Jewel branded milk, eggs and bread are back! Is Acme next? We can only hope. The packaging design is similar to what was used prior to SuperValu replacing banner specific brands with Essential Everyday. The design of the packaging makes it easy for each banner's logo to be popped into the white box. It would be very nice to see "ACME" branded items back on shelves!
Thanks to Aidan Chism for letting us know!
Hopefully Acme is next! And, wow, those are some great prices!
ReplyDeleteAre there any other items branded with 'Acme'? I know currently, the 'Refreshe' spring water has the Acme logo on the label.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen the logo on the water lately. It seems to come and go. The garlic bread in the Bakery still says "ACME".
DeleteThe ACME logo is on the refreshe 24 packs only..not anything else from what I've seen
DeleteI don't see what the big deal is. Whether it says Acme or Lucerne or America's Choice (RIP), store brand is store brand. That's my opinion, anyway.
ReplyDeleteGrocery stores build loyalty with their private brands. Look at the success that Publix, Wegmans and Trader Joes have with their brands. Off. The. Charts. A&P helped kill off Pathmark by replacing their branded products with America's Chose. Safeway killed Geunardi's by getting rid of their brands.
DeleteIf a supermarket is willing to put their own name on a product it may ring more quality top the consumer than some unassociated or wistful sounding name like LUCERNE or SIGNATURE SELECT, neither of which have anything to do with the store they are sold in. Just my opinion.
DeleteA&P killed off Pathmark by jacking up prices and killing product selection. I don't think the store brand change, in the grand scheme of things, made any difference.
DeletePathmark, before A&P acquired them, was the only chain competing with ShopRite on price.
I think the issue of Genuardi's wasn't so much the store brand (the Genuardi's label on products wasn't that extensive), but they got rid of a lot of local items and changed bakery recipes and such (not to mention huge price increases..Genuardi's was always an expensive store, but Safeway made them even more ridiculous.)
DeleteAnd I believe Safeway tried branding certain store brand items with the Genuardi's name briefly (not sure if this was from the get-go or fall out from early declining sales), but it didn't last long. I know years ago I spotted an oddly arranged Genuardi's logo on a container of frozen lemonade but it read something similar to 'Distributed by Safeway' on it.
It was a combination of the two. The loss of the Genuardi's brand as well as the unique items in the line.
DeletePlus the introduction of limits and club cards.
Genuardi's had a fierly loyal following. Safeway came in determined to change the stores to their cookie cutter approach. Once Wegmans expanded more into their markets, people probably switched over because Wegmans has a very strong private label line that is just as good as name brands and the prices are unbeatable.
Genuardi's would have probably succeeded if they would have left some of the senior management in place, kept their house brand and not change the stores up so radically. But I guess Safeway didn't learn their lesson.
This is interesting. Keep in mind that Chicago was one of the (many) places where Safeway took over a successful local chain (Dominicks) and drove it from best-in-class to mass closures, and finally--extinction. Much of this dive was attributed to the push of Safeway brands--Safeway Select, Lucerne, O-Organics--and many people may recognize these same brands (Safeway Select now re-bannered as Signature Select, but with the exact same look) being pushed at Jewel-Osco. So possibly Safeway/Albertsons is trying to learn from these mistakes. I am not holding my breath. Kroger/Mariano's is invading Chicago with lots of huge, bright new stores and Jewel is the main target.
ReplyDeleteThey're phasing in the Kroger brand at Mariano's, so in terms of brands, it's a moot point. What happened at Dominick's was more of a marketing issue, where the product line-up went from being locally controlled and at each store to controlled by people out of Northern California.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, many stores in the Albertsons family are taking the Safeway merchandising approach to their brands, including ACME, which is bad.
However, I'm inclined to think that Albertsons isn't quite as foolish as to kill Jewel and ACME like what Safeway did to Dominick's and Genuardi.
Not sure what you mean by "more of a marketing issue". Dominick's shoppers were upset that their Dominick's brand, which they trusted and loved for many years, was so callously replaced with a brand they had no love for.
DeleteAs for Albertson's and Acme, I think the damage has been done for the last 15 years.
Was that really the problem at Dominick's? I always heard it was their out of control pricing. My impression was that everyone shopped at Jewel only because their prices were better.
DeleteThe prices were always better at Jewel. Dominick’s was called The Fresh Store and it was positioned above Jewel, which was big and bright, but not very special in any way. People paid a little more because they loved the produce, meats, prepared foods at Dom’s. Genuardi’s in Philly was almost the exact same thing.
