The Lowdown on Private Label Store Brands

Have you ever wondered who makes private label store brands?

And did you wonder if these non-name brands were worth buying?

For example, I never have a problem buying Kirkland brand products, which are the private label from Costco.

I’ve discovered that Kirkland, the Costco store brand, makes better strawberry preserves than Smuckers.

In addition, they make better semi-sweet chocolate chips than Hershey or Nestle do.

And they sell these store brand chocolate chips in a five-pound bag.

They last for months.

After writing about dollar store hacks and food expiration dates, plus my Giant food taste test, I figured it was time to dive down a store brand’s private label rabbit hole.

So I did some digging on popular store brands and you may just be surprised what I’ve learned about them.

So, read on for the lowdown on private label store brands of food you can buy.

Finally, a big plus–the generic version is often way cheaper than the name brand version.

Looking for private label clothing brands? This article covers that.

What are the private label store brands at major retailers

Here I’ve outlined the most popular retailers and many of their private label brands.

If I have intel on where they’re produced or who makes them, I’ve shared that, too.

Target private label brands

The two Target private label brands I’m most familiar with are Market Pantry and Good and Gather. Previously, Good and Gather was Archer Farms.

I felt confident trying out these Target store brands because I’d always had a good experience with another Target private label brand–Up & Up.

That’s the one the store uses for health and beauty products. For example, I’ve found that Up & Up cleaners were on par with the Method brand. Not surprisingly, they’re much cheaper. According to Target, Up & Up comprises more than 2,000 items, with most priced under $15. Honestly, many of the products I buy are under $10.

Most recently, we’ve bought and eaten Good and Gather salsa and Greek yogurt. And let me tell you this: the Good and Gather Greek yogurt is just as good, if not better, than the expensive brands like Fage or Chobani.

You can use certain Good and Gather tea products to recreate Starbucks secret menu drinks at home.

Then this week I picked up ice cream from a new Target brand. It’s called Favorite Day.

I’ve found that Target brands are priced about $3 per container less than the brand name. That’s huge.

Don’t miss out on Target Circle Week deals for Target Circle members exclusively on Target store brands.

List of Target store brands

So, while I know Good & Gather, Up & Up and now Favorite Day, these are hardly the only Target store brands. Turns out many of my home furnishings are Target brands, too. For example, the sheets on my best are Room Essentials brand. And our bathroom towels? The Threshold brand. I may have even bought a few home decor items when Target announced its partnership with Chip and Joanna Gaines and their Magnolia brand.

In updating this article in 2024, I discovered that Target has way more than just the few brands I’ve bought in real life. Actually, there are 45 private label brands at Target. They are:

• A New Day
• All in Motion
• Art Class
• Auden
• Ava & Viv
• Boots & Barkley (sounds like the dogs in the Subaru commercial)
• Brightroom
• Bullseye’s Playground
• Casaluna
• Cat & Jack (one of the only Target brands with a guarantee)
• Cloud Island
• Colsie
• Dealworthy (Target just launched this brand in 2024, with everything $10 or less)
• Embark
• Everspring
• Favorite Day
• Figmint
• Future Collective
• Good & Gather
• Goodfellow & Co
• Hearth & Hand with Magnolia
• Heyday
• Hyde & Eek! Boutique
• Joylab
• Kindfull
• Knox Rose
• Kona Sol
• Made by Design
• Market Pantry
• Mondo Llama
• More Than Magic
• Opalhouse
• Open Story
• Original Use
• Pillowfort
• Project 62
• Room Essentials
• Shade & Shore
• Smartly
• Smith & Hawken (I remember when this was a gardening catalog)
• Sonia Kashuk
• Spritz
• Stars Above
• Sun Square
• Threshold
• Universal Thread
• Up&Up
• Wild Fable
• Wondershop
• Xhilaration

Walmart store brands

Two of the most common Walmart store brands are the Great Value private label brand as well as Equate. Equate is for health and beauty products.

