November 17, 2025
Keedoozle was the first fully automated grocery store in the United States developed in 1937 by grocer Clarence Saunders as a vending-machine-based concept. The name “Keedoozle” is generally believed to have been coined by Saunders to reference the technology that allowed a “Key to Do Everything” for the shopper. The Keedoozle concept was designed as a device that saved both labor and costs for grocery shoppers. Products in these stores were offered at prices 10–15% below market value. The Keedoozle store mostly sold dry goods at just half a cent to three cents above cost. Saunders developed this concept as an evolution of the self-service Piggly Wiggly grocery store model.
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