House Brands

[danemodsandy]

Phil:

Yes, ALDI is a strong presence here; the U.S. stores are owned and operated by ALDI Sud.

They do a lot of things well, and one can save a lot of money there, but customer service is a very, very weak point; if you have a problem that cannot be resolved by a simple exchange or refund, you almost never receive a satisfactory response.

 

[whirlcool]

Aldi just opened up a bunch of stores in Houston this past March. Since the buildings are exactly the same as the ones in Chicago I thought they would be the same, but they are not. There is no logical explanation as to how the store is laid out. The interior of the store is very small. In fact with the racks they use to display merchandise and most of the signs are in Spanish I have the feeling I'm shopping at a charity food bank. They don't have much inventory, just a few pkgs of each item offered. the location is great, right in the middle between two major grocery stores a Walmart and a HEB of whom are involved in a price war. I feel they could do better than they are. Since we already have some of the lowest food prices in the U.S. all Aldi can do is come in 4 or 5 cents cheaper then the regular stores do. BTW, I've been to an Aldi in Germany and those are great!

Now on the other hand, the Aldi store is spectacularly clean and the employees (the only ones ever seen are the cashiers) are very outgoing and friendly.

But Houston is a very competitive food town and lots of grocery chains have come and gone simply because they couldn't tailor themselves to the Houston marker. BTW, Aldi expects to have 35 stores open in Houston by year end.

 

[danemodsandy]

Allen:

The Achilles heel of ALDI is that they pre-program everything and everybody to an extent that makes it hard for the system to respond when there is a systemic problem.

An example here in Iowa occurred a couple of years ago when the quality of their Burman's mayonnaise suddenly became unacceptable. It was runny, funky-tasting and you did not buy it twice, trust me.

Complaints to store personnel got the offer of a refund, nothing more. Complaints to ALDI corporate generated no response, which is their usual standard of customer care. Only after sales for the mayo dwindled to essentially nothing, and sales across the board were affected (I got this info from a rogue employee who actually talks to customers), did ALDI get on the stick and take the necessary steps to restore the former quality of the product. Total time? Perhaps six months.

The mayo is back to normal, but there are other problems from a customer perspective, and there is nothing you can do but fume - or go to the fully stocked, completely competent and brand-name-carrying Walmart right across the street.

 

[perc-o-prince]

b/w generics

I remember them from the '80's! No Frills was the tag line as I remember.

I buy an awful lot of store brands. Honey Bunches of Oats is like $3.29 but the delish Market Basket equal (maybe with berries or almonds, if I choose) sells for $2.

Price Chopper brand lite blue cheese dressing can be stacked up against most of the major brands, including Ken's, and is much better than Wish Bone at about 1/2 the price!

Price Chopper almond milk is about $0.75 cheaper than Silk, and tastes much better (though the Blue Diamond brand is slightly better than the PC one and on sale a lot).

Funny- at Price Chopper they have their own brand of stuff, but they also have Central Market which is their more upscale store brand, and they've now come up with GV (Great Value) packaged minimally in yellow/black for a generic feel.

There aren't any glaring problems I've come across with the Price Chopper brand goods. Even their TP, when you compare it to what they say they're comparing it to on the label, is good. What I think is really funny is when I see the PC and brand-named items next to each other and you swear they're in the same bottles- ribbing and all (like plastic juice bottles)!!

Chuck

 

[arbilab]

Kroger or HEB housebrand French onion dip is INFINITELY better than Kraft, which doesn't even resemble food.

If Kroger is expensive in Houston, they are marketing to a different niche (variety) because they know they can't beat HEB. DFW doesn't have HEB. HEB doesn't have card or senior discounts, Kroger does. Wallyworld has neither. The only thing I buy there is bluejeans.

There are only 2 things I don't buy Kroger house brands. One is tartar sauce, which from talking with others is a highly subjective taste. The other is cranberry-grape juice; Kroger's contains high fructose which I avoid like the plague, national costs a dollar more but contains cane/beet sugar.

 

[retromania]

Aldi

The one here in Anderson stays packed. It's way up on the north end near the interstate. Not practical for me unless I stop there on my way home from work. It is small on the inside and cluttered. With lot's of people in there it's hard to push a buggy through. So I mostly shop elsewhere,

 

[frigilux]

The only grocery store in my little burg is a HyVee. I purchase quite a few of their house brand items and have been quite pleased with the quality of most of them.

HyVee cake mixes still weigh in at 18.25 ounces!! They're the only ones I buy, anymore.

Hisses: Bags of HyVee brand shredded cheeses are following the downsize trend, unfortunately. A number of the varieties are down to 7 ounces, and I saw a couple yesterday that were 6! I make a chafer pan (double-recipe sized) egg bake for the break room at work once a month, and the recipe calls for two 8-ounce bags of shredded Cheddar. Only the Mild variety of cheddar still comes in an 8-oz. bag. I bought a couple dozen on sale ($1.67) and threw them in the freezer.