Are supermarkets dumping regular items for their own store-branded ones?

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@filmore

Maybe HEB is taking private-label to the next level. I’m used to the private-label brands being a more basic, 2nd tier product. But HEB is trying to make it the premium choice. For example, their private-label tortillas come in many more variations than the regular brands ever did. And now that the regular brands are relegated to the edges of the section, they have even less variety now than they did before. The regular brands are becoming the more basic choice.

If it’s the “Hill Country Fare” stuff, then it’s their garden-variety stuff, but if it’s the “Central Market Select” or whatever, it’s their spiffy, upper-end brand sold in their HEB Central Market stores, and is intended to compete with upper-end foodie/gourmet products. There’s also a straight HEB brand which is the middle of the road brand, and a “Hill Country Fare” brand which is the value brand.

They’re basically trying to position their house brands to compete with all non-house brands, and in some products, all 3 may be on the shelves next to the other brands.

[Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus]

@filmore

Many of the store-branded items are better than the regular items. There will often be more variety of product and the quality can be just as good.

I’ve noticed the general improvement in quality over the years, although there are exceptions, like packages of paper products that turn out to be mostly air.

[Voyager]

@Green_Bean

Pathmark (owned by A&P) has done something interesting by producing a second-tier store brand that is cheaper than its regular store brand. The few products that I’ve tried from that line have been far inferior to the regular store brand items. It was an unpleasant surprise because I’d gotten used to the idea that store brands are usually in the same quality range as typical name brands, at least in some categories.

The biggest expansion in the store brands I see in Safeway are the Organics version of the store brands, so they have moved up a notch, not down. They are also placing them in prime shelf position - I almost bought one by accident last weekend because it was where the normal store brand used to be. I assume their margins are better, and they attract the Bay Area organic consumer. These are canned, frozen and packaged goods. They are doing the same for produce which is more expected.
Private labels are nothing new. 35 years ago my wife worked in a vegetable cannery, which did lots of private label work, as well as having its own national brand. The private label stuff was done after the branded stuff, though I can’t say if this is still true.

[JohnT]

By the way, for those of us who have HEB’s we can visit, I strongly, strongly recommend the Lopez Family Rub for your next steak or burger grilling moment. Trust me on this.

The rub is from a separate company, Adam’s Extract so it may be available elsewhere - but I’ve only seen them at HEB’s. They have a pretty good variety, so you may wish to try some of their others.

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@Green_Bean

Pathmark (owned by A&P) has done something interesting by producing a second-tier store brand that is cheaper than its regular store brand. The few products that I’ve tried from that line have been far inferior to the regular store brand items. It was an unpleasant surprise because I’d gotten used to the idea that store brands are usually in the same quality range as typical name brands, at least in some categories.

Kroger does this too; there’s the normal house brand, and then there’s the “Value” brand which is packaged one step above the old generic stuff

The stuff is generally cruddier or packages are slightly smaller, and they’re almost always very basic staple items- butter, sugar, toilet paper, etc…

For an example of similar value, “Value” butter is a single monolithic 1 lb block wrapped in waxpaper, while the normal house brand is a lb of butter in individually wrapped quarter-pound sticks inside a cardboard box. Same butter though, from what I can tell.

The sugar seems to be in a more inconsistent granule size than say… Imperial or Domino sugar, but otherwise doesn’t have any off flavors or colors.

Value brand frozen veggies seem to be mostly stems and oddly cut- not nearly as pretty as say… Birdseye, but still all broccoli (or whatever) and not spoiled or anything.

Oh, and for stuff to get at HEB… their pre-packaged and marinated beef fajitas are AWESOME when grilled over charcoal. A friend actually won a competition by claiming those as his own!

[zlexiss]

I have also noticed that since Safeway started their “just for u” electronic coupon thing, the deals have shifted overwhelmingly towards store brand items (and average value has gone down).

[Diceman]

@Green_Bean

Trader Joe’s can’t be compared to traditional grocery stores, because their entire selection is based on their store brand. They do carry name-brand products, but they seem to be more about filling in the gaps because Trader Joe’s can’t feasibly produce a store brand for every single thing they want to carry.

The only “big name” brand I’ve seen at Trader Joe’s is Cliff Bars. Beer and wine are mostly smaller labels. The beers appear to be all microbrews.

Trader Joe’s used to have a house brand called “Frugal Joe’s Cheap Beer”. It tried it once; it was exactly as advertized: a very plain, cheap bear.

[OneOfOne]

Someone mentioned Loblaws - I am in Ontario and they also run 2 house brands - No Name which is cheap and generic and President’s Choice which is as good as or better than the named brands. Their chocolate chip cookies and lasagna are better than a national brand.