Piggly Wiggly – The Store That Invented Self-Service Shopping

Before the big grocery chains moved in, Piggly Wiggly was the neighborhood store for countless Memphians. 🐷 Born right here in Memphis in 1916, it wasn’t just any grocery store it was the first self service supermarket in the world, revolutionizing how people shopped. For much of the 20th century, “The Pig” was everywhere in Memphis friendly cashiers, aisles you knew by heart, and those iconic paper bags. But by the early 2000s, most locations had closed, marking the end of a true hometown era.