Gazette readers have been wondering about stories passed down by family members about shopping at their neighborhood Piggly Wiggly stores “way back when” in Colorado Springs. True or not?

Piggly Wiggly was, and still is, a familiar grocery name in the South, with a history dating 100-plus years. And, indeed, the local connection goes back almost that far as well.

Piggly Wiggly opened in 1916 in Memphis, Tenn., at a time when shoppers went to small stores and gave their grocery lists to clerks, who then walked through narrow aisles collecting the goods. A businessman named Clarence Saunders changed it all, starting what’s considered the first self-service grocery/convenience store as shoppers walked the wide aisles themselves, carrying wooden baskets.

By the end of Piggly Wiggly’s first year, nine stores in the Memphis area were up and running.

Hundreds of independently owned Piggly Wigglys began springing up in neighborhoods across the South and then across the country, including in Colorado. Ads celebrated “One in Your Neighborhood” and “All over the World.” The stores were “owned by stockholders,” and as many as 57 opened in Denver neighborhoods.

Chain supermarket history site groceteria.com charted the Colorado Springs history, noting Piggly Wiggly stores in the 1930s and 1940s primarily along the West Colorado Avenue corridor. Locations in official records were 123 E. Colorado Ave. and 1502 W. Colorado Ave. in 1948, and 2506 W. Colorado Ave. in 1942 and 1948. The locations at 123 E. Colorado Ave. and 2506 W. Colorado Ave. eventually became Safeway stores.

Other Piggly Wiggly neighborhood stores show up in historic mentions and photos from those early years, including at 107-09 N. Tejon St., 122 S. Tejon St., 717 N. Weber St. and 332 N. Institute St. The history site says several of the locations “transitioned into Safeway stores” and other large chains.

 The official Piggly Wiggly history follows Saunders as he opened that first store in Memphis. While he once proposed fully automated stores, that never evolved. It did become a corporation, and he retained the format for franchisees to have their own stores with the corporation retaining all rights. Stock was traded successfully, but after immediate problems Saunders lost control of the company in the 1920s.

Saunders never explained the name, which gave rise to years of speculative stories that were never acknowledged. Was it Saunders watching little piggies from his train window? The official history surmised that perhaps it was just “so people will ask that very question.”

For those who have asked about bringing Piggly Wiggly back to Colorado Springs, there are still franchises available to open and several hundred stores remain today, especially in the South. However, many have closed recently during the economic challenges for independent, smaller companies.

Company headquarters are in Keene, N.H. It is an affiliate of C&S Wholesale Grocers, LLC., with warehouse facilities serving large supermarket chains.

Historic photo listing a Colorado Springs Piggly Wiggly store