For instance, Equate ibuprofen relieved my headache pain as well as brand names like Motrin and Advil. On the food side I haven’t had any issue buying the Walmart store brand for food–Great Value brand.

In our pantry we have Great Value flour and sugar. Over in the refrigerator, I have Great Value butter.

FYI, the Great Value coconut fudge caramel cookie is just as good as Girl Scout cookies. Also, because Walmart owns Sam’s Club, I’m told you can find Great Value products at Sam’s Club, too.

Walmart private home furnishing brand

I don’t buy a lot of home furnishings at Walmart. However, recently we needed new cake pans. Since we were heading to Walmart for something else, I headed over to the baking aisle for the springform pans I needed — for our new cooking blog called Bagels and Lasagna.

Anyway, not only did I find the pans I needed, they were a great price. Three for $12. Also, they were the newest Walmart home furnishing brand called Mainstays. That’s them below.

During that trip to Walmart, I also noticed certain tween brands for sale there. This included Justice clothing as well as a Claire’s boutique. I had no idea that either brand was available at Walmart.

Malt o Meal cereals

Malt o Meal isn’t a Walmart brand, per se, but you can buy it at Walmart along with other supermarkets. We’ve purchased it at our local Giant Eagle, too.

Anyway, these oversized bags of Malt O Meal cereal are now our preferred brand of cereal. The Cocoa Puffs knock off might just be better than the original, and the frosted shredded wheat is simply delicious.

FYI, I’ve discovered that Malt o Meal is actually a Post cereal brand. So the parent company is Post, which makes Grape Nuts among other cereals.

But when it comes to Malt o Meal bags of cereal, they are way cheaper than the brand names and, as I said, they are delicious.

List of Walmart private brands

It wasn’t easy tracking down all of the Walmart private label store brands, including those sold at Sam’s Club. So, I did the best I could. Here’s the list I was able to put together:

• Athletic Works
• Brahma
• Clear American
• Color Place
• Douglas
• EverStart
• Freshness Guaranteed
• Great Value
• Holiday Time
• Hometrends
• Joyspun
• Mainstays
• Marketside
• Mash-Up Coffee
• Member’s Mark
• No Boundaries
• Oak Leaf
• Ol’ Roy
• Parents Choice
• Pen + Gear
• Play Day
• Protege
• Sam’s Choice
• Special Kitty
• SuperTech
• Tasty
• Time and Tru
• Way to Celebrate!
• Wonder Nation
• Your Zone

Amazon private label brands

It’s probably no surprise that one of Amazon’s private label brands is AmazonBasics. You’ve probably seen it show up in search results quite often. I know I have.

Here is a link to the AmazonBasics store.

Over on the food side, there is the AmazonFresh brand, like the K cups I’ve used in my Keurig machine.

Safeway store brands

The best-known Safeway store brand is called Signature Select. However, what you may not realize is that Safeway is part of the Albertsons family of supermarkets.

Albertsons owns these brands:

• Albertsons
• Safeway
• Vons
• Jewel-Osco
• Shaw’s
• Acme
• Tom Thumb
• Randalls
• United Supermarkets
• Pavilions
• Star Market

So, you may see some crossover on store brands throughout the Albertson’s family. Also, Signature Select chocolate mint cookies taste just like Girl Scout cookies. Anyway, if you’re wondering what stores sell the Signature Select brands, it is all of the ones listed above.

Kroger store brands

Like Albertsons and Safeway, you’ll see crossover in Kroger store brands with the other supermarkets in the Kroger family of stores.

For example, one of the best known Kroger store brand is Simple Truth. It includes Simple Truth Organic. The other one is Private Selection. That’s a Kroger staple, too.

The Kroger Company Family of Stores includes:

• Baker’s
• City Market
• Dillons
• Food 4 Less
• Foods Co
• Fred Meyer
• Fry’s
• Gerbes
• Jay C Food Store
• King Soopers
• Kroger
• Mariano’s
• Metro Market
• Pay-Less Super Markets
• Pick’n Save
• QFC
• Ralphs
• Ruler
• Smith’s Food and Drug

Costco store brands

The best known Costco store brand is the Kirkland Signature. Some of the Kirkland Signature products are excellent organic options.

