Mike Rivalto, Memphis businessman and entrepreneur, first began contemplating SmartMart in 1983 based on the idea that faster and more efficient is better.

The genesis of the idea actually came from a conversation Mike had with his wife Becky.  At the time, Becky was pregnant with their daughter and was lamenting the fact that she had to park the car, get out and walk all the way back to a local grocery store just to get a gallon of milk.  It was during the course of this conversation that Mike began to wonder if there might be a better way...

 The concept of an automated retail store wasn't an entirely new one.  Ironically, the earliest attempt at the idea also took place in the same city where Smartmart's corporate headquarters resides: Memphis, TN.  Clarence Saunders, found of the Piggly Wiggly chain of supermarkets, experimented with automated, self-service shopping.  Saunders' "Kedoozle" stores - a name derived from the phrase "one key does all" - displayed merchandise as single units 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 purchase.  Customers set the quantity they wished to purchase by the number of times they pulled the key's trigger mechanism.  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.  The machinery, however, proved to be unreliable, particularly at busy times, and the resulting delays coupled with a heavy maintenance bill killed Kedoozle.  Simply put, Saunders was ahead of his time.

During its early years, Smartmart seemed destined to suffer the same fate of the Kedoozle, and for the same reasons.  However, once the nineties rolled around, technology began to catch up and progress on designing and building a Smartmart prototype began to come in leaps and bounds.  In particular, advancements in videoconferencing/video surveillance technology significantly reduced costs.  There were actually two separate prototypes during Smartmart's early years.  The first one was never fully completed, as it was decided during its development that a much better job of design could be done, hence the creation of the second prototype.  This second prototype was eventually deployed in the field to the current location at the corner of Park and White Station in East Memphis.  This second prototype was actually originally assembled in Gratz, Austria by PEEM, a company that specialized in automated warehouse picking systems.  Essentially, they installed a "shrunken" version of their warehouse systems into the Smartmart chassis.  If you find yourself thinking that the chassis of Smartmart looks familiar, it's because you probably see it almost everyday on the interstate as you drive to and from work.  The chassis is a specially modified 53' tractor trailer.  Basically an 18-wheeler without the wheels.  This design choice resulted from Mike Rivalto's longtime involvement in the business of selling and reparing trailer refrigeration units with his other business, Tri-State Thermo King.

This prototype store has been in operation for over 5 years as of May 17th, 2008.  Obviously, this fact alone cements the notion that the Smartmart technology and its automated retail style of business are no longer "ahead of their time".  The public is ready and willing to consistently use this technology and Smartmart is poised to take advantage of this fact with our third, and final, Smartmart design.  This production model is currently under development, with changes relative to the prototype Smartmart unit being too numerous to list here.  If you've used the prototype Smartmart unit and were impressed, trust us when we say, you've only seen the tip of the iceberg!