Piggly Wiggly – How A Louisiana Favorite Got Its Name

A friendly face at a friendly place, that's what you'll find when you visit any Louisiana location of Piggly Wiggly. "The Pig" is where people in places like Angie, Bush, Cecilia, Scott, Opelousas, and Rayne go to do their grocery shopping.

The Piggly Wiggly business model focuses on smaller communities and for the most part you'll find them in the Deep South and Midwest. The store operates similarly to the way fast food franchises operate. This means that individual stores are individually owned and operated but they all adhere to a strict code of excellence demanded by the Piggly Wiggly brand.

Piggly Wiggly and its team of owner-operators have more than 500 stores in 18 different states. The first Piggly Wiggly opened in Memphis Tennessee in September of 1916. At the time Piggly Wiggly was unique in the shopping experience it provided.

Instead of having a clerk pull items off the shelf, the store was equipped with baskets and open shelves. Consumers strolled the aisles and filled their own baskets before heading to the cashier to pay for their purchases.

While most of us, especially those of us who grew up in smaller towns down South, are familiar with the Piggly Wiggly name there are even fewer of us that know the story behind the iconic name and how it came to be. 

I was traveling in Newcastle England just a few weeks ago and was asked by a friend there, "How did they come up with such a name"? I was at a loss. I had heard of Piggly Wiggly all my life yet I didn't know the story of how Mr. Pig became the talk of the town and the mystery the world would like to have resolved.

The first Piggly Wiggly was founded by Clarence Saunders in Memphis. According to legend, Mr. Saunders was very reluctant to discuss how he arrived at the name of his iconic brand.

There are stories that he took the name because he was looking out of the train window and saw several little pigs struggling to get under a fence. Another version suggests the name Piggly Wiggly is a "takeoff" from the children's rhyme "This Little Piggy Went to Market". Neither of those has been confirmed.

But one story that seems to hold water is this one. Saunders was once asked about the unusual name he had chosen for his store by a reporter. Saunders is alleged to have replied, "So people will ask that very question".

The best way to win in business is to have people talk about your name and remember it and evidently, the whimsical rhyming name has stood the test of time if people in far-off places like Newcastle England know your name. I just know that when I visit "The Pig" I will find friendly faces, a great selection, and people who live and work in the same community as me.