In fact, did you know that Costco is the largest retailer of organic products in the U.S.? It’s so easy to buy organic food at Costco. And, frankly, it’s more affordable than other stores selling organic products. 

Here are ways to save money on organic groceries.

You may be wondering if these popular private label products are from someone other than Costco. And in some instances, the answer is yes.

There are definitely store brands made by name brands when it comes to Costco Kirkland Signature food items.

For example, it says that packages of Kirkland Signature whole coffee beans say “Roasted by Starbucks” right on the bag. I confirmed this on my recent trip to Costco, when I took this picture.

I wrote about this topic of Costco brands for Food Drink Life. In that article, I confirmed that Costco tuna fish is from Bumble Bee and Kirkland Signature cranberry juice is from Ocean Spray. 

Costco Membership Deal via Groupon

The best deal on a Costco Membership right now is through Groupon. When you sign up, you’ll get your one-year membership plus a $40 Costco Digital Shop Card for free.

In case you didn’t know, the Costco Shop Card is the store’s gift card. You can use it in store or online.

This offer is for new Costco memberships only or for former Costco members whose membership expired more than 18 months ago. So, if you’ve moved, there wasn’t a Costco nearby and you let your membership lapse for more than 18 months, you’re good to go to sign up for this deal again!

Also, you can avoid the lines at your Costco location by signing up for this Groupon Costco deal. This was the crowd at the new Costco in Maine near where I live. Yikes!

Terms and Conditions

• After purchase you’ll receive an email from Costco confirming your membership details. To pick up your membership card, stop by the membership counter at any Costco location and bring a copy of that email with your photo ID. Incentive will be emailed within 2 weeks after sign-up to qualifying members.
• You’re receiving a One-Year Costco Gold Star Membership
• A membership card for the Primary Cardholder and one additional Household Card for anyone living at the same address, over the age of 16
• A $40 Digital Costco Shop Card (valid at Costco locations and Costco.com)
• Valid only for new members and those whose previous memberships (Primary and Household) have been expired for at least 18 months or more.
• Please allow up to two hours to receive your confirmation email from Costco. You must have either your Costco or Groupon confirmation email to receive your physical membership card at a Costco location.
• A physical membership card is not required to shop online or receive your incentives.
• Incentive includes a $40 Digital Costco Shop Card
• Digital Costco Shop Card will be emailed within 2 weeks after sign-up to qualifying members.
• Digital Costco Shop Card will be emailed to the email address provided by the Primary Member at time of sign-up.
• Not valid for the renewal of an existing Costco membership.
• To purchase this package, you must be 18 years of age or over, and agree to Costco’s Membership Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.
• All sales final.
• $40 Digital Costco Shop Card is not redeemable for cash, except as required by law. Digital Costco Shop Cards are not accepted at Costco Gas Stations, Car Washes, or Food Court Kiosks.

Again, this a Groupon-only deal for a Costco membership.

Other warehouse club memberships

Perhaps you prefer to shop at another warehouse club because it is more convenient to where you live than Costco is. Good news: Both BJs and Sam’s Club have Groupon deals right now for memberships. Plus, both tend to have gas stations where members can get a cheaper price when filling up the gas tank.

Weis private brands

Weis Markets, which has 197 stores in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, West Virginia and Virginia, has a small cadre of private store brands.

They are Weis Quality, Weis By Nature and Weis Organics products.

Stop and Shop store brands

Ahold Delhaize is the parent company of Stop and Shop, Giant Foods, Food Lion, Hannaford and many more supermarkets.

Therefore, you can expect to see similar or the same private label store brands at all of these stores under the Ahold Delhaize umbrella. The store brand our family tends to buy the most here is Nature’s Promise. It’s their organic store brand.

For us it’s an affordable way to add organic food to our menu without spending more–just like Costco helps us to do this.

