“We’ve crafted a line that combines the trusted quality of the Best Choice brand with pet products designed to meet the needs of pets and their owners - without compromising on value.”

- Emily Detwiler, AWG Brands Vice President, said about the launch of Pure Wonder by Best Choice™, a new brand of pet products, including food and essentials for dogs, cats, and birds.

Albertsons Companies has unveiled a new limited-edition collection of lemon-inspired Own Brands products to celebrate the arrival of spring. Available through May 9, the line includes Overjoyed-brand lemon-flavored wafer rolls, mini cookies, sandwich sugar cookies; Signature Select lemon potato chips, lemon pepper cashews and raspberry lemon crispy rice treats; Soleil “Prickly Pear Lemon” sparkling water.

- BP’s epic goods private brand includes gummy confections, nuts, pretzels, alkaline water and more. It’s available at its U.S. convenience stores: ampm, Thorntons and TravelCenters of America.

- Natural Grocers’ new Peruvian Chips are offered in three flavors: sea salt sweet potato, sea salt kettle potato, and sea salt cassava. The products are non-GMO, vegan-friendly, Kosher, and made without artificial flavorings, additives, preservatives, or synthetic colors.

- Trader Joe’s goat cheese is a customer favorite. It’s available in several varieties, including classic creamy, chèvre, crumbles, and in an herb-rolled log.

The first quarter of 2025 was a good one for store brands.

Mirroring trends that have taken place over the last few years, store brands dominated national brands by outperforming their counterparts in dollar and unit sales across all U.S. retail outlets, per Circana Unify+ and PLMA.

Store brand dollar sales gained 5% and unit sales rose 0.9%, compared to national brands, which were up 0.8% in dollars and down 1.1% in units, during the quarter ending March 23, vs the same period a year ago.

Store brand market shares came in at 21.5% for dollars and 23.7% for units, reflecting private label's superior, multiyear performance vs brands at checkout. In every one of Circana's last 30 monthly reports to PLMA, store brands finished ahead of national brands when it came to results in dollar and unit sales compared to the prior year.

Drilling down, all 10 food and nonedible departments showed store brand dollar sales growth for the trailing 52 weeks ending March 23, 2025. Refrigerated improved the most, up 11.5%, followed by Beverages (+4.7%) and Frozen (+3.5%). In store brand unit sales, nine departments increased. Top gainers were Beverages (+4.6%), Pet Care (+3.8%) and Home Care (+3.5%).

For total store brand dollar sales for the 52-week period, Refrigerated led all departments at $59.8 billion, followed by General Food ($52 billion), General Merchandise ($25.5 billion) and Frozen ($21.8 billion). In store brand unit sales, General Food set the pace at 19.8 billion, then Refrigerated (15 billion), Beverages (5 billion), General Merchandise (4.9 billion) and Frozen (4.6 billion).

Industry consulting and branding experts Bobby Gibbs and David Mayer revealed the transformative impact of private brands on consumer engagement through social media strategies. Watch highlights from their PLMA Live! Lunch and Learn presentation here:

$1.2 billion

The amount of store brand yogurt sales in all outlets for the 52 weeks ending February 23, 2025, a 14% increase vs the same period the prior year, according to PLMA’s latest Circana Unify+ data.

The percentage of consumers in 2024 who said they always or frequently choose a retailer based on store brands carried rose to 38%, up from 31% in 2021, according to a Circana webinar, entitled “From Growth to Transformation: The U.S. CPG Private Label Story.”

Watch Webinar here:

Flavored butter can be used to enhance the flavor of pancakes, waffles, potatoes and more. At Kroger, there’s Private Selection® Premium Butter with Garlic Parmesan & Basil; and Private Selection® Premium Butter with Honey & Cinnamon flavored butter.

Wegmans Food Markets recently expanded its line of private label greenhouse-grown produce. In addition to tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers, it now offers greens, including whole head lettuce and a spring mix. Plus, it has several varieties of greenhouse-grown salad kits that come in a peel-and-reseal container:

Among the flavors: 

• Southwest - Green Leaf Lettuce, Yellow & Blue Corn Tortilla Strips, Cotija Cheese, Fire-Roasted Corn with Chipotle Ranch Dressing.
• Caesar - Green Leaf Lettuce, Parmesan Cheese, Crispy Chickpeas, Garlic Crouton Crumbles, Crispy Quinoa with Caesar Dressing.
• Mediterranean - Green Leaf Lettuce, Feta Cheese, Roasted Lentils, Herb-Seasoned Flatbread Strips with Greek Dressing.

Watch our news report on greenhouse-grown produce at Wegmans and other retailers here: