![]() Piggly Wiggly, with headquarters in New Hampshire, licenses its name to 530 stores in 17 states, including 31 in Tennessee. I might be dead and gone before that completely takes off, but it is more and more of a factor.” “Some prefer to buy online and pick it up. “People are busy, and it has changed the dynamic of the business,” Shaw said. Walmart, for example, is offering discounts for customers who order online and pickup inside their stores, including locations in Columbia, Spring Hill, Lawrenceburg and Hohenwald. Ironically, Piggly Wiggly is facing new models of customer service. Piggly Wiggly was an innovator in the self-service grocery business after opening its first store in Memphis in 1916, credited with originating checkout stands, individual pricing and shopping carts. About five to 10 will switch to the Neely’s Mill store, he said. The Northway store employs 30 full- and part-time employees. “The consolidation will allow me to focus on one location,” Shaw said. He said the Northway store will try to sell all of its merchandise by April 25, with many items on sale starting next week. ![]() The Neely’s Mill Piggly Wiggly has a wider selection than Northway, Shaw said, primarily because of size. The economy went south for a little bit, and it’s coming back.” “Columbia is a competitive town for grocery stores. To me, it doesn’t matter where the store is. ![]() “It might be a little more upscale on the Neely’s Mill side of town, a little more affluent, but not much. “Columbia is a middle-class town,” Shaw said. The Walmart in Spring Hill is on the Williamson County side of the city. The decision to close one Piggly Wiggly store will leave Kroger as the only company with two grocery locations in Maury County. Piggly Wiggly is one of at least 10 full-service supermarkets operating in Maury County. “I hope whatever goes in there will be good for Columbia,” Shaw said. Calls to the real-estate management company, seeking information, were not returned Wednesday. “But after all of the years of working there, and meeting everyone who’s shopped there, I feel like I know everyone in town.”Ī representative for Cook Properties, owner of Northway Shopping Center, has not told Shaw what will replace the Piggly Wiggly. The Neely’s Mill location is twice as large as Northway. He also said Piggy Wiggly’s slogan, “Our cost plus 10 percent,” resonated with shoppers. The Northway location remained competitive with large chains for years because of its meat and deli department, among other reasons, Shaw said. It was apparent our time was going to be short there.” “I was putting off the decision to merge the stores for a little while. “The truth is, our lease at the Northway location had expired, and we were going month to month for the last few years,” Shaw said. He and his wife opened the Neely’s Mill location in 2007. Shaw, who worked his way from grocery clerk as a teenager to owner, bought the Piggly Wiggly store in 1995. The supermarket was a Giant food store when Shaw moved to town and became Piggly Wiggly in 1974. We will celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary in 2018. I told my wife, Brenda, the other day that I have worked in the same spot for 47 years and lived in the same house for 46 years. If you get me at the right moment, or ask me the right question, I might cry,” he added. I was 16 and really enjoyed everything about my job. “I started my career in the grocery business at the Northway location when I moved to Columbia with my parents in 1970. “I would like to keep both stores open,” the 62-year-old Shaw said. The independently owned and operated store will remain open in Neely’s Mill on Trotwood Avenue. The Piggly Wiggly location in the Northway Shopping Center on Nashville Highway will close April 25, Shaw said. Columbia’s two Piggly Wiggly supermarkets will be consolidated into one store, owner Jody Shaw told The Daily Herald on Wednesday.
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