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Re: Safeway Store Brands-Lucerne Milk Carton-1984

Posted: 13 Sep 2010 04:25
by Jason B.
A Lucerne milk carton from 1984 can be seen three times in the ABC television network's fall 1984 promotion "We're with you." See:
http://www.youtube.com/user/VintageTele ... _qAQ9ADkG4
See: 5:58 and 6:38 and 6:42.

ABC apparently made no effort to conceal the brand or to make a fake milk carton. It's almost like a product placement. (Look at the Lucerne milk carton that just happens to be sitting on the kitchen counter at 5:58. In most households, a milk carton just wouldn't be sitting outside of the refrigerator like that. Looks like "product placement" to me.)

It's the carton with the five-petal yellow flower. The two cartons in this promotion are red. Both are half-gallon. I can't tell what type of milk they were. I think that Lucerne then came in just three grades: nonfat, low fat (2%) and whole. The 1% grade was then not offered, I think. If my memory is correct, the carton color changed with each grade of milk.

I think that the previous Safeway milk carton (late 1970s??/early 1980??) had a stylized "two - ten" at the top of it.

This promotion presumably was filmed in Hollywood/Los Angeles. This raises an interesting question -- was Lucerne milk sold in the Los Angeles area in 1984? Were there Safeway stores there at that time? Was Von's then associated with Safeway? Did Von's carry Lucerne products?

Re: Safeway Store Brands

Posted: 13 Sep 2010 10:25
by krogerclerk
Von's was part of Household Finance(now known as HSBC) in 1984, and sponsor of the 1984 LA Olympics. Von's didn't acquire the Southern California division of Safeway until 1988, Household had spun Von's into a merger with Allied a couple of years earlier. Safeway had the largest store count of any chain in SoCal prior to the divesture to Von's. Safeway brands didn't begin appearing en masse in Von's until the mid-90's as Safeway increased its interest in Von's. Von's began selling Safeway Select products repackaged as Von's Select during this time frame. Once Safeway took complete ownership(97-98ish), only then did Von's house brands disappear in favor of Safeway brands.

Product placement has been used on and off in TV and movies as long as I can remember. Primarily in TV it was automobiles, while household brands were obscured with plain labels saying Milk or altered, for example, from Lucerne to Laverne. Pepsi and Coca-Cola were early to go for product placement, and by the late 80's most products were shown in their original labels. I've Safeway products in Friends, set in NYC, Ralphs brands at Roseanne's house in Illinois, all areas that neither chain had stores during the run of the series.

Re: Safeway Store Brands

Posted: 13 Sep 2010 16:37
by klkla
krogerclerk wrote:Safeway had the largest store in of any chain in SoCal prior to the divesture to Von's.
I was trying to figure out what you were trying to say here. If you are saying Safeway had the largest market share that would be incorrect. In the greater Los Angeles area Ralphs, Vons, and Lucky's were ahead of Safeway in market share at the time of 1988 divestiture. In San Diego, Safeway was a distant third behind Vons and Food Basket (Lucky's name in the SD market at the time) and was also in third place behind Smiths and Vons in Las Vegas. There were 185 stores left in the division at the time but the majority were low volume and poorly maintained and had not been remodeled for many years.

As for the milk in the previous post I do seem to remember a different color for each type of milk. It's been so long but it seems like red for regular, purple for low fat and goldenrod for non fat but I'm not 100% sure.

Re: Safeway Store Brands

Posted: 13 Sep 2010 22:37
by krogerclerk
Corrected my statement. I think Alpha Beta(American Stores) had a greater or very close market share to Safeway at this time, and Alpha Beta hadn't opened any new stores in several years. At roughly the same time American Stores was in the process of taking over Lucky Stores.

Red for whole milk seems to be almost a universal standard for milk packaging. Blue is common for 2%, light blue for skim/fat free, and green or goldenrod for buttermilk, orange for lactose reduced or acidophilus milk, purple seems to vary from company when it's used.

Re: Safeway Store Brands

Posted: 15 Sep 2010 16:37
by MikeRa
Lately, Safeway has been putting it's current logo on the bottom right of both it's Safeway brand, bat also on their Refreshe brand. The Lucerne brand, Eating Right brand, Organtic brand, Signature Cafe brand, Ranchers Reserve brand, Genuardi's brand (used for breads only at Genuardi's stores) don't even mention "Safeway" on the front of their packaging.

Here is Safeway 2010 Brand names:
  • Basic Red: Budget products
  • Bright Green
  • Eating Right
  • Genuardi’s: Breads (only at Genuardi’s stores)
  • Lucerne: Dairy Products, Eggs
  • Mom to Mom: Baby products
  • Organics: Organtic Products
  • Primo Taglio: Deli products
  • Priority Pet Care: Pet Food and supplies
  • Rancher’s Reserve: Beef
  • Refreshe: Spring Water, Purified Water, Soft Drinks
  • Safeway: General Products and Pharmacy Products
  • Safeway Select: Premium Products
  • Signature Café: Deli products
  • Value Red: Budget products
  • Waterfront Bistro: Seafood

Re:

Posted: 15 Sep 2010 17:16
by MikeRa
tkaye wrote:
jamcool wrote:Don't forget their budget label, Scotch Buy..which has been reborn as "Simply Red"
Apparently Scotch Buy wasn't around in 1968, since that was the whole list as published. And the new budget label is Basic Red -- I think a certain British music group would have legal issues with a Simply Red trade name!
The Basic Red name is now called Value Red in some Safeway markets, particually the Genuardi's stores

Re: Safeway Store Brands

Posted: 22 Jun 2011 04:12
by Jason B.
The Livermore (Calif.) Herald edition of March 12, 1948 included a Safeway advertisement that emphasized dairy foods, including "Lucerne Milk" and "Montrose Butter" (Grade AA 93). So "Montrose" apparently was another Safeway (private label?) brand that has disappeared. I assume that Safeway's private label butter bears the "Lucerne" brand today.

Other dairy products in the 1948 Safeway ad include:
(1) coffee cream - Lucerne ½ pint carton for 24c; pint carton for 42c,
(2) half & half – Lucerne - pint carton for 27c and
(3) buttermilk - Lucerne – quart carton for 14c.

I assume that "coffee cream" disappeared as a Lucerne dairy product in the 1950s or '60s. I don't think "coffee cream" is sold today. It must have been similar to "heavy cream" because of its high price.

Re: Re:

Posted: 25 Jun 2011 15:00
by tkaye
MikeRa wrote:The Basic Red name is now called Value Red in some Safeway markets, particually the Genuardi's stores
I think that Basic Red or Value Red vary by product, with Basic Red being household items and Value Red being food. I might be wrong.

Another similar line that has popped up at Safeway is "Pantry Essentials."