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Private Label: What Shoppers Say

A strong majority (82%) of respondents to a new PLMA survey agreed that store brands are better than or as good as the national brands. An informal SN consumer poll of several Waldbaums shoppers on New York's Long Island produced similar results. Alice Rouse, a Dix Hills mother of twin boys, fills her pantry with America's Choice products. She does so not so much because of the economy, but simply

A strong majority (82%) of respondents to a new PLMA survey agreed that store brands are better than or as good as the national brands.

An informal SN consumer poll of several Waldbaums shoppers on New York's Long Island produced similar results.

Alice Rouse, a Dix Hills mother of twin boys, fills her pantry with America's Choice products. She does so not so much because of the economy, but simply because she feels the quality is comparable to national brands.

Michele Glover, a mother of two from Melville, N.Y., says she often buys private label because she's read that some store brands are manufactured by the same companies that make the national brands.

“Why pay for marketing and packaging if it is essentially the same?” Glover reasons.

Plus, the quality is there, she said. In the case of canned and dairy goods, she finds that the quality is equal to national brands 99% of the time. And private-label dry goods such as cookies and pasta come close enough to national-brand quality that she will buy them, she said.

Margo Blatt, also of Dix Hills, the mother of an elementary school student, said she is loyal to many national-brand foods and beverages. But she often buys private-label over-the-counter medicines for herself and her husband, she added.