Great Value candy bars

[Brian Lutz]

On a visit to Walmart last night I saw that they are now selling Great Value brand clones of Snickers, Milky Way and 3 Musketeers at the registers. I can't recall ever seeing these before, so I tried the Snickers clone version and found it to be OK for the $0.78 they were selling it for (compared to $1.32 for the same sized 3.5 ounce Snickers bar) but it has the usual "close but not quite" quality you come to expect from store brand food products. I was able to confirm from the ingredients that it did at least have real chocolate but it definitely tasted lower quality than the name brand stuff. Beyond possibly someone like Aldi I can't ever recall seeing store brand candy bar clones like that before.

That's not to say that store brand candies are always going to be inferior; on my last visit to Trader Joe's I found some dark chocolate peanut butter cups being sold at the checkstands for $0.99, and those are actually quite good (then again Trader Joe's is generally known for having pretty good quality chocolate in their stores.)

[J-Man]

Aldi had their version of these in the Halloween fun size a few years ago, and Target and Trader Joe's had them this year. But the Walmart ones are the first full-sized clones I've seen. I tried the Snickers version -- it was similar, but the texture and the
shape were off.

Here's an article about the Target and TJ's clones.

[jamcool]

Apparently store brand chocolate bars have the same problem as store brand cola beverages….close but no cigar.

[Super S]

One store brand candy bar that I remember years ago was from the Maverik chain. At one point during the 1980s, I remember seeing a "Maverik Bar" in with the other candy. I never tried one though, and can say I haven't been to a Maverik store since 1988 when I moved from Boise, so am not sure if this one still exists.

[J-Man]

Apparently store brand chocolate bars have the same problem as store brand cola beverages….close but no cigar.

How true. I'm a store-brand fanatic, but only real Diet Coke will do. I always found it interesting that some products have either never been tried as store brands, or have been tried and abandoned. I'm thinking about things like anti-perspirants, toothpaste, etc. Bar soap, shower gel, and shampoo might exist as store brands, but I don't think they're very popular.

[storewanderer]

There are some Cumberland Farms brand chocolate bars. Wasn't too impressed with them. Their bagged snacks (including bagged chocolate nuts and such) and coffee are rock solid.

I'm curious who makes these Wal Mart bars and where they are made. I'll have to look for one. With all the clearance upcoming on Christmas Candy, Valentine's Candy, and Easter Candy though, getting those items in name brand on clearance will be a better deal.

[BillyGr]

How true. I'm a store-brand fanatic, but only real Diet Coke will do. I always found it interesting that some products have either never been tried as store brands, or have been tried and abandoned. I'm thinking about things like anti-perspirants, toothpaste, etc. Bar soap, shower gel, and shampoo might exist as store brands, but I don't think they're very popular.

There are definitely shampoos and body wash type items in store brands, probably bar soaps as well but those are overall less common these days (more liquid soap, which also has store brands).

Back to the original post, Price Chopper here in NY and surrounding states has their own PICS chocolate bars (5.3 oz.), as that is one of the items that they offered (on Mon) as a free item to load to your card, with a $15 purchase (but you can load one daily for 7 days and get all of them with a single $15 purchase - so far close to $20 of items from Mon to today, plus whatever shows up tomorrow - plus 5 more last week to make 12 days of Christmas giveaways).

[norcalriteaidclerk]

$1.32 for the name brand candy bar?Doesn't seem that much cheaper than at the drugstore.

[mbz321]

How true. I'm a store-brand fanatic, but only real Diet Coke will do. I always found it interesting that some products have either never been tried as store brands, or have been tried and abandoned. I'm thinking about things like anti-perspirants, toothpaste, etc. Bar soap, shower gel, and shampoo might exist as store brands, but I don't think they're very popular.

Does anyone have store-brand toothpaste anymore? (I think a few chains have a knockoff Sensodyne, but not regular ol' toothpaste) I remember in the 90's, CVS had store brand toothpaste, but I can't recall anyone else. I guess it's hard to get much lower than the $1 toothpaste brands from Chuch & Dwight (Arm & Hammer) like Aim and Pepsodent. Colgate uses the UltraBrite brand for their own 'discount' toothpaste. I know store-brand body wash and hand soap is a thing, but not bar soap. Walmart had some knockoff of Dove soap bars, but that seems to be gone. Outside of Dandruff and Baby Shampoo, store brand doesn't really to exist either except at the 'club stores'. I don't think I've ever seen store brand deodorant.

[Brian Lutz]

I took another look at the Great Value brand candy bars today, and saw on the wrapper that these are being made in Turkey, of all places.

And yes, I think Sensodyne is the only brand with store brand competitors, at least at Walmart. I have to imagine the margins just aren't there to compete with $2-4 brand name products, but when it's more in the $8-12 range there's more room to compete on price.