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.

Born in Virginia, Saunders left school at 14 to clerk in a general store. He then became a traveling ‘drummer’ for a wholesale grocer in 1900 and in 1904 a city salesman for a wholesaler. Through his experiences he became convinced that many small grocers failed because of heavy credit losses and high overhead. Consequently in 1915 he organized the Saunders-Blackburn Co., which sold for cash only and encouraged its retail customers to do the same.

Piggly Wiggly

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.

Saunders began construction of a pink marble mansion in Memphis, Tennessee. The "Pink Palace " is now a museum, and it 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.

In early 1932, 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 with one million dollars in cash in a small bag and bought 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 having to sell his stock at a loss.

He never lived in his mansion. Saunders had no further association with the company.

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" chain, which went into bankruptcy.

Keedoozle

Then, in 1937, Saunders designed and constructed a prototype of an automated store, which he called the "Keedoozle " (for "Key Does All"). Keedoozle was a completely automated store, based on modern supply chain principles.

Merchandise was displayed as single units each within a glass cabinet under which was a keyhole. Customers entering the store were handed a small pistol-like key that they placed in the keyhole below the goods they wished to buy, the quantity being determined by the number of times they pulled the key's trigger. This action, recorded on punched tape, activated back office machinery to assemble the order, which was then dispatched to the checkout on a conveyor belt. On reaching the checkout, the customer's tape was run through a reader to produce the bill, their groceries being assembled, boxed and waiting for collection. This system eliminated the need for shopping carts; and it increased savings in space, in the labour needed to stock the shelves, and in the time customers spent queuing at the checkout. Alas, the machinery proved unreliable, particularly at busy times and the resulting delays coupled with a heavy maintenance bill killed Keydoozle.

Foodelectric

Until the time of his death in October, 1953, Saunders was developing plans for another automatic store system called the "Foodelectric." But the store, which was to be located two blocks from the first Piggly Wiggly store, never opened.

Saunders had a reputation for brilliance, contrariness, and eccentricity. Sadly, his death came just as the full impact of his "better idea" for grocery merchandising was becoming apparent; his creative genius was decades ahead of his time.

Miscellaneous

Saunders ran for Mayor of Memphis but was defeated.