Tag Archives: store brands

The Best Store Brands

2 Comments

shopcartI’ve told this one before, but one of the great lines about the savings – and the stigma – of buying store-brand products comes from the old Rosanne sitcom.

Rosie is leading a home-ec field trip to the grocery store.  She tells the girls about saving with store brands as she reaches for some Brand-X corn flakes.  Her daughter is mortified. “But we don’t buy that…we use the good stuff!” Says Rosanne: “We use the BOX of good stuff. I fill it with this. It’s only SECOND best for MY family!”

Funny thing is, a lot of people don’t consider the store brand as second best anymore. If you’ve got bills to pay (you do, right?) then saving up to 36% on the generic label is pretty attractive! (According to Consumer Affairs magazine.)

Consumer Reports says that 65% of people buy store brands whenever they can. And 63% of those folks “were completely or very satisfied with the quality; only 5 percent expressed even a hint of dissatisfaction.”

All store brands are not created equal, however. Consumer Reports also surveyed items at 68 stores, and found that 49 stores earned average or above scores. Who does the store brand thing best? The overall winner was Trader Joe’s, followed by

  • Wegmans
  • Publix
  • Costco
  • Raley’s
  • Whole Foods Market, and
  • Harris Teeter

So what do YOU think? Do you use a lot of store brands? Like a lot of the folks in the survey, I also use them whenever I can. Who do YOU think does them best? Let us know over at the MindField Online Facebook page, and have a great weekend!

Store-brand Stigma? Not Anymore

2 Comments

One of the great lines about the savings – and the stigma – of buying store-brand products comes from the old Rosanne sitcom.

Rosie is leading a home-ec field trip to the grocery store.  She tells the girls about saving with store brands as she reaches for some Brand-X corn flakes.  Her daughter is mortified. “But we don’t buy that…we use the good stuff!” Says Rosanne: “We use the BOX of good stuff. I fill it with this. It’s only SECOND best for MY family!”

Rosie and Dan scraped to get by during the good times. Well, times have changed. Now, it seems like many of us are scraping. Many of us will buy brand X, as long as it actually does save us some dough.

It’s generally accepted that store brands cost less than national brands, but how much less? A survey conducted for an association of store brand labels says switching to store brands could save the average consumer as much as 36 percent off their grocery bill. Consumer Affairs

The article describes a 4-week study where they bought 30 summertime items: hot dogs, condiments, charcoal, freezer pops, sunscreen, etc. One side bought brand names, one side bought brand X. They did all the careful science-y statistical stuff to make it fair. And they saw that a month’s worth of the good stuff cost $110.00, while the off brands cost $70.00.  The big winner? Buns!

So, yeah, there are savings to be had, as long as the quality is there. That will definitely vary by product and by brand.

What about you? Do you have brand X fever? Across the board? Some things yes, some things no? Never ever ever? Let us know! Read the rest of the article here, and have a great weekend!

(photo: healthkicker.com)