November 17, 2025
Keedoozle was the first fully automated grocery store in the United States, and it was an automated retail concept developed in 1937 by grocer Clarence Saunders. It is generally accepted that the name “Keedoozle” was coined by Saunders as a reference to a technology in which a “key does it all” for the customer doing grocery shopping. The Keedoozle concept was designed as a device that provided labor and cost savings for grocery shoppers. Products in this store were offered at prices approximately 10–15% below market rates. The Keedoozle store mainly sold dry goods at a markup of half to three cents above cost. Saunders developed this concept based on the self-service Piggly Wiggly supermarket model.
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