"House" brands, also known as private label brands, started appearing in grocery stores in significant numbers during the mid-to-late 20th century, with a major surge in popularity during the 1970s and 1980s, when generic products with plain packaging became widely available. However, the concept of private label brands existed even earlier in the 19th century, with retailers occasionally offering their own branded goods at lower prices than national brands.

As quality and visual appearance improved, private labels became an increasing threat to established brands. Also, from the 1990s onwards, a premiumization of store brands began to occur, giving rise to more expensive premium private labels.

The key driver behind a store offering a house brand was cost-effectiveness for not just the consumer but the grocery chain as well. And it became an effective marketing ploy. Grocery chains saw that if they offered customers a cheaper option, compared to national brands (by cutting out middlemen and negotiating lower prices with suppliers), customer-loyalty would increase.

The idea caught on and the rest is history. By developing quality house brands, retailers are successfully encouraging customers to shop exclusively at their store, relying on the store's reputation for value rather than just individual product names.

While initially seen as "generic" or low-quality, house brands have evolved to offer more premium options (as mentioned above), often with improved packaging and marketing to appeal to a wider customer base.

According to available information, the earliest "house" brands in grocery stores can be traced back to the late 19th century, with the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company (A&P) being one of the first major retailers to widely introduce their own private label products.

As supermarket chains emerged, house brand lines became more polished and curated, often with specific names and branding strategies to differentiate themselves from competitors.

It’s taken a minute, but as consumers have become more price-conscious, the acceptance of house brands has become mainstream, leading to increased competition among house brand labels. It’s now not considered déclassé to choose house brands over national labels.

It’s still about taste, though, right? Even if Kroger mayonnaise is less expensive than Best Foods®, I’ll still go for Best Foods® because I think it tastes better. But, more and more, we’re seeing that the proverbial adage, “You get what you pay for” doesn’t apply as strongly to food as it used to.

Walmart’s Great Value brand and Kroger’s Essential Everyday brand are just two examples of house brands that have taken over certain food lines. Sugar for instance—Great Value is just as good as C&H, and for considerably less.

Well, that’s one man’s opinion, anyway. What’s your take on this subject? Are you a house brand shopper, and are there still some products for which you insist on the national brand (like my preference for Best Foods® mayo)?

In appreciation for you reading through this little bit of shopping history, I leave you with one of our favorite recipes. This is an oatmeal cookie recipe that my grandmother developed when she and my grandfather owned and ran a little grocery and dry goods store in the early 1900’s in Post Falls, Idaho. I don’t know for sure, but I’m guessing there wasn’t much in the way of “house” brands on their shelves. But we’ve made it for 50 years with house brands and I can promise they haven’t hurt this scrumptious cookie one bit!