--- description: In 1948, photographer Francis Miller went to Memphis in order to document Keedoozle, the world's first fully automated grocery store. title: Remembering Keedoozle, America's First Automated Grocery image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt959b3efc6b5bac10/6987f12ff887dce6efe8e9e8/50516969.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Culture](/tag/culture/) ## Culture Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Keedoozle, We Hardly Knew Ye: Remembering America's First Automated Grocery by [Ben Cosgrove](/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 25, 2014 5:43 PM CUT  Keedoozle, a fully automated grocery store, Memphis, Tenn., 1948. Keedoozle, a fully automated grocery store, Memphis, Tenn., 1948.Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 25, 2014 5:43 PM CUT In 1937, a Memphis, Tenn., grocer and innovator named [Clarence Saunders](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence%5FSaunders%5F%28grocer%29 "undefined") introduced a bold new concept in shopping for food: History’s first fully automated grocery store. It was called Keedoozle. (See the explanation of the unusual moniker below.) In 1948, photographer Francis Miller traveled to Memphis in order to document the third incarnation of Saunders’s technological phenomenon. TIME magazine, meanwhile, reported on the groundbreaking operation thusly: --- > “” --- At least, that’s how it was all supposed to go down, in theory. Saunders tried the Keedoozle concept three times, but failed each time because the circuits couldn’t handle the traffic during peak hours. Customers regularly got mixed-up orders. In addition, the conveyer-belt system wasn’t fast enough or efficient enough when there was high demand. Keedoozle closed its doors for good in 1949.  Keedoozle, a fully automated grocery store, Memphis, Tenn., 1948. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Clarence Saunders stands with the ticker-tape technology at the heart of Keedoozle, his fully automated grocery store, Memphis, Tenn., 1948. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Keedoozle, Memphis, Tenn., 1948. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Keedoozle, Memphis, Tenn., 1948. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Keedoozle, Memphis, Tenn., 1948. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Keedoozle, Memphis, Tenn., 1948. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Keedoozle, Memphis, Tenn., 1948. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Keedoozle, Memphis, Tenn., 1948. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Behind the scenes at Keedoozle, Memphis, Tenn., 1948. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Keedoozle, Memphis, Tenn., 1948. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Customers await delivery of their groceries at Keedoozle, Memphis, Tenn., 1948. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Behind the scenes at Keedoozle, Memphis, Tenn., 1948. Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3880751/keedoozle-americas-first-automated-grocery/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3880751/keedoozle-americas-first-automated-grocery/"},"headline":"Keedoozle, We Hardly Knew Ye: Remembering America's First Automated Grocery","datePublished":"2014-08-25T17:43:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:03:37.671Z","description":"In 1948, photographer Francis Miller went to Memphis, Tenn., in order to document Keedoozle -- the world's first fully automated grocery store.","url":"https://time.com/3880751/keedoozle-americas-first-automated-grocery/","keywords":["Culture","Shopping","Food","Supermarket","Memphis","Tennessee","Ben Cosgrove","1948"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt959b3efc6b5bac10/6987f12ff887dce6efe8e9e8/50516969.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ben Cosgrove","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt959b3efc6b5bac10/6987f12ff887dce6efe8e9e8/50516969.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"LIFE Looks Back: Keedoozle, the Automatic Grocery Store","caption":"Keedoozle, a fully automated grocery store, Memphis, Tenn., 1948.","creditText":"Francis Miller—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/culture/","name":"Culture"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3880751/keedoozle-americas-first-automated-grocery/","name":"Keedoozle, We Hardly Knew Ye: Remembering America's First Automated Grocery"}}]}] ```