Piggly Wiggly

The Piggly-Wiggly chain of owner-operated grocery stores entered the Birmingham market with four locations. Opened on May 2, 1925, the four original stores were all owned by chain founder Clarence Saunders. The chain itself was founded by Saunders in Memphis, Tennessee in 1916. He later patented his concept of the "Self-Serving Store", with which he replaced the prevailing system in which a clerk gathered up an order from shelves behind the counter.

Several of the Birmingham area locations are owned by local franchisees Naseem Aljouny under the corporate name Buy-Lo Quality Food Stores and Andy Virciglio, operating as Piggly Wiggly Food Stores of Jefferson County.

Locations

Current

• Clairmont Plaza South, Forest Park, owned by Naseem Ajlouny (formerly Winn-Dixie & Kroger)
• 3000 Independence Drive, Homewood, owned by Stanley Virciglio (formerly Hill's)
• 6730 Deerfoot Parkway, Clay (formerly Winn-Dixie, relocated from Old Springville Road)
• 2612 30th Avenue North
• 1697 Tuscaloosa Avenue Southwest
• 6501 1st Avenue North, East Lake (formerly Food Fair, relocated from Woodlawn)
• 61 Jefferson Street, Alexander City
• 7245 Alabama Highway 160, Hayden
• 35 Camp Road, Cleveland
• 211 West College Street, Columbiana
• 1619 Forestdale Boulevard, Forestdale (Formerly a Winn-Dixie, originally a Hill's)
• 4933 Alabama Highway 157, Cullman
• 4750 Eastern Valley Road, The Shoppes at Letson Farms, McCalla
• 32 Phillips Drive, Midfield
• 4563 Shelby County Highway 25, Montevallo
• 100 Counsel Street, Odenville
• Highway 411 & Highway 174, Odenville
• 1224 North Talladega Road, Sylacauga
• 320 West Battle Street, Talladega
• 308 East Street, North Talladega
• 1721 Greensboro Avenue, Tuscaloosa
• 202 South Elm Street, Tuskegee
• 5000 Bessemer Super Highway, Bessemer, branded as Sav-U-Foods
• 1324 Dunnavant Valley Road, Mt Laurel, opened 2018
• Bluff Park Village Shopping Center, relocated from Shades Mountain Plaza in 2020

Former

• The four original locations in 1925 were:
  • 1812 4th Avenue North
  • 1026 20th Street South
  • 615 19th Street Ensley
  • 4618 Gary Avenue (Realty Building), Fairfield

• 1016 20th Street South (closed fall 1993)
• 49 Church Street (93 Euclid Avenue), Crestline Village, owned by Stanley and Andy Virciglio (closed November 2, 2013)
• 27 Park Road, Pleasant Grove (closed 2008)
• 6842 Old Springville Road, Clay
• 31st Street Southwest and Jefferson Avenue, severely damaged by a fire in the 1990's, demolished and replaced with a Shell station in 2000-2001
• 5401 1st Avenue North, Woodlawn
• 770 Shades Mountain Plaza, Hoover, closed 2020

References

• Birmingham Chamber of Commerce (May 1925) "Industrial Activities". Birmingham. Vol. 1, No. 2
• "Piggly Wiggly" (October 20, 2005) Wikipedia - accessed October 22, 2006
• Williams, Roy L. (December 16, 2009) "Business runs in the family for Magic City's Ajlouny clan." The Birmingham News

External links

• Piggly-Wiggly locations in Alabama at pigglywiggly.com
• Piggly Wiggly Food Stores of Jefferson County website
• Piggly Wiggly FS of JC on Facebook
• Piggly Wiggly FS of JC on Twitter