Butchers and greengrocers (produce vendors) were completely separate entities, although they tended to cluster together for convenience’s sake. Grocers sold what is known as “dry grocery” items, or canned goods and other non-perishable staples. Grocery stores of that era tended to be small (generally less than a thousand square feet) and also focused on only limited aspects of food retailing. The late-19th and early-20th centuries were the age of the independent mom-and-pop store. Today, we take for granted the convenience of comparing and choosing from a wide range of prepackaged products, placing them in our shopping carts and going through a checkout. The entry of Piggly Wiggly initiated the first national chain grocery store into the Islands with it came a new way of food shopping. But more than a decade after vanishing from Texas, the chain’s slogan, “Down Home, Down the Street,” once again holds true for a small and growing number of people in the state.On February 4, 1928, the Star Bulletin noted that three men arrived from the mainland to open Hawai‘i’s first chain grocery store it was situated on Beretania Street at Keʻeaumoku, a “large crowd attends the Piggly Wiggly opening.”Īndrew Williams, president and general manager of Piggly Wiggly Pacific made the decision to enter the Hawai‘i market and promised 7 stores by the end of the year. Don’t expect one in Houston or Dallas soon. But in an age of big-box stores, hypermarkets, and e-commerce, this offers something increasingly scarce-grocery shopping on a human scale.Īs a chain Piggly Wiggly also seems to be staying true to its, er, hooves by sticking to smaller cities and towns. You won’t overload your digital step counter going from parking lot to produce to frozen foods. It’s an important service because, like supermarkets you might remember from childhood, Rogers’ store has a modest footprint by today’s standards. “If I can find it in the order book,” she says, “I’ll get it.” Though it wasn’t in stock, Rogers special ordered it for her. One customer has already asked for canned whole chicken. And the variety extends beyond the items on the shelves. She tells me it will be offering greater variety than the Save A Lot store that previously occupied the space, which she also managed. Today, Stacey Rogers manages the new Athens location. Locations spread so fast that by 1920 there were five in San Antonio alone. That first location, in Memphis, Tennessee, disrupted the industry and arguably created the modern American supermarket. It began in 1916 with entrepreneur Clarence Saunders’ hog-wild idea for a grocery store where customers walked around picking items right off the shelves rather than telling a counter-clerk what they wanted. Over a century ago, Piggly Wiggly was the opposite of nostalgia. ![]() To paraphrase one of the chain’s slogans, they dig the pig. ![]() Pig, the friendly looking porker in the white hat and apron, emblazoned on the store’s banners, displays, and even merchandise such as hoodies and golf balls-that seems to make people happy. But even with only two currently up and running in Texas, folks are excited.įor people of a certain generation, the Piggly Wiggly brand offers plenty of nostalgia along with stocked shelves. So we don’t know if more stores may be in the works. The parent company of the chain since 2003-C&S Wholesale Grocers of New Hampshire-declined comment, noting the new locations are independently owned franchises. The Athens store is the second to open, and there are plans for new locations in Texarkana and Sherman. The iconic small-town supermarket chain made its first reappearance in Texas this spring in Paris. “Piggly Wiggly was our store,” Sherry says. Years ago they shopped at a Piggly Wiggly in Denton, which was reportedly among the last in the state to close in 2009. Shopping carts advance slowly, bumper-to-bumper, into the produce department, where the specials include fresh jalapeños and leaves from prickly pear cactus (good for grilling and salads). Two of the shoppers, Jimmy and Sherry Mitchell of Athens, arrived at 7 a.m. opening, a bottleneck forms near the entrance. ![]() When the main doors slide apart, a little before the advertised 8 a.m. Workers stock a nearby concession trailer with wieners and buns. Under a canopy near the entrance, children try out a side-by-side basketball shooting game. A Blue Bell ice cream truck sits in the parking lot as a man wheels cases filled with half-gallon containers into the store. Though it’s been doing business for a few weeks, the local Piggly Wiggly is having its official grand opening. The excitement rises with the temperature on a sunny June morning in the East Texas town of Athens. Shopping at the original Piggly Wiggly in Memphis, Tennessee, which opened in 1916.
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