That's true actually, Waitrose's 'essentials' isn't far off the simplicity of 'no name'; I suppose it's just my lack of familiarity (I'm British, not Canadian) that made 'no name' stand out as unusual and most like this to me at first.

But yes, you're right, supermarket own brands in general are relatively straightforwardly packaged. I suppose in part it's because they cover such a range of products, so they can't pick a more 'normal' theme that might look better for some of them, because it would be so odd and out of place on other lines.

I think often they are exactly the same as branded products (repackaged), so they agree to make the packaging plain.