Save Mart Drug Private Label

[storewanderer]

I see in the (NV) Save Mart ad for this week that the drug items are shown as "Today's Health, Top Care, or Equaline." My first thought was they are finally going to start to source these drug items on their own to the former Albertsons locations and stop selling Albertsons branded items (something that should have happened by now since they have owned these stores for as long as they have).

But after going into a Save Mart here and seeing no sign of Top Care products (along with the usual below average conditions, highest prices of any grocer in this market, large assortment of cold drinks in what once housed more dairy items, and sloppy looking perimeter), I wondered. I checked a Lucky ad to see what private label is being advertised for drug items there, since that entire set of stores is former Albertsons. The Lucky ad shows only Equaline products.

So it appears Save Mart is discontinuing their Today's Health label in favor of Top Care, something that Raleys did years ago now (getting rid of TH and replacing it with Top Care). This makes sense. It would also make sense to sell the Top Care at the former Albertsons Stores. Save Mart needs to be consistent and carry the same drug private label throughout their network.

I wonder if the next move will be to discontinue Sunny Select and replace it with Food Club.

[Alpha8472]

I think Save Mart will probably do the same thing as Raley's. Raley's uses Topco products, but still has some Sunny Select items. From what I have seen, I think Top Care carries a wide selection of drug store items. I think that it might be an improvement. I never liked the Equaline name. It just seemed like the name of some medication. Top Care packaging is much nicer to look at.

I am pretty sure Save Mart will still continue to carry some Homelife products such as Homelife batteries, tape, lint traps. Topco doesn't seem to have an equivalent line to Homelife. A lot of the Homelife products still scan as Savon products at the register.
http://www.foodcity.com/our_brands/food ... /top_care/

[storewanderer]

What Sunny Select items are left at Raleys that are not marked as clearance or discontinued? Even many of the Sunnyside items have been discontinued at Raleys (but not all).

Top Care's drug mix at Scolaris and Raleys is tiny, very tiny. Scolaris actually has to supplement the mix with some other brands since it is incomplete (I've seen Valu Rite items in the past). Shopko also used to carry Top Care drug items and had a similar small mix. Probably 1/4 the assortment of Equaline.

I believe their equal for things like tape, batteries, and lint rollers would be Top Crest.

[Alpha8472]

Raley's seems like they are really trying to get rid of Sunny Select now.

The Food City website shows photos of all of the Topco brands. They even carry milk, mustard, and light bulbs. I think that Topco can provide products to replace most of the Sunny Select products.

I noticed the addition of Full Circle peanut butter at Lucky. They used to carry only Sunny Select peanut butter for a store brand.

The Top Foods website describes the Topco brands: Yes, they have batteries!
http://www.top-foods.com/TopWeb/Brands.aspx

[storewanderer]

Yes, I did more research... I also think they are willing to create items if necessary for one of the companies that uses them for private label. I suspect they have farmed out the procurement and development of Sunny Select to TopCo and TopCo is handling all of that now. This may explain the recent promotion tied to Sunny Select items at Save Mart where you obtain money off your next shopping order (the local Save Mart, on the first day of the promotion, couldn't even tell me how much you had to spend to earn the $3 or $5 award all they knew was $10 worth "spit out" a $2 off coupon) as this was very likely something that TopCo sponsored.

This is a very odd thing to do for a chain that has doubled in size and has as many stores as Save Mart has. Farming out private label functions is something that 25-150 store size chains (Raleys, Stater, Bashas, Haggen-Top Foods, etc.) do, not larger ones with 250 stores.

Save Mart also has the highest prices in the NorCal market now that Safeway has made price reductions. Safeway's pricing is still very high relative to the lower price operators here in NV, but it is lower than Save Mart on many items. Save Mart needs to lower prices. I don't think this move out of Safeway could have come at a worse time for Save Mart.

I also heard Save Mart is telling the stores to stop using paper bags because they cost the company 7cents each and they need to cut supply costs.

[Alpha8472]

Getting dollars back for purchasing Sunny Select is not new. They did that many months ago. They called it Lucky Bucks. I bought Sunny Select items and after spending a certain amount the register would print out a coupon with Lucky bucks. Save Mart also had the same promotion, but they called it Save Mart Bucks.

[storewanderer]

I did not notice that promotion. I do not do much with Save Mart due to the terrible quality (I did get a nice sour gallon of Bayview milk there last week though that wasn't supposed to expire until the 20th as I learned tonight after opening it) and high prices.

I did notice a purchase discount program where you got money off your next visit from buying beef back in January or February.

Also getting a few dollars back buying their overpriced Sunny Select merchandise doesn't do a whole lot of good when the majority of it is priced at significantly more than Smiths charges for the same item in Kroger brand. 3.09 for Sunny Select Instant Oatmeal and the same Kroger Instant Oatmeal at Smiths is 1.67 each everyday (same item at Safeway is 3.00 in their brand). Also Sunnyside Butter 1lb is 3.99 at Save Mart; same item is 2.18 at Smiths and 2.49 at Safeway. Also Sunnyside Dozen Large Eggs at 1.59 at Save Mart; same item is 1.03 reg price at Smiths and 1.49 (sale, reg 1.79) at Safeway. Also don't forget 5lb Flour. Save Mart is on sale 2.99 (reg 3.19), Smiths is 1.76, and Safeway is 2.59. Things really don't measure up at Save Mart. The prices at Wal Mart and WinCo are even lower than Smiths, too.

Save Mart's prices for branded grocery items are no better. 16oz Kraft Salad Dressing at 3.99 each. Over at Smiths that item is 1.69 everyday and this week is part of their "buy 10 items save $5" promotion (final price=1.19). Another good one is 7.5oz Softsoap Aloe Vera that one is 2.69 at Save Mart, 1.00 everyday at Smiths and also part of their "buy 10 items save $5 promotion (final price= .50). I also saw Dial Body Wash at Save Mart priced at something like 5.69 or 5.99 at Save Mart that sells for 3.71 or something at Smiths. What gives?

Many grocery categories have experienced deflation and most of the operators, even Safeway now, have recognized that and are passing this fact on to the customers.