Savings from store brands anything but generic

When a recent Nielsen report published in theBoston Globe said sales of grocery chains' own discount brands had increased 8% since 2007, I thought the number was conservative. Who is going to sweat the negligible difference in packaging and quality -- if any -- when buying ketchup when the rent is due?

So I talked to Bob Peterkins, a manager at a Foodtown in Brooklyn, N.Y. He estimated that in the last year alone, his store experienced a 20% rise in sales of products with the Foodtown label. The chain has supermarkets in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.