Self-service stores came to be known as “groceterias” due to the fact that they were reminiscent of the cafeteria-style eateries that were gaining popularity at the time. Piggly Wiggly stores (established by Clarence Saunders in Memphis in 1916) are widely credited with introducing America to self-service shopping, revolutionizing the grocery industry. These were counter-service stores owners/workers were hands on with each customer, pulling individual needs out of bulk jars or bins and packaging each for each customer on the other side of the counter. Butchers and greengrocers (produce vendors) were completely separate entities, although they tended to cluster together for convenience’s sake. Grocers sold what is known as “dry grocery” items, or canned goods and other non-perishable staples.

Grocery stores of that era tended to be small (generally less than a thousand square feet) and also focused on only limited aspects of food retailing. The late-19th and early-20th centuries were the age of the independent mom-and-pop store. Today, we take for granted the convenience of comparing and choosing from a wide range of prepackaged products, placing them in our shopping carts and going through a checkout.

The entry of Piggly Wiggly initiated the first national chain grocery store into the Islands with it came a new way of food shopping.

On February 4, 1928, the Star Bulletin noted that three men arrived from the mainland to open Hawai‘i’s first chain grocery store it was situated on Beretania Street at Keʻeaumoku, a “large crowd attends the Piggly Wiggly opening.”Īndrew Williams, president and general manager of Piggly Wiggly Pacific made the decision to enter the Hawai‘i market and promised 7 stores by the end of the year.

Piggly wiggly supermarket vests