Stores brand inventory change

[momxx5]

am having a hard time planning for shopping trips now that most of the grocery stores, including Walmart are putting such a limit on their inventory.

For example, local Food Lion only carries store brand or Aunt Jemima pancake mix or sryup.
It seems like stores are limiting the brands they carry.

I have found stores that do not carry Scott products, do not carry certain lunch meats, etc.

Don't even get me started on the sizing of items. Name brand sugar is $1.00 more for a 4lb bag, store brand is still 5lbs and $1.00 less, so no coupon for that.
French fries and even pastas are shrinking their ounces while raising the prices.

I find this very hard to do planning because to take maximume advantage of coupons/sales it would take traveling to several stores.....thus costing more in gas money.

Even with Walmarts price matching....if they don't carry that brand then it doesn't work.

Anyone else seen these changes?

 

[disneyfreakk]

I have noticed it with Walmart. So we just stop shopping at walmart.

 

[momxx5]

Food Lion, Lowes Grocery and Harris Teeter are the grocery stores within our area.

It seems like each are picking a brand and eliminating the other brands.
I guess it makes sense for them....keeping better inventory.

I just really makes it hard to do shopping in one place. Sometimes super frustrating.

 

[worm761]

Honestly weigh the cost of what you would spend in gas to go to multiple stores against what you can save by doing that. IF you will save more than you spend in gas, then it is worth it if you have the time to do it.
It is funny that you post this today since we did a grocery experiment this week. Normally, we drive 45 minutes to a grocery store in another town. We spend around $150 a week to feed a family of three adults, one teen boy, and a toddler girl (she eats as much as me though!) three meals a day plus snacks. Gas prices are right at $4 a gallon here so that drive is looking less and less attractive. So we decided to try shopping here in town with coupons and what not. I only had to buy meat for three meals and a few fillers for meals, a couple staples and whatnot. Unfortunately, we spent just as much in town for less than half the groceries we get by driving 45 minutes away. It is a tough lesson to swallow but at least now I know.

 

[disneychrista]

Walmart is suppose to be adding back items.

 

[momxx5]

I sure hope Walmart starts carrying more items.

 

[usnuzuloose]

Yes I have noticed that to. Brands that I was buying are no longer there. Plus the store I go to they dont stock enough. I am always finding the shelves half empty in spots of the store. I will continue to shop at safeway. I am just as happy and finding all the things I would normally purchase.

 

[Marionnette]

I've noticed that some of the grocery stores are featuring more and more of their own brands in their weekly circulars. Last month, one of them even included a 20% off coupon for all store brand items in your order with their monthly snail mail coupons as an incentive to get people to try their products.

There's another store near me that I swear has 50% store brand items on their shelves. They will also advertise Perdue boneless skinless chicken or store brand for a great price. Good luck finding any Perdue chicken that week! They just don't put it in the meat case.

I don't mind trying store brands but ther have been times I did't care for the quality. Plus I can often get the name brand for the same price or less with a sale and coupon at other stores. Fortunately for me, you can practically throw a rock in any direction and hit a grocery store!

 

[momxx5]

I"m glad I'm not crazy....the only one noticing these changes.

I wish we had more options to shop.

 

[Kirby]

The Kroger near me began doing this months ago. I've just adjusted my shopping.

One thing that bothered me this last week was that a whole section in the fresh meat area was empty plus a section in the cheeses was empty, there was no block cheese of any kind. This was like at 2:00 pm. I've never seen a section empty like this. I would have asked but I didn't need anything in those sections so I just walked on by.

 

[ajh88]

This is funny you posted this...my grandma just gave me a newspaper article today to read about Wal-Mart adding brands and merchandise to stores. I guess that thinning out choices was an experiment that didn't work for them. There are 3 grcoery stores in town where I shop - Wal-Mart, Dillon's, and an IGA. I shop at Dillon's for their sales and double coupons, but I couldn't afford to buy all of my groceries there on a regular basis - at least the one here seems really high. IGA is the same way, although I prefer their meat department to the other two (and I actually prefer Wal-Mart's meat dept. to my Dillon's). I've noticed a dwindling selection at all 3 locations, so it will be interesting to see if Dillon's and IGA start adding back more selection too.

I don't mind hitting 2 stores in a shopping trip, but it is difficult if you have perishables...I'm definitely not making 2 separate trips to town (20 miles) to go to 2 different stores. I guess technically the closest store is only 7 miles (different town), but they have outrageous prices unless you hit a good sale ($10 for a 24 pack of soda is one example I can remember of their prices).

 

[Planogirl]

I read just the other day that Wal-Mart had gotten complaints about this and was working on adding back the items that they quit carrying. I find that Target is even more limited in some items.

 

[Owishingonastar]

.... PP beat me to it, delete.