The meaning behind Piggly Wiggly grocery stores and why it lowers the cost of your weekly shop

PIGGLY WIGGLY grocery stores have changed how many Americans across the South and Midwest shop for groceries.

The company pioneered self-service at stores, allowing them to offer customers competitive deals on food.

In 1916, the company founder, Clarence Saunders, noticed how store clerks would retrieve items for customers.

He saw how ineffective this method was so he decided to come up with a new concept as reported by Wide Open Country.

Saunders opened the first Piggly Wiggly store in Memphis, Tennessee and introduced the concept of shopping baskets and open shelves so that the customers could shop for themselves.

This method set a precedent for grocery store chains across the nation.

Piggly Wiggly was also the first grocery store to provide checkout stands, price mark all items in-store, and refrigerate produce, according to its website.

Saunders' idea allowed Piggly Wiggly to save money on administrative costs, allowing them to sell their merchandise at a cheaper price than competitors.

Currently, the stores offer senior citizens a 5% discount on their entire bill, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

They also sell locally grown products in-store.

The company went viral on Twitter recently after a customer posted a photo of a meat pack that included cans of Bud Light Beer.

Another user shared a photo of their Valentine's Day meat special which resembled the male anatomy.

Aside from its unconventional ideas, Piggly Wiggly also became a household name due to its name.

There isn't a clear reason why Saunders chose the name Piggly Wiggly for his company but theories have developed over the years.

People used to ask him why he chose the name but he never gave a straightforward answer, according to the company website.

One story suggests that Saunders was riding a train and saw a group of pigs outside his window struggling to get through a fence.

This scene prompted him to come up with a rhyme to describe what he saw.