Clarence Saunders was a grocer who first developed the modern retail sales model of self service. His ideas have had a massive influence on the development of the modern supermarket. Clarence Saunders worked for most of his life trying to develop a truly automated store, developing Piggly Wiggly, Keedoozle, and Foodelectric store concepts. Born in Virginia,Saunders left school at 14 to clerk in a general store. Wikipedia
The definitive Wikipedia entry for Clarence Saunders. Wikipedia is the biggest multilingual free-content encyclopedia on the Internet. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Saunders