President's Choice brand in the US

[storewanderer]

Do we know if any chains still sell President's Choice products in the US?

I found reports from about 8 or so years ago that it was being sold at some chains back east but it sounds like none of them sell it anymore.

Does anyone know what happened to the brand and why US chains quit selling it? Really impressed by Loblaws execution of this brand and the quality/price of the items. It is really a great mix of interesting items and it is priced very fairly for what it is.

[pseudo3d]

I believe they had different contracts with different retailers across the country. At one time, Wal-Mart sold the President's Choice chocolate chip cookie brand (back in the 1990s and very early 2000s) under the Sam's Choice name, and other retailers had contracts, including National-New Orleans (as they were owned by Loblaws, it might've carried over to Schwegmann), Jewel-Osco (the contract expired under SuperValu), Randalls/Tom Thumb (ended under Safeway), and likely others as well. If there was ever a return of the brand, it would be likely under a bigger retailer and not smaller independents.

[rwsandiego]

Do we know if any chains still sell President's Choice products in the US?

I found reports from about 8 or so years ago that it was being sold at some chains back east but it sounds like none of them sell it anymore.

Does anyone know what happened to the brand and why US chains quit selling it? Really impressed by Loblaws execution of this brand and the quality/price of the items. It is really a great mix of interesting items and it is priced very fairly for what it is.

I suspect President's Choice stopped being sold in the US when Albertsons, Safeway, and Kroger acquired the chains that sold it and subsequently introduced their own "premium" products. When Dominick's was owned by Yucaipa Private Selection was available there and PC was still available at Jewel. PC was a far better product.

[storewanderer]

It is too bad nobody has PC in the US. I think it would be a great addition for some of the few "better" remaining regionals; Schnucks and Raleys come to mind. As do a few back east.

I researched and found that Schnucks sold it at some point but I can't tell when they stopped.

After spending a good chunk of time in Loblaws various formats that I could find in Vancouver and seeing how PC is marketed and priced I can see where PC is different than PS. While Kroger has positioned PS as a "premium quality and high price" item (I have not always been so impressed with the quality but there are some PS items I do really like), it is easy to go do a full shop in Kroger and not even notice PS since it is not promoted well and missing from a lot of categories. It is also easy to bypass PS since it is frequently priced higher than any comparable national brand item.

PC on the other hand, regardless of what Loblaws format you visit, you can't miss it. It is there, well promoted, with very appealing package designs, good looking items, and many items are priced very attractively. The number of "imported" items is impressive as is the number of PC items available in categories such as Mexican Food and Asian Food. The other thing I notice about PC is they seem very committed to the brand and not letting you forget that what you are consuming is a PC product. If you buy a box of PC Banana Cookies which are individually wrapped, the individual wraps have the PC logo on them. If you buy a box of PC Tea Bags, the inner packages of tea have the PC logo on them. The PC line of housewares, particularly kitchen gadgets and knives, seemed to be of good quality, very durable, nice easy grip handles, or steel bowls with a "slip free" rubber bottom, but again that PC logo is there on the items so you don't forget what you bought. I get the feeling PC today at Loblaws is being marketed as a "great value" private label where the item is of great quality but also sells at a great price. Not always the lowest price in the market, but below the national brand comparable item.

I remember when Lucky had PC in the 90's and recall it being somewhat high priced. It was clearly being marketed as a "premium" quality private label.

[pseudo3d]

It is too bad nobody has PC in the US. I think it would be a great addition for some of the few "better" remaining regionals; Schnucks and Raleys come to mind. As do a few back east.

I researched and found that Schnucks sold it at some point but I can't tell when they stopped.

Schnucks would've gotten it after they bought National-SL from Loblaws when the St. Louis and the New Orleans divisions were on the sales block in the 1990s. I want to say it would've stopped been carrying in 2001, that's when Harris Teeter stopped and some of the other chains that were carrying it were being consumed by Safeway, Albertsons, or others.

[storewanderer]

I think many CVS Gold Emblem food items are re-badged President's Choice items. Specifically, cookies, fruit/nut bars, and some bottled water...