But house brand items are catching on with cost-conscious shoppers in a big way.

With prices of many food items rising, sales of house brand items at the main supermarket chains - Giant and Cold Storage - rose by between 10 and 20 per cent last year, compared with 2006.

At supermarkets like Carrefour and NTUC FairPrice, the story is the same: Double-digit growth.

The common items picked up? Bread, rice, bathroom tissue and kitchen towels.

Business is so good that other markets are jumping on the bandwagon.

Budget supermarket chain Sheng Siong, for instance, began stocking its shelves with house brand versions of ice, detergent, toilet rolls and even abalone in the second half of last year.

Many stores - ranging from Watson's to Shop N Save - have had house brand versions for items ranging from wet tissue to the painkiller paracetamol for some time.

But sales are taking off now, because rising inflation - Singapore's inflation rate hit a 25-year high of 4.2 per cent in November - and the higher cost of raw materials and production has pushed prices of everyday items ever higher.

Read the full story in Tuesday's edition of The Straits Times.