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.
The Kroger/Albertson’s merger was blocked.
Had no idea tbh. Kind of assumed it went through when everyone stopped talking about it and the rest of the world went to shit anyway
Albertsons and Kroger immediately moved to sue each other over the lost money. They’re still scrambling to an extent and Albertson’s took a real loss.