DeleteAnd you are right, Mike—store brands weren’t the whole problem, but it was a big part of the problem. Losing such an everyday representation of local ownership and brand connection is just representative of a wider disconnect that happens when brands like Acme and Dominick’s are whitewashed into some mega-corporation. There is a connection that forms over decades when you sit down to breakfast every morning for decades, and you see "Dominick's" or "Acme" on the cereal and milk, and now it says something generic like "Lucerne" or "Everyday Essential". But indeed, this loss is symbolic of a wider loss of local flavor and connection that included (at Dom’s) a reduction in both the variety and regionality of goods, in favor of national, non-regional brands; and most importantly, a loss of the family-run and customer-focused culture.
BTW Pseudo3D--Kroger has NOT made the same store-brand mistakes with Mariano's nor Harris Teeter. These stores still carry Roundy's and Harris Teeter brands, respectively. Although since Mariano’s is a relatively new brand to the Chicago market, it doesn’t have much to lose by introducing the Kroger brand.
Acme Markets still has their Lancaster Brand Meats and Ivin's Spided Wafers brands.
Delete"BTW Pseudo3D--Kroger has NOT made the same store-brand mistakes with Mariano's nor Harris Teeter. These stores still carry Roundy's and Harris Teeter brands, respectively."
DeleteMeant to say Roundy's instead of Mariano's. Ads for Pick 'n Save still have Roundy's cheese but Kroger peanut butter.
I personally LOVE certain ShopRite brand products and I HATE the fact that Acme and Stop&Shop do NOT have their names on their products. No the fruit bowl does not count either! A&P also destroyed Pathmark by eliminating the Pathmark brand. That is probably the truest statement I've heard about that ill fated takeover. A&P also killed Waldbaums as well and themselves I may add with Americas Choice.
ReplyDeleteIf I know the product is the "store brand", regardless of the name on the package, I'm going to buy it! I don't understand what the damn difference is.
DeleteI'm inclined to agree with Mike.
DeleteTo me, store brand is 'unbranded' merchandise. I am buying it for the PRICE only, not the name on the packaging.
If the quality is not there (paper towels) I am buying a name brand.
If the quality is similar, I don't care what the name on the package says.
In the 1960's Acme's brands were Ideal and Farmdale for groceries, Speedup for cleaning products, Virginia Lee for baked goods, Louella for butter and several other labels.
ReplyDeleteTrue and they all incorporated elements of the fish-eye logo clearly identifying them as Acme's own brands, not those of some faceless distributor.
DeleteIt's about brand loyalty and quality. I believe that if a store puts their name on a product that it means something. Having grown up in the Bronx within walking distance of a Pathmark, the Pathmark brand no matter what it was, was worth its weight in gold in NYC and meant quality and low price! ShopRite branded products are available at Gristedes and Morton Williams in NYC for that reason. People recognize the name, it's familiarity and comfort. Lucerne, Americas Choice, Signature Select, the new Price Chopper brand, etc... do not resonate as well. Ann Page, A&P, Waldbaums, Pathmark, ShopRite, King Kullen all represent the companies they served, the neighborhoods they served and were often thought of as good if not better alternatives to name brand products. Even Big Y has their name in their products as does Hannaford and Tops!!! I'd gladly buy those products than some made up store brand name.
ReplyDeleteI'd suspect the new Price Chopper brand (PiCs) was due to their in-process slow changeover to Market 32 as the store name (thus having Price Chopper branded items wouldn't work any longer, and switching to Market 32 wouldn't either for the several years where both names are in use).
DeleteAlso, it is a way to leave a tribute to the old name, as on most items I've seen the P and C are in colors that make them stand out, since so many use and have used PC as a shorthand for Price Chopper for some time.
If a product is quality, it's quality. I don't care if it's Nabisco or ShopRite or Jim's Cookies, if they're good they're good. Not one single time in my life have I ever looked at a "store brand" product and refused to buy it because it said Essential Everyday instead of the name of whatever store I was shopping. It boggles my mind that people care so much!
DeleteIf shoppers, in general, didn't care, there wouldn't be a gigantic marketing industry in this country. And thank goodness there is 'cause that's how I make my living!!!
DeleteMike, Pathmark brand was available from Motor Oil and Anti freeze to toothpaste, toilet paper to milk and yogurt. Pathmark, AnnPage, A&P etc.... all represented much more than labels. They represented communities, familiar lower choice alternative brands that you knew you could get at Pathmark or A&P. Not like today. You just don't get it and that's ok. Different strokes for different folks.
ReplyDelete