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.
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.