Fred Meyer and product packaging

[SamSpade]

From the Burlingame Fred Meyer in Portland, Ore. noticed some interesting things on these ketchup bottles. This is really unusual as almost all Fred Meyer products are now private label Kroger like all their other chains, rather than with the FM logo. My original post was more interesting, but lost due to inactivity while figuring out the photo upload.

[storewanderer]

At Fred Meyer, they seem to be keeping a few more items with the Fred Meyer brand than in other divisions. I find it interesting there are more Fred Meyer brand items than Ralphs brand items since Ralphs division has quite a few more stores than Fred Meyer (though at the rate Ralphs is closing stores, maybe in 5-6 years the Fred Meyer division will actually have a higher store count). The ketchup with the odd looking package is a redesign.

[pseudo3d]

When I worked at Kroger, they've started updating the product packaging, and trying to make their packaging less generic.

For a time (early 2000s, I think?) they were engaging in "full knockoff" mode, with "Chips Ahoy!" and "Chips Amatey!" in almost the same font and color scheme. There were others too. It was unreal.

[storewanderer]

When the Kroger brand items first started to appear at Smiths in about 2000, I started to immediately notice how similar the Kroger brand packaging looked to the comparable name brands. In some cases it was a bit messed up for instance sugar was in a bag that looked like Domino Sugar (not sold much out west) rather than something that looked like the pink and white C&H typically sold out west.

I also noticed there is Fred Meyer branded coffee and a lot of Fred Meyer branded dairy/bread but not much else in Fred Meyer brand. Still, there is a lot more in Fred Meyer brand than you will find in any other Kroger banner brand at this point.

[Brian Lutz]

The one that's always stood out to me is the gallon jugs of milk. These days, they don't even try to hide the fact that the "Mountain Dairy" and the store-brand milk are exactly the same (even the labels are the same now except for the logos on them) but still have a 30-40 cent price difference between the store brand and the Mountain Dairy milk.

[Super S]

The one that's always stood out to me is the gallon jugs of milk. These days, they don't even try to hide the fact that the "Mountain Dairy" and the store-brand milk are exactly the same (even the labels are the same now except for the logos on them) but still have a 30-40 cent price difference between the store brand and the Mountain Dairy milk.

Fred Meyer is far from the only grocer that does this. Albertsons used to do that with Albertsons and Janet Lee (later Good Day) brands of milk. I also remember WinCo selling Flavorite brand milk with the name of the local dairy on the label at one point, right next to milk bearing the same dairy's label with a price difference. The milk all comes from the same source if you look at the label closely. I read them all and buy the cheapest one. Grocers bank on people in a hurry not reading the label and buying one of the more expensive versions of the same product, especially with a loss leader like milk.