Hello everyone!

I've been reading many threads along the lines of "Where can I buy (insert brand name) in Switzerland?". And most times that particular international brand is only available through online shopping, and presently a wise person will say, "Why not try something new and Swiss instead?".

I'm wondering if there are any particularly awesome brands of toothpaste or chocolate or shampoo or socks that you've discovered while living in Switzerland (doesn't necessarily have to be Swiss-products) that you feel are greatly superior to what you had at home?

Maybe it's just me, but when I find a great bang-for-your-buck 'new' product, I always like to share my success story!

I would love to hear some 'great finds' of yours.... and then add them to my shopping list, ha ha.

Kressi vinegar
Mövenpick icecream
Mövenpick coffee beans

Ice cream! Very important lead - thank you!

My favourite Swiss product is Rausch shampoo. It makes my hair shine and feel really clean and smells wonderful to the point I have had people comment on how nice my hair smells! Well worth every penny, in my opinion.

Coop British Section

This is very good stuff, Migros dried apple segments. Its a massive fibre boost and keeps things very .. ahem.... regular

Anything by Weleda, especially their baby line.

Don't know a brand name, but I love the clips used to close bags/packages of food once they've been opened. They remind me of hair clips. Much more effective that the style used back home, and they take less room in the drawer.

I actually use Weleda products already - they are very nice! This is actually the brand that gave me the idea to start this thread. A very nice group of products, I think!

Villars chocolate (yum!)
Canned Migros brand ravioli (yum!)
Gruyere cheese (yum!)
b-b-b-bündnerfleisch! (yum!)

I guess the last 2 doesn't really count because it's "branded" based on where it's produced.

Especially both the dark and milk chocolate with coffee. Yum!

It's interesting how loyal many Suisse are to brands, particularly those that are Suisse made - I've developed similar confidence in Suisse products as well.

So many products from Migros I wouldn't know where to begin

Migros 3.5% Bio Milk!

Lindt
A Vogel (Reformhaus kinda stuff)
Ricola, Ricola !

Their natural deodorant is a bit weak...

We have an unlimited supply in our office. It's not good for the thighs!

cosmetics:
migros I am natural
migros milette naturals baby products
weleda
Lavera
colgate toothpaste, because candida and other swiss toothpastes will stain your teeth!

cleaning products:
held eco
coop oecoplan
migros plus oeco-power

groceries:
cathedral cheddar
old el paso
danone kids' yogurts
galbani cheese
biotta juice
zwiefel chips

Synthetic fragrances give me headaches, so I really like the natural cosmetics and cleaning products with essential oils.

We don't really have many branded groceries that we buy. We mostly get unprocessed foods, so it's just 'Coop Bio haferflocken' or whatever. I recommend shopping online with leshop.ch and coopathome.ch Both services are great. We alternate between migros and coop each week, because there are products that I like from both stores. Delivery is about 7chf and they bring it right to my apartment door on the 3rd floor!

coopathome has a lot of the weleda products online. And if you go to a coopcity, they have many lavera products as well. It took me a while to find out which cosmetics and cleaning products suit me best, but now that I know what I like, it's easy enough to find it all here.

our cat's favorites are:
leonardo premium canned cat food
perfect fit dry food
whiskas cat milk
fatto forest cat litter

ovomaltine crunchy biscuits.
theyre massive, cant eat them much though but if i cant stop.
mangoschnitze/dried mango bits

Major brands ?
- Rivella
- Sinalco
- Caran d'Ache
- Certina
- Nestlé
- Cailler (part of Nestle)
- Peter (part of Nestle)
- Tobler (part of Kraft-Jacobs-Suchard)
- SIG
- Aproz (part of Migros)
- Henniez (part of Nestle)
- Coop Prix Guarantie
- Suchard (part of Kraft-Jacobs-Suchard)
- Candida toothpaste
- Signal toothpaste
- Elmex toothpaste
- Meridol
- Trisa
- Trybol
- Oral-B
- Calida
- Ebnat
- Kern Aarau
- Pelikan (Germany&Switzerland)
- Globi
- Emmentaler Käse
- Jelmoli
- Migrol
just to name a few. And do not forget, that while many of these brands may not be marketleaders on a worldwide scale, they are what most Swiss grew up with

Many of them of course built up their CH market position BEFORE 1959, which means in times when all foreign trade went via the Clearing-System (no direct payment but procedure going via the local Eidgenössische Verrechnungsstelle . This until 31st December 1959 was the same all over Europe and the world, the difference was that Swiss industry had survived WWII almost undamaged, undamaged materially I mean, so that these companies were fully up again after 1945 within a few months

I did NOT mention the many many companies who after 1960 did not survive
- the free market (EFTA etc)
- the modern world
- new requirements
and went out of business primarily between 1975 and 2005

Why did they not survive ? While German industry leaders in 1945 either were dead or in allied custody, the old CH "elite" happily continued with the methods and the industrial structures which had been successful in the 1900s, 1910s, 1920ies and 1930ies, but failed to cope with the modern world
- when German industry gradually restarted in the 50ies !
- when the Clearing got dropped in the "Free World"
- when Free Trade agreements of EFTA and EEC etc started
- when new methods came up in the 1960ies/70ies

Thanks for the lesson Wolli

Toujours à votre service, Monsieur