downsized into more of a local grocery store; It has around 500 stores in just 18 states, down from its peak of over 2,600 stores in the 1930s. Its supermarkets are largely clustered in the South, so, if you live in other areas of the country, you may not even be familiar with Piggly Wiggly. And, yet, every time you stroll into your grocer of choice — even just to simply choose a perfectly ripe avocado — you are partaking of an experience that would not be possible without the legacy of the cheekily-named market.

Piggly Wiggly is the grandparent of the modern grocery store because the chain pioneered the concept of self-serve food shopping. Before Piggly Wiggly came along in 1916, customers placed their grocery orders with a clerk, who then fetched all the items from store shelves. Now, grocery stores play music to make you spend more, among other marketing tactics, but back then, there was no browsing of specials or being lulled into impulse buying anything. The turn of the 20th century was a much different time, and Piggly Wiggly's founder took a major risk by changing the paradigm.

When Piggly Wiggly founder, Clarence Saunders, set about opening a grocery store in Memphis, Tennessee, people told him he was destined to fail. Consumers were used to having their lists shopped for them. But Saunders thought the method wasted valuable time and money. Why, he wondered, couldn't shoppers simply serve themselves?

So Saunders equipped the first Piggly Wiggly with open shelves and shopping baskets, and let his customers have at it. The aisles of the store were arranged in a circle — which predated more modern strategic changes to grocery store layouts that maximize shopper interest — and items were easy to see and reach. A handful of clerks were on hand to assist shoppers if needed, but Saunders placed his faith in his customers' discretion and freedom of choice. Despite all the naysayers, the self-serve model of grocery shopping was a huge hit. Next time you are browsing the grocery store for something yummy, remember the fact that you owe your browsing power to Piggly Wiggly, the store with the funny name.