![]() ![]() So when the Wall Street lawyers took away his nationwide chain of grocery stores, they also thought that his name came with the buy-out. You have to understand, first of all, that Saunders employed very bizarre advertising, always putting his full name in the ads, and sometimes not even mentioning Piggly Wiggly at all. Well, let me see if I can make sense of that for you. But did he no longer “own” his own name?īy 1927, he operated 220 stores in 15 states, with total sales approaching $25 million - an astonishing sum in those days. ![]() The main thing is, by 1924 Saunders no longer owned the grocery chain he founded. Uh, what? If you can explain “shorts” and “bears” then I’m very happy for you. The additional time meant a flood of stock poured from distant points and gave the ‘shorts’ opportunity to deliver.” In fact, here is how the Wall Street Journal summed it up: After explaining that speculators in 1923 had made a “run” on Saunders’ stocks, the WSJ wrote, “Reassured by the ‘bears,’ the New York Stock Exchange declared a ‘corner’ existed, and gave the ‘bears’ five days rather than 24 hours to deliver the stock Saunders had bought. The loss of Piggly Wiggly is so complicated that it almost defies explanation. When Saunders lost his millions in a convoluted stock-market takeover that cost him his Piggly Wiggly chain, he simply started over and rebuilt his enterprise with different grocery stores. When my family drained our bank accounts because of a series of ill-conceived investments, we stayed home and sulked. Anyone driving by can see that it’s obviously a cheap, gaudy imitation of the Lauderdale Mansion, with specific instructions given to the architects to make the roofline three feet higher, just to top us. Then there was that petty matter of his so-called Pink Palace. Not to mention the success of our chain of sno-cone parlors. His long-running feud with the Lauderdales has been well-documented, prompted by his childish jealousy over our fortune and social standing. But I don’t like talking about Clarence Saunders. Dear Vance: Everyone knows that Clarence Saunders invented the first self-service grocery store, Piggly Wiggly, but I’ve come across ads and references to something called “Clarence Saunders: Sole Owner of My Name Stores.” What were those? - D.K., Memphisĭear D.K.: Oh sure, he created the supermarket. Judging from the window display, rice was a big seller at this Sole Owner store. ![]()
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