A BELOVED supermarket chain with 500 US locations has joined Winn-Dixie, Stop & Shop, and other grocers in shutting down stores across the country.
As Piggly Wiggly turns off the lights at a number of its grocery stores, Walmart is in part to blame.
Piggly Wiggly is a beloved grocery store that was founded in 1916[/caption]
Piggly Wiggly has been closing stores left and right across the country[/caption]
Founded in 1916 in Memphis as the first self-service grocery store, Piggly Wiggly has been a beloved grocer for more than a century, with over 500 independently owned and operated locations across the South and the Midwest.
While the retailer initially experienced rapid growth, Piggly Wiggly has not grown consistently over the years and is much smaller today than it was at its peak.
It went from a national grocery giant to a regional chain of independent stores, shutting down spots across multiple states this summer, including Alabama, Georgia, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Wisconsin.
For example, a Piggly Wiggly in Wautoma, Wisconsin – around 90 miles from Green Bay – recently shut down after over 20 years, with plans to expand into a wholesale facility.
“I get the frustration that there might be. I think the thing for us is how can we keep moving forward, and this is one of the ways we can keep moving forward,” said Parker Detjens, the general manager who worked at the store since he was a teenager.
Another Piggly Wiggly in Gordon, Georgia, around 100 miles from Atlanta, was slated to close on August 16, with bosses revealing that the store was underperforming.
Yet another Piggly Wiggly location in Columbia, South Carolina, shut down after 50 years earlier this year, affectionately known as the “Social Pig.”
Plus, a Piggly Wiggly in Brookfield, Wisconsin, shuttered shop last year in a move that was likened to a “death in the family.”
The slew of closures are due to a combination of factors, including broader economic pressures such as inflation, a drop in demand, and expiring leases.
GROCERY GRIPES
Piggly Wiggly is not alone in its troubles, with the grocer’s closures just the latest in an overarching trend dragging down grocery stores across the US.
Grocery giants such as Winn-Dixie, Stop & Shop, Albertsons, and Amazon Fresh have similarly struggled, axing stores left and right as industry pressures weigh down.
Grocery stores have a much smaller profit margin than many other types of businesses thanks to their focus on high-volume, low-margin staple goods.
Intense competition and high operational costs for things such as refrigeration and labor also play a role.
Because of this, a drop in demand can have significant implications, and smaller chains such as Piggly Wiggly may struggle to stay afloat.
US braces for ‘45,000 store closures’
Some 45,000 bricks-and-mortar stores could close in the next five years, experts have warned.
Several major retailers have announced store closures or gone out of business altogether in recent years.
In 2023, chains such as Foot Locker announced plans to close up to 400 outlets by 2026.
While, other well-known retailers like Tuesday Morning and Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams filed for bankruptcy in 2023.
Bed Bath & Beyond has closed all of its brick-and-mortar stores and is now an online-only retailer.
The most affected retailers have been clothing, consumer electronics, sporting goods, hobby, book, music, and home furnishing stores since the start of 2019.
UBS has predicted the total number of retail stores will drop by 45k from 958k to 913k.
Despite that, the report says that certain stores should thrive while others decline.
It said retailers such as Walmart, Costco, Home Depot, and Target, could be among the winners.
These troubles are exacerbated by the added pressure of having to fight for market share against massive companies such as Walmart.
Walmart, the largest retailer in the US and globally, for example, receives roughly one in every four dollars that Americans shell out on groceries.
This poses a major challenge for smaller grocers, who don’t have the same luxury of being able to drop prices so low.
In fact, a single Walmart store can drive down sales for retailers within a 100-mile radius due to its low prices.
As Walmart stands strong in the retail sector, seven grocery stores, restaurants, and mall favorites are closing across the US in September.
Meanwhile, a beloved grocery chain confirmed plans to close another 11 stores last month – but the $3.8 billion plan is a major win for shoppers.
Walmart is the largest retailer in the world and in the US[/caption]
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