Grocer, Businessman. He is credited with the popularization of the self-service grocery. He was born on a farm in Amherst County, Virginia, to Abram Warwick and Mary Gregory Saunders. His mother died when he was five. Abram had served in the Confederate army. After a youth of working various jobs and only two years of formal education he became a prolific reader to become self-educated. At age 19 he had moved to Clarksville, Tennessee, and began working in the wholesale grocery business. In 1904 he and his wife Carolyn moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where he continued in the same field. He opened the first self-service Piggly Wiggly store in 1916. The store incorporated shopping baskets, self-service branded products and checkouts at the front. He was granted patents for both the "Self-Serving Store" and a printed receipt from the adding machine tape. He listed Piggly Wiggly shares on the New York Stock Exchange in 1922 but due to financial reversals and legal difficulties he resigned as president and turned over all his assets to his creditors. Another chain, Sole Owner, was founded in 1928 but went bankrupt during the Depression. A third concept, Kedoozle, was founded in 1935 as a fully automated store similar to an Automat. It failed as did his next attempt, the Foodelectric. His 1922 mansion, nicknamed the "Pink Palace" for its exterior of pink marble, became the present Memphis Museum of Science and History.
Grocer, Businessman. He is credited with the popularization of the self-service grocery. He was born on a farm in Amherst County, Virginia, to Abram Warwick and Mary Gregory Saunders. His mother died when he was five. Abram had served in the Confederate army. After a youth of working various jobs and only two years of formal education he became a prolific reader to become self-educated. At age 19 he had moved to Clarksville, Tennessee, and began working in the wholesale grocery business. In 1904 he and his wife Carolyn moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where he continued in the same field. He opened the first self-service Piggly Wiggly store in 1916. The store incorporated shopping baskets, self-service branded products and checkouts at the front. He was granted patents for both the "Self-Serving Store" and a printed receipt from the adding machine tape. He listed Piggly Wiggly shares on the New York Stock Exchange in 1922 but due to financial reversals and legal difficulties he resigned as president and turned over all his assets to his creditors. Another chain, Sole Owner, was founded in 1928 but went bankrupt during the Depression. A third concept, Kedoozle, was founded in 1935 as a fully automated store similar to an Automat. It failed as did his next attempt, the Foodelectric. His 1922 mansion, nicknamed the "Pink Palace" for its exterior of pink marble, became the present Memphis Museum of Science and History.
Bio by: Vincent Astor
Family Members
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