Clarence Saunders
Clarence Saunders (August 9, 1881 - October 14, 1953) was a grocer who first developed the modern retail sales model of self service. His ideas have had a massive influence on the development of the modern supermarket. Clarence Saunders worked for most of his life trying to develop a truly automated store, developing Piggly Wiggly, Keedoozle, and Foodelectric store concepts.
After leaving Clarksville, Tennessee, on September 6, 1916, Saunders launched the self-service revolution in America by opening the first self-service Piggly Wiggly store, at 79 Jefferson Street in Memphis, Tennessee, with its characteristic turnstile at the entrance. Customers paid cash and selected their own goods from the shelves.
The store incorporated shopping baskets, self-service branded products, and checkouts at the front. Removing unnecessary clerks, creating elaborate aisle displays, and rearranging the store to force customers to view all of the merchandise were just some of the characteristics of the early Piggly Wiggly stores. The concept of the "Self-Serving Store" was patented by Saunders in 1917.
Though this format of grocery market was drastically different from its competitors, the style became the standard for the modern supermarket, and in 1922 Piggly Wiggly had grown into 1,200 stores in 29 states. By 1932, the chain had grown to 2,660 stores doing over $180 million annually.
In the early 1920s Saunders began construction of a pink marble mansion in Memphis. Then, in early 1923, Merrill Lynch and other ‘bear’ interests on Wall Street tried to hammer down the price of Piggly Wiggly stock. It is alleged, Saunders took a train to New York City with one million dollars in cash in a small bag and bought Piggly Wiggly stock until he had orders for 196,000 of the 200,000 outstanding shares. Pressured by the ‘bears’, the New York Stock Exchange declared a ‘corner’ existed (see cornering the market), and gave the ‘bears’ five days rather than 24 hours to deliver the stock Saunders had bought. Saunders’ bank and his friends were pressured and the price was driven back down; Saunders was forced into bankruptcy and had to sell his stock at a loss. Afterwards, Saunders had no further association with the company.
Because of this financial reversal, Saunders was forced to sell his partly-completed Memphis mansion to the city. The mansion, nicknamed the Pink Palace eventually became the city's historical and natural history museum. Today, the Pink Palace includes a walk-through model of the first Piggly-Wiggly store, complete with 2¢ packets of Kellogg's Cornflakes and 8¢ cans of Campbell's Soup. Some of the grounds of the mansion were sold off to developers who built an upscale residential development, Chickasaw Gardens.
In a move reminiscent of that of J. Walter Scott’s in 1889, he went on to create the "Clarence Saunders Sole Owner of My Name Stores" chain, which went into bankruptcy during the Great Depression.
Clarence Saunders
Clarence Saunders (August 9, 1881 - October 14, 1953) was a grocer who first developed the modern retail sales model of self service. His ideas have had a massive influence on the development of the modern supermarket. Clarence Saunders worked for most of his life trying to develop a truly automated store, developing Piggly Wiggly, Keedoozle, and Foodelectric store concepts.
After leaving Clarksville, Tennessee, on September 6, 1916, Saunders launched the self-service revolution in America by opening the first self-service Piggly Wiggly store, at 79 Jefferson Street in Memphis, Tennessee, with its characteristic turnstile at the entrance. Customers paid cash and selected their own goods from the shelves.
The store incorporated shopping baskets, self-service branded products, and checkouts at the front. Removing unnecessary clerks, creating elaborate aisle displays, and rearranging the store to force customers to view all of the merchandise were just some of the characteristics of the early Piggly Wiggly stores. The concept of the "Self-Serving Store" was patented by Saunders in 1917.
Though this format of grocery market was drastically different from its competitors, the style became the standard for the modern supermarket, and in 1922 Piggly Wiggly had grown into 1,200 stores in 29 states. By 1932, the chain had grown to 2,660 stores doing over $180 million annually.
In the early 1920s Saunders began construction of a pink marble mansion in Memphis. Then, in early 1923, Merrill Lynch and other ‘bear’ interests on Wall Street tried to hammer down the price of Piggly Wiggly stock. It is alleged, Saunders took a train to New York City with one million dollars in cash in a small bag and bought Piggly Wiggly stock until he had orders for 196,000 of the 200,000 outstanding shares. Pressured by the ‘bears’, the New York Stock Exchange declared a ‘corner’ existed (see cornering the market), and gave the ‘bears’ five days rather than 24 hours to deliver the stock Saunders had bought. Saunders’ bank and his friends were pressured and the price was driven back down; Saunders was forced into bankruptcy and had to sell his stock at a loss. Afterwards, Saunders had no further association with the company.
Because of this financial reversal, Saunders was forced to sell his partly-completed Memphis mansion to the city. The mansion, nicknamed the Pink Palace eventually became the city's historical and natural history museum. Today, the Pink Palace includes a walk-through model of the first Piggly-Wiggly store, complete with 2¢ packets of Kellogg's Cornflakes and 8¢ cans of Campbell's Soup. Some of the grounds of the mansion were sold off to developers who built an upscale residential development, Chickasaw Gardens.
In a move reminiscent of that of J. Walter Scott’s in 1889, he went on to create the "Clarence Saunders Sole Owner of My Name Stores" chain, which went into bankruptcy during the Great Depression.