Clarence Saunders

Clarence Saunders (August 9, 1881 – October 14, 1953) was an American grocer who first developed the modern retail sales model of self service.Saunders worked a variety of occupations over the next five years throughout the region, including shop assistant, night watchman and sawmill laborer.The following year they moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where Saunders took up positions working for the wholesale grocers Shanks, Phillips & Co, as well as William Cole Early.A major river point and railroad junction between the north and south, Memphis was a key distributor of goods to towns and cities throughout the region, whilst cotton merchants often served the dual role of selling wholesale supplies to farms and plantations as well, such that wholesaling was one of the largest industries in Memphis and one of its most lucrative.[3] In February 1913, he created United Stores, Inc., with 21 retail customers, giving Shanks, Phillips control of wholesale purchasing and advertising.Saunders had renovated his United Store, removing old countertops, and replacing them with characteristic turnstiles at the entrance and exit, and cabinets arranged along a continuous path, which ended at a cashier stand complete with adding machine and cash register.The 1,125 square feet (104.5 m2) store included a front lobby, the continuous-path middle salesroom, and rear stockroom.Bins offered fruits and vegetables, while flour and other bulk goods were pre-packaged and placed near the end of the shopper's journey through the aisles.With a loan of $10 million from a number of Southern bankers, plus a bit of his own money, Saunders counteracted by buying a large amount of Piggly Wiggly stock in hopes of driving up the price.The additional time meant "a flood of stock poured [in] from distant points and gave the shorts opportunity to deliver."[7] In the words of John Brooks, "...in mid-August, with the September 1st deadline for repayment of two and a half million dollars on his loan staring him in the face and with nothing like that amount of cash either on hand or in prospect, he resigned as president of Piggly Wiggly Stores, Inc., and turned over his assets—his stock in the company, his Pink Palace, and all the rest of his property—to his creditors.It eliminates the checkout crush, cuts overhead expenses and enables a small staff to handle a tremendous volume...[10]The central invention was a primitive computer, or "shopping brain" which was loaned to the shopper, who then roamed among the store's glass-enclosed items.Their feud was personal and striking, since few in Memphis had dared challenge Crump, one of the legendary city bosses in American politics.