The Secret Life of Groceries: The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket

by Benjamin Lorr

1930 . . . the grocery store leaves him to take one final leap: Saunders, however, has an absolutely fascinating denouement, foreshadowing in form if not detail modern grocery’s thrall and capture by private equity and cost-obsessed bankers. He would never finish building his Pink Palace. Instead, with the ballroom half constructed, the swimming pool half filled, he gets pulled into a Wall Street power play. East Coast “short” sellers target the Piggly Wiggly, spreading entirely false rumors the chain is about to collapse, hoping to depress the stock price and make a quick profit. Saunders won’t have it. He cajoles a wide swath of southern bankers to loan him enough money to buy every single Piggly Wiggly share out there—to “corner” the market—and break the shorts by raising price. At this, he is unbelievably successful, pulling off what is generally recognized as the last true corner on Wall Street. The price of Piggly Wiggly shoots from $39 per share to $60, then—in a single morning—when Saunders demands delivery of all outstanding shorts—from $75 to $124. The shorts are ruined. The “boob from Tennessee” is triumphant. Right up to the moment the New York Stock Exchange decides to change the rules and bail out the shorts—many of whom likely sit on its board—by announcing a complete halt on all Piggly Wiggly trading. This gives the short traders a chance to track down the few outstanding shares Saunders hasn’t cornered. Agents are dispatched to faraway locations—the attic ...