When Bernard Kroger founded The Kroger Company in 1883, little did he know that his modest initiative would result into one of the leading businesses of the food retailing industry in the country.
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Wait, no – the Kroger Company is not just one of the leading retailers, it is actually America’s number 1 “Power Player” in terms of revenue. According to STORES Magazine that published the chart, and based on Kantar Retail insights, retail sales for The Kroger Company grew to $93,324,000 in 2014.
In addition, Kroger is only second to Walmart in terms of general merchandise retailing, ranking at $103,033,000 in sale in 2015.
So who is Ralphs?
Ralphs is a division of the Kroger Company, and it is the largest chain of supermarkets in Southern California, where it operates over 400 stores across the state.
When Kroger merged with Fred Meyer Company in 1998, it also acquired its subsidiaries, among which was Ralphs. This means that Kroger is now Ralphs parent company and that the first owns the latter.
Before Kroger and before Fred Meyer, the Ralphs business had a number of difficulties, but the bottom line is that Ralphs goes back to 1873 when George A. Ralphs opened the first of his grocery stores as a family-owned business.
Many within Ralphs range of products are private label goods that were developed long before Kroger merged with Fred Meyer subsidiaries in 1998 – Ralphs included.
Ralphs began testing with private label lines early. In 1978, it launched Plain Wrap. In the mid 1980s, it popularized Private Selection, which developed as a premium label by 1995. Then it was Buena Comida, which represented a line of Hispanic foods and spices, and the now-discontinued Perfect Choice line for health & beauty, as well as over the counter medication.
It’s not unusual for the Ralphs ad to include Private Selection store brand items right next to Kroger store brands that feature a different design and logo, which led to some confusion in the past.
Where the confusion came from
The fact that the Perfect Choice line was discontinued in favor of the Kroger brand, and that various Ralphs private label items started to disappear off the store’s shelves gave rise to some confusion.
Shoppers who were used to buying Ralphs self-budged foods especially noticed the change, and some even opted out of buying Kroger labeled items because they appeared to be less committed to quality.
Anyway, Ralphs would stock Kroger labeled items and Kroger would stock items bearing the Ralphs label, making it even more confusing to discern whether there is label weakness between the two or just a matter of supporting each other’s name brand.
Private label items today available at Ralphs
Ralphs still carries the Private Selection line to this day, which produces many brand name-like products. The Private Selection line has its own website, featuring products in the bakery department, dairies, meats, frozen foods and basically every other department that supermarkets usually carry. The store brand carries even a Private Selection line of organics.
In addition, Ralphs supermarkets also stock Kroger private labels, usually featuring Fresh Selections by Kroger, Simple Truth, Comforts for Baby, and Home Sense although it typically carries all Kroger brands.
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Typically, the Ralphs Sale Ad would include both Private Selection store brand items along with Kroger labeled products and brand name offerings. Even Fred Meyer stores carry some of Private Selection line offerings.