A few years ago, I gave up all beverages but water. I sometimes drink protein drinks made with Jay Robb Chocolate Whey Protein Isolate Powder, water and a splash of milk but I've been scaling the milk back and will probably do away with it completely before long. I also sometimes drink lemonade made with True Lemon mix and water. That, however, is it. No coffee, no tea, no juices, no soda, no wine, no nothing.
So basically, I just drink water. My favorite is Crystal Geyser spring water, which I have been known to buy fifty gallons at a time. It's a great bottled water. I've tried them all but it's by far the best…I think.
They sell it in most local markets for $1.49 a gallon and the 99-Cents-Only store sometimes has gallons for its signature price. Over at the Whole Foods Markets I visit, they get $1.59 for one…or at least that was the cost a few days ago when I was in the one near me and took the above photo. As you can see, right next to the Crystal Geyser aqua, you can find bottles of the Whole Foods house brand, which they call 365. It usually goes for a dollar a bottle, and the chain has this deal where if you buy a case of a 365-brand item (and I think, some others), you get an additional discount.
So let's say you share my love of Crystal Geyser and you're in my local Whole Foods and you need water. Are you going to buy a case of their 365 brand for less than a buck a bottle? Or are you going to pay more and buy Crystal Geyser?
Answer: You're going to buy 365 water. Reason: It's the same water.
Look closely at the label. In teensy-tiny-micro type, it tells you that 365 water is "Bottled at the CG Roxane Spring Source in Olancha, CA 93549." That's interesting because Crystal Geyser water is "Bottled at the CG Roxane Spring Source in Olancha, CA 93549." So it's the exact same water. I mean, they don't have two separate streams up there, one with inferior water.
It's bottled in the same plant with the same equipment and the same bottles. Only the label varies…and the price.
CG Roxane, whoever she or it is, bottles its water for a number of other labels. The last time I was in a Walgreens, their house brand came from CG Roxane. Last week in my neighborhood Trader Joe's, I checked their house brand. They had liter bottles courtesy of CG Roxane, and smaller bottles from some other source.
I assume this arrangement does not go all over the country. 365 water at a Whole Foods in New York may be from another supplier. But out here where I live, a lot of Crystal Geyser water is sold under assumed names.
These product masquerades are very common. There are a lot of websites that try to track who really makes the products that Costco sells under its Kirkland label or who really makes Trader Joe's items. Often, a mayonnaise that sells for five bucks under its brand name can be purchased as a Trader Joe's product for $3.50. But this thing with the Whole Foods Market water…that's the first time I've seen the brand name version and the house brand version of a product sold side-by-side.
Whole Foods gives a lot of shelf space over to the Crystal Geyser bottles so they must sell…probably better than the 365 brand. People come in, see those two options (among many others) and opt for the brand they've heard of even though it's more than 50% more expensive. Maybe some figure that price = quality. Whole Foods does cater to a clientele that's willing to pay more to get better produce and baked goods and meat and such. I wonder if any other store would try this.