List of Stop and Shop store brands

Here is a complete list of the private label brands you’ll find at Stop and Shop.

• Always My Baby
• Care One
• Companion
• Etos
• Limited Time Originals
• Nature’s Promise
• Smart Living
• Taste of Inspirations

Again, as I mentioned earlier, because Stop and Shop, is part of the Ahold Delhaize family, you may also see these store brands in Giant Foods, Food Lion and Hannaford.

Finally, each of the stores in this family has their own store brand that is literally the name of the store. Oftentimes, they’ll feature the logo of four semi circles, that look like cut fruit in a bowl, in four different colors. See below.

Aldi store brands

Whenever I shop at Aldi stores, it feels a lot like shopping at Trader Joe’s. That is, most of the products sold in the store are brands you may not be familiar with.

Well, it’s because Aldi mostly sells a private label brand or brand exclusive to that store. However, if you’re like me, you’ve had such a positive experience with the products you’ve bought there before that brand name doesn’t matter.

That being said Aldi (also like Trader Joe’s) does have brand name products from time to time. But mostly you’re dealing with Aldi store brands, such as Friendly Farms. That’s the brand of Greek yogurt I always get there. 

Aldi private label brands list

There is a very long list of store brands at Aldi, but the most common you’re likely to see are these three:

• Barissimo Coffee
• Beaumont
• Burman’s
• Chef’s Cupboard
• Earth Grown
• Fit & Active
• Friendly Farms
• Happy Farms
• Live G Free
• Lunch Buddies
• Millville
• Simply Nature
• Stonemill
• Winking Owl (if you live in a state that allows Aldi to sell wine. Pennsylvania never did)

Does Aldi carry name brands?

Yes, you can absolutely buy name brands at Aldi. We’ve purchased Coca-Cola at Aldi as well as Babybel cheese. Aldi also has name brand condiments, like ketchup and mayonnaise. And, from time to time, you may find name-brand snacks there, like Cheez-Its, Lays potato chips and even Pringles. However, the Aldi version is always, always going to be cheaper.

A lot of times, in the Aldi Aisle of Shame, you’ll find products that look like something of a name brand but they’re the Aldi version. For example, a Bogg Bag Dupe. That was last year’s must-have beach bag, in refreshing colors and made from durable rubber. It’s like the Crocs of bags.

Dollar store brands

Even some dollar stores have store brands.

For example, here is a list of some of the Dollar General store brands:

• Clover Valley
• true living
• DG baby
• Comfort Bay
• Smart and Simple

Family Dollar, now part of the Dollar Tree family, has private label store brands of its own.

This includes: 

• American XT
• Ashland Farms
• Catawba Candy
• Chestnut Hill
• Daxton
• Eatz
• Extremely Me
• Family Chef
• Family Pet
• Handyline
• Highland Originals
• Homeline
• Just Be
• Modesa
• Outdoors by Design
• Silver Falls
• Tropic Sun

FYI, you can use Instacart to shop at Family Dollar.

Private label store brands made by name brands

Most retailers keep their manufacturing partnerships close to the vest.

So, I wasn’t able to find any first-source information about who actually makes the private label products you might buy at your favorite food store, except those I mentioned in the section about Kirkland Signature at Costco.

However, it seems that bargain stores like Aldi’s may subcontractor some of their private labels to factories that General Mills and Post Cereals own.

I’ll keep digging.

Also, I learned that big brands like Target have set up their own manufacturing facilities for their private labels.

So, it does not appear they are outsourcing to major brands to help them get their products onto store shelves.

Of course, if I come across new information–or you find details about this topic and share with me–I’ll be sure to update this article.

Finally, in case you didn’t know, the only real differences between store brand and name brand foods is often packaging and advertising budgets. That is, private label brands don’t have to spend millions advertising their products outside of the stores where they are sold.

Therefore, they can pass along the savings to consumers like you and me. And what they’re selling is just as good as the more expensive name brand.