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Photo by Erin Nelson.
Sam Jolly Jr., one of the assistant store managers, bags groceries at Piggly Wiggly in Homewood on Oct. 13. Jolly has worked at the store on U.S. 31 for a total of 23 years since 1985.
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Photo by Erin Nelson.
Homewood resident Ashley Bussey looks for a bag of coffee at Piggly Wiggly in Homewood on Oct. 13.
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Image courtesy of city of Homewood.
This layout shows the proposed location of the new Piggly Wiggly store (in purple) near the corner of Oxmoor Road and U.S. 31, behind the CVS Pharmacy.
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Rendering courtesy of McConnell White & Terry Realty and Insurance Co.
A rendering of the proposed new Piggly Wiggly grocery store on U.S. 31 in Homewood.
Andrea Snyder remembers her daughter Dylan’s ninth birthday and her plan to pick up balloons at a Publix grocery store.
Dylan had other ideas.
“She cried about it and said, ‘I want to go to The Pig and get them,’” Snyder said, referencing the Piggly Wiggly grocery store that the family frequents. “I think it’s just because she knew they were going to tell her happy birthday and give her a lollipop and just make a big deal about her birthday because they knew her from going in there. She didn’t get that same feeling at Publix.”
Not everyone gets a balloon and a lollipop on their visits to the grocery at the corner of Oxmoor Road and U.S. 31 in Homewood. But longtime patrons agree that they get a personal shopping experience that has kept them coming back year after year.
The Piggly Wiggly has been the subject of recent discussions in Homewood, as a developer has plans to replace the current store with a new one that will be just behind the neighboring CVS drug store and will use the same parking lot.
The store recently moved a step closer to its new home, with the city Planning Commission’s October approval of two measures that had twice been postponed.
McConnell White & Terry Realty and Insurance Co. received approval for its plan to redevelop a 3.21-acre site with a new 27,650-square-foot Piggly Wiggly behind the CVS; a new 6,000-square-foot retail building on the corner of U.S. 31 and Oxmoor Road; and associated parking, landscaping and other site improvements.
The commission also passed McConnell White & Terry’s application to have the property rezoned from an office building district to a neighborhood shopping district. The development plan passed on a 7-2 vote, with Jennifer Andress and Paige Willcutt voting no. Willcutt was the lone no vote on the rezoning.
Andress, a Ward 5 City Council member and the council’s representative to the commission, said her no vote on the plan was done in solidarity with the businesses on Courtney Drive and the people who live in apartments adjacent to Courtney.
Concerns remain
Residents and business owners along Courtney Drive said during a prior planning commission meeting that they are concerned about the proposed location of the loading dock for the new grocery store. The plan calls for the loading dock to be on the south end of the development, on the back of the building.
“I love The Pig,” Andress said. “They’re a huge part of our community, and I supported the rezoning of that lot. But I just felt like I needed to support the businesses on Courtney and the people who live in the apartments right there, as well.”
The councilwoman said there are concerns with noise and parking. Trucks will come through Drake Street, swing out onto Courtney to the left and then back into the loading dock.
“They did a lot last night [Oct. 2] to address some of those issues,” Andress said. “They’re going to have someone directing the deliveries, somebody out there directing traffic with the deliveries. They’re going to have somebody out there directing traffic during school pickup and drop-off.”
There was also a concession to limit deliveries to early in the morning.
Business owners along Courtney Drive sought clarification about parking that the CVS drug store had marked for its customers only. It was determined that those parking spaces are within the city right-of-way, and those signs were removed.
The Piggly Wiggly project now goes to the Homewood City Council for consideration, and it will be directed to the Planning & Development Committee that Andress chairs. The development plan and rezoning then go to the full council for a public hearing before a final vote is taken.
Fabric of the community
Shoppers are excited about the prospect of getting a new Piggly Wiggly, as long as the grocers they’ve grown to love are part of the package.
“I think the change for The Pig is good,” customer Ashley Bussey said. “I think there needs to be some updates for it, to kind of get it serving the community for the next many decades. … We’re all going to be put out by it for a little while, but in the end, it’ll be a really great thing for everybody.”
Bussey said she shops at The Pig because it “truly feels like I’m in a hometown store.”
“It’s not a big-box store,” she said. “You walk in there. You’re greeted by people that know you and know your family, who see you daily, see me daily. It just has a family feel to it.”
Rachael Swatek concurs. She recounted her mother visiting from out of town and citing an atmosphere like the old NBC TV sitcom “Cheers,” where it seems everybody knows your name.
“I think it’s a super unique situation,” Swatek said. “I don’t know of any other grocery store that’s like that. But I do think it is special for that reason.”
Swatek said The Pig is within walking distance from her home, less than a mile away. It’s also across the street from Shades Cahaba Elementary School, where her daughter attended when she was younger.
The store was even an unofficial part of child pickup. Some parents have parked at The Pig, walked to get their children from school and returned to do their shopping.
“Even the elementary school called it the Pig Door because you either parked by the owl, the Pig Door or in the carpool line,” Swatek said. “It’s kind of a staple, really, of Homewood.
“It’s pretty much the people that are there. That’s the reason why I go, for sure,” she said. “There are a lot of people I could say, but one of the people is Frank Morgan. He just remains awesome. You can’t have a bad day when you go to The Pig and you see him. He’s always smiling and helpful, as are a ton of other ones, too.”
Bussey said it’s very easy to get in and out of Homewood’s Piggly Wiggly, “unless you get talking to Frank for too long.” But there’s more to shopping there than just a good, comfortable feeling, she said. “I can get good deals there. We get all of our meat there.”
Snyder said The Pig “definitely doesn’t have the best prices,” but the convenience and the people keep her coming back.
“All the people are just helpful. One of the cashiers bought my daughter a balloon on her birthday,” she recalled. “It’s just kind of those interactions and relationships. You want to go there just to say, ‘Hey,’ and feel a part of the community more than anything.”
