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U.S. grocery slowdown deepens as shoppers buy fewer items, raising pressure on food companies (www.cnbc.com)
submitted 2 months ago by to c/economy@lemmy.world
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The U.S. grocery slowdown is becoming harder to ignore.

Shoppers are buying fewer items than a year ago, and grocery sales are declining as weakening unit sales are now outweighing rising prices. That is according to new analysis from Bain & Company using NielsenIQ grocery data shared exclusively with CNBC.

Grocery units, which refer to individual items or products sold, fell 1.8% in June from a year earlier, a sharp reversal from the 0.1% year-over-year growth recorded in June 2025. While prices continue to rise about 2% to 3% year-over-year, that inflation cushion for the industry is no longer enough to keep overall sales growing.

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[–] 15 points 2 months ago (8 children)

Gotta love the Kroger merger that they did to try to corner the market only for everyone to just go to Aldi instead

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  • [–] [S] 12 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (4 children)

    The prices at Kroger owned stores in SoCal are absolutely insane, regularly 30% more than Aldi and 20% more than TJ's. Occasionally I'll run in for a item or two and every single time feel like they've picked my pocket, pulled down my pants and pushed me out of the store while laughing at me.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

    It's interesting how different locations vary. Kroger is definitely one of the cheaper stores in Washington state. Safeway/Albertson's is astronomically expensive here.

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  • [–] [S] 3 points 2 months ago* (1 child)

    A cursory check of a few items at Ralphs in SoCal vs Fred Meyer in Seattle show prices are substantially higher in SoCal for common items. For instance a jar of mayo is 15.5% more in SoCal. Other items I've checked have been at least 10% more expensive.

    It isn't my imagination - they are laughing at us.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 months ago

    Isn't it always interesting how the most expensive stores are the closest ones... for me it's Stop n Shop. Aldi is like a 20 min drive for me along with the other lower priced stores. I try to plan it out so I do most of my shopping at them, but just like you say you always gotta hit the other one for a few items you may need, forgot, or missed and it sucks.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 months ago (2 children)

    The Kroger/Albertson's merger was blocked.

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