ATHENS, Texas — **EDITOR'S NOTE: The video above is from April 2022 about a beloved carhop at the Athens Sonic.
A beloved grocery store chain is making its way back to East Texas.
According to the City of Athens, Piggly Wiggly has filed an application to open its second Texas location in Athens.
The grocery store chain applied for a certificate of occupancy to overtake the Save-A-Lot and is currently undergoing inspections.
"We are very excited about converting our Save-A-Lot location to Piggly Wiggly and we have been excited about the overwhelming positive response that we are getting from the great people of Athens regarding this change," Retail Operations Manager Ron Johnson said. "Piggly Wiggly has triggered a tremendous amount of positive memories for so many people."
Johnson tells CBS19 they are in the process of remodeling the location and are planning for a grand opening on June 4.
According to the company, Piggly Wiggly dubs themselves "America's first true self-service grocery store" and was founded in Memphis, Tennessee in 1916 by Clarence Saunders.
"In grocery stores of that time, shoppers presented their orders to clerks who then gathered the goods from the store shelves," the company's website states. "Saunders, a dynamic and innovative man, noticed that this method resulted in wasted time and expense, so he came up with an unheard-of solution that would revolutionize the entire grocery industry: he developed a way for shoppers to serve themselves."
The company currently only as one other Texas location -- Paris. Overall, there are 530 Piggly Wiggly stores in 17 states.
"All Piggly Wiggly stores are independently owned and operated, and though they are located primarily in the Southeast, there are Piggly Wiggly stores and as far north as Wisconsin," the company's website states.