Cain’s Piggly Wiggly has opened its fifth Baldwin County location, bringing a new full-service grocery store to Spanish Fort after more than a decade of effort by owner Tommy Cain to land the site.
The new store sits at 6530 Spanish Fort Blvd. and marks the latest expansion for Cain, who opened his first Piggly Wiggly in 1989. Cain said he began eyeing the Spanish Fort property back in 2001, but repeated attempts to buy it fell through over the years. After roughly six months of negotiations, he finally closed the deal in early May, setting the stage for the store’s opening this month.
The property previously belonged to Spanish Fort United Methodist Church, and Cain credited the congregation with helping clear and prepare the site for the remodel that followed. “The folks at Spanish Fort United Methodist Church were a big help to me in cleaning it up and getting it ready to remodel,” Cain said. “I can’t thank them enough for that.”
John Robitaille, director of marketing and advertising for the Cain’s chain, said the Spanish Fort store reflects the company’s ongoing push to spotlight fresh, local and Alabama-made products alongside the usual grocery lineup. The new location is also the first Cain’s store built with LED lighting throughout, which the company says makes it the most energy-efficient store in the chain.
Though somewhat smaller in footprint than some of Cain’s other Baldwin County stores, the Spanish Fort location carries the same signature amenities shoppers have come to expect, including an in-house delicatessen serving fried chicken, smoked ribs and Boston butts. The meat department offers Black Angus beef cut fresh in-store, with butchers available to cut orders to a customer’s specifications.
Cain said the store also features a special end cap dedicated to products made in Alabama. “Anything that is made in Alabama and I can get is in that store,” he said, describing his preference for working with local producers over larger national suppliers.
The store carries an extensive beer and wine selection, and Cain’s plans to host a series of wine education classes there this fall. Shoppers looking for craft beer can also use the store’s “growler station,” where customers can fill and take home jugs of draft beer, including a house brand brewed exclusively for Cain’s outlets.
With five stores now operating across Baldwin County, the Spanish Fort location gives Cain’s a stronger foothold along the fast-growing Eastern Shore corridor, where new residential development has fueled demand for grocery options closer to home.