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NEW YORK -- Graciella Funes-Cote revels in her weekly getaway shopping trips to her local Wild Oats store in Superior, Colo. The part-time medical interpreter shops for "healthy and natural" foods, which are Wild Oats' stock-in-trade. But that kind of specialty food can often be expensive. So this mother of two toddlers buys the chain's store brand. That saves her money, of course, but the goods pass the taste test, too. She likes the frozen strawberries, canned coconut milk and whole wheat bread with honey in particular. "I have to admit, I go a lot by price.

I look for the little yellow 'sale' labels," she said, adding, "I can trust Wild Oats because they're all about quality."

Meanwhile, 2,000 miles away on the Eastern seaboard, the same scenario was playing out at a Manhattan Food Emporium. The A&P-owned chain does not make the blanket claim to healthy and natural food that Wild Oats does. But like Wild Oats, it has its own brand, America's Choice, and plenty of shoppers extol its virtues. On a recent afternoon, a retired New York City schoolteacher whisked her shopping cart down the aisle and paused to grab a box of America's Choice frozen mixed vegetables.

It sat on the freezer shelf right beside a package of frozen veggies bearing the nationally known Birds Eye label. The box size was the same. Even the photos on the two labels were very similar. The obvious difference between the two was price: $1.09 for the store brand, and a hefty 90 cents more for Birds Eye. What's more, according to this particular shopper, that's really the only difference: "I've tried both brands," she said. "They taste the same. Why pay $1 more?"

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