The first self-service grocery store, Piggly Wiggly, opened in 1916. Clarence Saunders launched the pioneering store in Memphis, Tennessee, on September 6 of that year.
Before self-service shopping, customers typically handed a list to a clerk, who selected goods from behind a counter. Piggly Wiggly changed the process by letting shoppers enter, pick up a basket, walk through aisles, choose packaged products themselves, and pay at a checkout counter. The arrangement reduced the need for clerks while encouraging customers to notice more merchandise.
The original store used turnstiles, a continuous route through the aisles, individual price labels, shopping baskets, and a front checkout. Saunders patented aspects of the self-service format, and the concept spread rapidly through company-owned and franchised stores. By the early 1920s, Piggly Wiggly had hundreds of locations.
The exact date is sometimes described as the founding date rather than the opening date because construction delays affected the store's launch. Some sources also call it the first “true” self-service grocery store, distinguishing it from earlier experiments that did not use the complete supermarket-style system.