Kajun Cassin, left, and Glen Lovejoy hang a banner on the newly christened Market on Emerson Monday after the Piggly Wiggly sign was removed last week. (Photo provided)

PARKERSBURG – The familiar Piggly Wiggly name has disappeared from multiple local grocery stores.

Banners showing the new names of the stores are being placed at three establishments in Parkersburg, one in Vienna and one in The Plains ahead of long-term signage, said Jeremy Fellure, district manager. It’s the latest change after Jamason Sparks purchased the stores around the new year from Grant’s Hometown Supermarkets, which bought them from longtime owner Jim Oppe in 2021.

“We’re just going strictly independent,” Fellure said.

Fellure said they want to put the money they would have paid for the Piggly Wiggly name back into the stores to increase options for customers. They broached the idea on the individual stores’ Facebook pages, he said, and got a favorable response.

Rather than choosing one name for all five stores, people were asked to vote on the names on the Facebook pages.

A blank space is visible on the front of the newly christened Vienna Grocery Market on Monday after the Piggly Wiggly sign was removed. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

“The shoppers actually chose the names,” Fellure said.

A banner was hung at the former Emerson Avenue Piggly Wiggly Monday declaring it the Market on Emerson, which garnered many more votes than Wood County Market at Emerson or Emerson Avenue Grocery, though a number of people chose “Keep it the same.”

The Plum Street Store will be called Plum Street Market, which received more than two-thirds of the votes over “Keep the same” and Big Red Market.

The store in south Parkersburg will now be known as Gihon Village Grocery, which got 46% of the vote over “Keep it as is” and Southside Market.

Vienna Grocery Market is the new name of the store on Grand Central Avenue. It wasn’t one of the poll choices – which included Wood County Market of Vienna, North Side Market and PMV Market – although it was suggested in the comments. “Other” got 25% of the vote, with 51% voting to “Keep it as is.”

A recurring suggestion in many of the poll comments was to return to the name before Piggly Wiggly – Foodland. Several people said they still call the stores that, but representatives of the business said it was not an option.

The store in The Plains will be known as The Plains Market, the only option besides “Keep it as it is” to get more than 1% of the vote.

Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.