![]() ![]() Because of its restructuring, innovations, and the improving economy, the picture for Bruno's and its subsidiaries, including Piggly Wiggly Southern, brightened after 1993.Īlthough the food store chain concept was invented by A & P in 1859, the self-service food market came into being as a direct result of the first Piggly Wiggly store, established in Memphis, Tennessee by Clarence Saunders in September 1916. It was also recovering from a tragic air crash that in late 1991 had claimed the lives of Angelo and Lee Bruno, son and grandson of the company's founder, and four other company executives. Bruno's, under competitive pressure from other chains, notably Wal-Mart and Publix, was at that time restructuring its operations, closing unprofitable stores, remodeling others, and altering some of its marketing strategies. However, it left the Piggly Wiggly distribution center in Vidalia, Georgia, its original base. That year, to cut costs, Bruno's moved the Piggly Wiggly Southern corporate offices to Birmingham, Alabama, integrating them as a unit in its home office. By 1993, 57 Piggly Wiggly supermarkets were in operation, located largely in central and southern Georgia, representing 22 percent of its total number of stores. Bruno's acquired Piggly Wiggly Southern in 1988, adding it to its FoodMax, Food World, Food Fair, and Bruno's Food and Pharmacy franchises. is an immediate subsidiary of Bruno's Inc., a food and drug chain company which operates and leases food, drug, and liquor stores in five southeastern states, with the heaviest concentration in Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. Stores in South Carolina and Alabama have also recently closed, raising concerns about food deserts.Food retailer Piggly Wiggly Southern, Inc. But, like other supermarkets, the franchise has taken a hit during the pandemic from labor shortages. Piggly Wiggly is one of the oldest grocery store chains in the United States. “The Piggly Wiggly design is the basic design of every convenience store,” said Freeman. You should just put the products out in reach of the customers,'” he said.Īnother innovation was putting price tags on items for sale in the store. “Saunders thought, ‘Well you don’t need all these clerks to run a grocery store. ![]() Saunders changed the way stores did business, Freeman said. “When you went to a store, you called out your order to a clerk, and a clerk - listening to you - gathered what you wanted and then you paid,” said Mike Freeman, who has written about the rise and fall of Piggly Wiggly founder Clarence Saunders. In those days, people didn’t used to pick up their own items in a store. The first Piggly Wiggly opened in 1916 in Memphis. One developer has studied putting apartments and retail space there. Sutton said she sees Piggly Wiggly as the latest victim of the city’s changing landscape. “Probably have to catch a bus to go down to Kroger or Walmart, or pay somebody to take you,” she said. Now, she and other tenants are unsure how they’ll get by. She went to the Piggly Wiggly about three times a day on her motorized wheelchair, she said. Sutton lives two blocks away from the store that closed at a public housing building for the elderly and people with disabilities. The store closing is especially tough for Gwendolyn Sutton, who has a hard time walking. The store filled a critical need for some residents who don’t have easy access to groceries. Although the chain has two more locations in Nashville and hundreds across the country, community members said the closure feels personal. This Piggly Wiggly closed its doors for good in April. “Everybody down here is on a first-name basis,” Blair said. In the last week that the Piggly Wiggly near Nashville’s downtown was open, Ken Blair, a regular, said the store reminded him of the small mom-and-pop shops he used to go to. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |