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wnetmacman wrote:Winn Dixie DID eliminate Astor, Thrifty Maid, Superbrand and Crackin' Good in favor of their own Winn Dixie brand. I still don't understand the logic. The only brand still in existence is Chek, the soft drink brand.

Thrifty Maid is coming back. An article in Supermarket news reports Winn Dixie will have three house brand labels. Winn-Lovett will be for the upscale label, Winn Dixie will be the common store brand item, and Thrifty Maid will return as the label for second tier items.

jamcool wrote:It seemed like Safeway was the "king" of private store brands - Cragmont, Par, White Magic, Scotch Buy, Mrs. Whites, Crown Colony, Lucerne, Busy Baker..etc

was??? They still are! Every VONS/Pavilions I walk into have Safeway brands all over the place. For every national brand, there are 5 Safeway brands of the same item!

BUT Safeway's store brand isn't bad at all. I think they are just as good if not better then the national brands.

steps wrote:was??? They still are! Every VONS/Pavilions I walk into have Safeway brands all over the place. For every national brand, there are 5 Safeway brands of the same item!

BUT Safeway's store brand isn't bad at all. I think they are just as good if not better then the national brands.

Let's avoid getting into a discussion of the relative merits of various store brands, given that this is a history forum. I think jamcool's point was that Safeway used to have dozens of different names for its store brands, as opposed to the three or four in use now.

I learned to read from reading labels from A&P products, the back of Sunnyfield corn flakes, White House evaporated milk, cheer-aid "kool-aid.

A&P perfected the three tier house brand, with A&P, Iona and Sultana for some products, Penguin, A&P and Marvel for ice cream products, Sunnybrook, Wildmere and Crestview for eggs.

For a very seductive and messmerizing search, check out Google archive.

Just type in, for instance, "ann page" and you will fine thousands of references to old A&P ads found in various papers. For close ups of the ads, most require fees and subscriptions, but for others, the size of the ad is very readable.

Happy memories and great eating. These A&P brand foods (gosh Penguin chocolate marshallow ice cream was so sinful) were America's original comfort foods.

Ralphs' PLAIN WRAP

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl= ... start%3D60

Hi, Why did A&P sell 8 O Clocvk Coffee and other brands IE compass Foods. Simple A&P was in deep financial trouble and needed to raise money. I forgot how much this raised but it paid off a lot of debt. Short sided ,probably especialy when every one ofA&Ps competitors now carry 8 O Clock Coffee, thus eliminating onemore reason to go into one of their stores. But if dumb were a crime in the grocery business the land would be full of Supermarket Penitentories and we would be watching Law & Order Grocery Squad on T.V,

A&P's competitors were selling 8 O'Clock Coffee before they sold the business, too.

As for Eight O'Clock Coffee, I believe A&P set up Compass Foods mainly to make the coffee brand available in markets where A&P pulled out of in the 1970's and 1980's. Eight O'Clock Coffee did have a loyal following, so it is only natural that competing grocery chains started selling the product after A&P left. With A&P pulled out of most of the country, except for the NYC area now, it's only natural that Eight O'Clock became a national brand.