# Preferring store brand over name brand **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 28, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preferring-store-brand-over-name-brand/497950 "2009-05-28T17:53:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2009, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preferring-store-brand-over-name-brand/497950/41 "2009-05-29T23:54:54Z")
Clark Howard (radio host who specializes in saving money) has talked about the high quality of store branded goods. I’ve been sampling the major stores in my area and about the only thing I 've been disappointed in is tuna fish. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preferring-store-brand-over-name-brand/497950/42 "2009-05-30T03:19:16Z")
Yep, Target’s Archer Farms. Also, just Target brand almost anything. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preferring-store-brand-over-name-brand/497950/43 "2009-05-30T04:26:31Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > I ONCE tried a Publix store brand item that I didn’t like - strawberry preserves, I thought they were really pithy. So I e-mailed the store, thinking Publix would like to know about it, because they seem to really care about quality. I got a call (well, a message on my voice mail) from the _factory manager_ of the factory that makes the preserves, telling me that of course you should expect some variation in natural products but that they’re inspecting the production line to make sure the preserves are of appropriate quality and that if I do try the same product again and find it unappealing I should call her directly and let her know immediately. The one Publix thing that I hated was the soy milk–far inferior to Silk brand. ---
**Author:** ![Auntbeast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Auntbeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Auntbeast)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2009, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preferring-store-brand-over-name-brand/497950/44 "2009-05-30T04:29:20Z")
Hey, **Snowboarder Bo** I’m guessing you are unfamiliar with Cheerwine? If you can locate it, try it. There was a recent thread here about it. I love cherry cokes, but not the packaged kind, I can’t stand cherry coke or pepsi. Cheerwine is awesome, it tastes like real fake cherry flavoring, distinct from artificial, chemical-tasting cherry-like additive. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2009, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preferring-store-brand-over-name-brand/497950/45 "2009-05-31T02:31:43Z")
> [@Auntbeast](#): > > Hey, **Snowboarder Bo** > > I’m guessing you are unfamiliar with Cheerwine? If you can locate it, try it. There was a recent thread here about it. > > I love cherry cokes, but not the packaged kind, I can’t stand cherry coke or pepsi. Cheerwine is awesome, it tastes like real fake cherry flavoring, distinct from artificial, chemical-tasting cherry-like additive. Thanks, **Auntie**! I had forgotten all about Cheerwine. We don’t have Piggly Wiggly or Hoggly Woggly out here! I’ll look for it. If I can’t find it, our otherwise crappy local newspaper has a column for helping people finding food products. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preferring-store-brand-over-name-brand/497950/46 "2009-06-01T15:18:57Z")
I get the store knockoff Lucky Charms because there not covered in as much sugar as the name brand. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preferring-store-brand-over-name-brand/497950/47 "2009-06-01T15:42:47Z")
> [@AqualungBats5th](#): > > I’ve worked in grocery retail on both the vendor/supplier and instore clerk sides for pretty much all my adult life, and my experience is that customers will swear up and down that a store brand is better than a certain name brand and it is **exactly** the same thing. Is there any way for the consumer to tell who’s making it? Some secret code on the packaging? ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preferring-store-brand-over-name-brand/497950/48 "2009-06-01T15:49:29Z")
Everything branded Marks and Spencer is better than name brand, but that’s almost cheating. Nevertheless, if there’s one thing I miss about the UK, it’s Marks and Spencer. Many of the Wegmans store brand items are better than name brand. Their Double Stuf knockoff cookies (or “Double Woes” as we call them) are responsible for ruining my diet. To tell you the truth, I’m hard pressed to think of _any_ Wegmans item that’s significantly worse than its name brand counterpart. Damn, now I have to go to Wegmans again. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preferring-store-brand-over-name-brand/497950/49 "2009-06-01T16:03:27Z")
Kirkland Brand through CostCo is the equivalent to the name brands, literally, yet it is much cheaper. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preferring-store-brand-over-name-brand/497950/50 "2009-06-01T16:05:54Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Some types of Safeway ice cream are far better than Breyer’s. When I was a kid, we got A&P syrup (Ann Page) back when maple syrup was standard. My wife prefers Safeway frozen diet whipped topping. > As a counterexample, Safeway microwave popcorn is awful. Wow. Ann Page. I haven’t thought of that brand since I was a kid. My mom used to send me across the highway to the A&P to pick up this or that. Thanks for that memory!! ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preferring-store-brand-over-name-brand/497950/51 "2009-06-01T21:46:59Z")
I was told once that the store brand is often a name brand just re-packaged. A friend was a manager of a Safeway supermarket and said that you can tell what name brand the store brand actually is by the packaging. Like the Safeway brand jam is in a jar the exact same shape as the Smuckers jam. It’s actually smuckers jam just labelling it as the store brand. Or the Safeway Select ice cream is actually just Breyers. I don’t know if its true. Just saying what I was told. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preferring-store-brand-over-name-brand/497950/52 "2009-06-01T21:54:49Z")
**Safeway Organics** ketchup is ambrosia, I can drink it straight from the bottle. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/preferring-store-brand-over-name-brand/497950.md?page=2)