Grocery stores selling B Grade @ Full Price

Where are you shopping?

I dislike that store brand (No Name, PC, Great Value, etc.) have sometimes become the same price and sometimes more expensive than the National brands.

They used to be far cheaper ... so are the store brands increasing margins or are the national brands taking less?

audit13 wrote: ↑ Where are you shopping?

This

Kind of a vague post

Where are you shopping ?
What are you buying ?
And what exactly are you referring to when you say “B Grade” ?

Everything will be going up in price quite a bit everywhere so it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.

jackrabbit000 wrote: ↑ Have you tried the PC Blue Menu items? It's actually very good.

I love the PC Frozen Indian Curries. Blue Menu or Regular. Butter Chicken, Vindaloo, Tikka Masala. I do miss Madras, haven't seen it in a store in a long while.

renoldman wrote: ↑ I dislike that store brand (No Name, PC, Great Value, etc.) have sometimes become the same price and sometimes more expensive than the National brands.

They used to be far cheaper ... so are the store brands increasing margins or are the national brands taking less?

I never got the appeal of store brand products... they're almost never the same quality. For some things like produce, we have no choice but to buy the store brand products.

tablo13 wrote: ↑ I never got the appeal of store brand products... they're almost never the same quality. For some things like produce, we have no choice but to buy the store brand products.

For the most part, they're actually almost the same thing.
I temped at a dressing manufacturer when I was in university many moons ago and it was the same thing. Just the label was different, and the price of course.

tablo13 wrote: ↑ I never got the appeal of store brand products... they're almost never the same quality. For some things like produce, we have no choice but to buy the store brand products.

They’re often the very same item inside the package. Flour is one example. At the mill they finish filling the Robin Hood bags, then put on the no name bags and fill it with the same product. You pay a premium for the national brand with the big advertising budget. This is especially true for medicines. Why buy Tylenol when store brand acetaminophen is so much cheaper?

Kiraly wrote: ↑ They’re often the very same item inside the package. Flour is one example. You pay a premium for the national brand with the big advertising budget. This is especially true for medicines. Why buy Tylenol when store brand acetaminophen is so much cheaper?

Yeah, generic medicine I understand. Prescription medicines are generic by default, if generic is available. However store brand doesn't always mean it's somehow made in the same manufacturer as others with the same quality ingredients.

We recently bought President's Choice unscented baby wipes and it is so horrible compared to the Huggies baby wipes we have bought cheaper in the past. The wipes are much thinner, there is less cleaning power, and it's not even actually unscented because there are aloe and flower extracts.

Call me skeptical, but I will always buy the national brand unless it's something I really do not care about. Even no name coffee filters are wildly inferior to Melitta coffee filters, but much cheaper. The few no name items we buy are things like plastic dish scrubbers.

renoldman wrote: ↑ I dislike that store brand (No Name, PC, Great Value, etc.) have sometimes become the same price and sometimes more expensive than the National brands.

They used to be far cheaper ... so are the store brands increasing margins or are the national brands taking less?

Maybe because 90% of PC products are better than national brands...

If you are talking about produce I find that the B grade stores have very similar quality nowadays and prices have risen across the board but still the main stores are even more expensive, which is insane to me. Don't forget our dollar is very weak right now so anything imported (many things are imported in cold climate countries like ours) is super expensive.

waloshin wrote: ↑ Maybe because 90% of PC products are better than national brands...

While I agree PC products are usually good in general, my issue with them is this -- they crowd out other brands and limit overall selection. It's one of the reasons I moved my shopping to Sobeys.

I have a friend who works for Astro yogurt. They also manufacture No Name for No Frills. It's the same contents. They can just charge higher for the "name".

Angellz wrote: ↑ I have a friend who works for Astro yogurt. They also manufacture No Name for No Frills. It's the same contents. They can just charge higher for the "name".

There is one thing I'm not sure about. Are they using the exact same ingredients or are they using substitutes for the store brand names? It seems to me that a lot of the products taste different, even though they are manufactured at the same factory.

GeneralStore wrote: ↑ There is one thing I'm not sure about. Are they using the exact same ingredients or are they using substitutes for the store brand names? It seems to me that a lot of the products taste different, even though they are manufactured at the same factory.

Some products are the exact same, ingredient-for-ingredient. Some products use a slightly different formula for the no-name version. Read the ingredients lists on the labels, often you can find the exact same list on a name-brand product. Almost guaranteed to have identical contents. Why not buy one of each and ask someone to set up a blind taste test for you?

Kiraly wrote: ↑ Some products are the exact same, ingredient-for-ingredient. Some products use a slightly different formula for the no-name version. Read the ingredients lists on the labels, often you can find the exact same list on a name-brand product. Almost guaranteed to have identical contents. Why not buy one of each and ask someone to set up a blind taste test for you?

This

Some Original formulas / recipes are proprietary
So the ingredients have to be slightly different ... could be just a matter of percentages

Where other things ... it don’t matter so much

So ingredients are 100% the same ... they just change the jars / cans ... & labels on the assembly line

This is exactly WHY some No Name or Store Brand Products taste identical to the big name stuff
And why others do not
It all comes down to where they are sourced from (manufacturer) and the recipe that makes them

We have a list of items in all 3 categories we prefer
* Brand Name
* Store Brand
* No Name

As everyone’s taste buds are different it makes sense, that no 2 people will prefer the same things
Like some folks cannot have anything BUT HEINZ Ketchup
Let alone a second brand (French’s )
Or a store brand or No Name

And that’s ok ... everyone should be able to have choices
The RFD trick tho is ... finding the BEST PRICE / VALUE to match your preference
If it’s the higher end Name Brand Ketchup ... then know what’s a good unit price to keep yourself happily enjoying it
And that’s not just the price per bottle ... ya also got to know the price per ml ... so you can compare directly head to head ... cuz the Brand Name ketchup will come in different size bottles (some times ... this is INTENTIONAL ... like a Walmart or Costco will get the Co to pkg just for them in a “custom size” available no where else )

All comes down to the core of shopping power for the Consumer
1- Know your WANTS from your NEEDS
2- Know your Budget
3- Know your Flexibility ... what you will or won’t compromise on
4- KNOW YOUR PRICES

renoldman wrote: ↑ I dislike that store brand (No Name, PC, Great Value, etc.) have sometimes become the same price and sometimes more expensive than the National brands.

They used to be far cheaper ... so are the store brands increasing margins or are the national brands taking less?

Interesting. Could you provide examples where store brand like No Name or Great Value costs the same or more than the name brand?

crystallight wrote: ↑ Interesting. Could you provide examples where store brand like No Name or Great Value costs the same or more than the name brand?

Well ... right off the bat I would say the obvious one might be
If the name brand is ON SALE
It might be even cheaper than the Store Brand or No Name one