Clarence Saunders (grocer) - Keedoozle

Keedoozle

Then, in 1937, Saunders designed and constructed a prototype of an automated store, which he called the "Keedoozle" (for "Key Does All"). The Keedoozle was a completely automated store, similar to very large vending machine, based on modern supply chain principles.

Merchandise was displayed as single units each within a glass cabinet under which was a keyhole. Customers entering the store were handed a small pistol-like key that they placed in the keyhole below the goods they wished to buy, the quantity being determined by the number of times they pulled the key's trigger. This action, recorded on punched tape, activated back office machinery to assemble the order, which was then dispatched to the checkout on a conveyor belt. On reaching the checkout, the customer's tape was run through a reader to produce the bill, their groceries being assembled, boxed and waiting for collection. This system eliminated the need for shopping carts; and it increased savings in space, in the labor needed to stock the shelves, and in the time customers spent queuing at the checkout.

Saunders developed two versions of the Keedoozle. The first was developed in 1937, the development of which was abandoned when the United States entered World War II. Saunders returned to the idea in 1948, opening an improved version. Saunders sold twelve franchises to the revised concept. In 1949 he predicted: "In five years there will be a thousand Keedoozles throughout the U.S., selling $5 billion worth of goods."

Unfortunately the machinery, much of which Saunders built himself, proved unreliable, particularly at busy times and the resulting delays coupled with a heavy maintenance bill killed the Keedoozle for good in 1949.