The grocery store industry seems tough. The competition between shops is rampant. Some customers remain loyal to one place, while others will drive across town to save a little cash. That, coupled with rising food costs across the board and growing expectations among shoppers, makes operating a grocery store a difficult task with diminishing returns. That’s especially the case if you’re not one of the front-of-mind grocery stores in the region.
Once a gargantuan in the grocery game, Piggly Wiggly has certainly seen better days. As Pick ‘n Save dominates the Milwaukee area, Woodman’s and Festival Foods (and even Kwik Trip) anchor the suburbs, and specialty regional markets like Outpost and Sendik’s help locals fill their cupboards, The Pig is overshadowed by many of those contemporaries. At this point, there’s just one Piggly Wiggly store left in Milwaukee proper…and it’s situated just a few hundred yards from both a Pick ‘n Save and a Target with a full grocery section.
So how can Piggly Wiggly’s “Bayview #71” store located at 123 W. Oklahoma Ave. both survive and attract new customers in the modern day? Evidently, by installing a surprisingly extensive arcade inside the store. Recently, local musician Ryan King—who drums in the great Jinksie—tipped us off to the new addition. We knew we had to check it out.
Last week, we stopped by the Bay View Piggly Wiggly (which we typically only go to three or four times per year) and followed the lights to a makeshift arcade shoved into a cozy area just beyond the checkout lanes. “PLAY – HAVE FUN – WIN” reads the signage that greets shoppers at the store’s so-called Mini Toy Claw Arcade.
There’s a “Mini Dunxx” basketball game that was apparently sourced from an old DZ Discovery Zone and a Deal Or No Dead machine that didn’t appear to work during our visit.
There’s also an Area 51 cabinet in case you want to merc some zombies and aliens before or after picking up groceries.
A few of the machines either weren’t turned on or weren’t accessible (NBA Jam and Centipede among them!) and some, such as Spider Splattin’, didn’t seem to be operational at the time of our visit.
However, a bunch of claw and claw-like games with prizes were plugged in and in full working order.
Like, there are seriously a lot of them, especially by grocery store standards.
Even if a few of the machines aren’t working and some of the prizes really, really suck, it’s still a weird and unexpected little amenity that’s inexplicably tucked into the front segment of a struggling Milwaukee Piggly Wiggly. If you’re looking to reward the kids for behaving at the store, or you want to blow a few bucks to enjoy upwards of 10 minutes of entertainment before or after grocery shopping, head to Bay View’s Piggly Wiggly before they reconsider what they’ve done.
The weird little arcade inside Bay View’s Piggly Wiggly: Not great by any means, but definitely a 1UP from whatever was there before.