You think the Gamestop short squeeze is the greatest ever? Not. Even. Close.
This is the story of Piggly Wiggly and one man taking on Wall Street ALONE.
Buckle up, because this is one of the craziest stories in investment history.
It all started in 1919 when a man by the name of Clarence Saunders invented the first modern supermarket—Piggly Wiggly stores.
Before this time, people had to go into a store, give the clerk a shopping list, and then wait for their items to be gathered and brought out.
Saunders changed all that when he created a retail self-service market where people could pick the items themselves and pay on the way out.
People loved the idea so much that within 3 years there were over 1,200 Piggly Wiggly stores in the U.S.
With this success, Saunders began licensing the Piggly Wiggly name out to other retailers.
Unfortunately, some of these retailers in the northeast began going out of business in the fall of 1922, all while using the Piggly Wiggly name.
Traders on Wall Street heard of these closings and decided that they had an opportunity on their hands.
They began shorting Piggly Wiggly while also spreading rumors that the parent corporation was in trouble.
Within a week the price dropped from $50 to $40 a share.