“I am excited to see a national grocer making it easier and more accessible for everyone to explore new, adventurous flavors and recipes, celebrating the joy of culinary exploration and fine eating.”

- Chef and TV personality Antonia Lofaso said of Albertsons’ new Chef’s Counter store brand line of marinated meats. Lofaso serves as the brand’s first ambassador. 

Pizza mashups are creating excitement in the frozen food aisle. Take cheeseburger pizza from Lowes Foods. It’s made with a mozzarella-cheddar cheese blend, hamburger meat, fire roasted tomatoes and uncured bacon - on a French fry crust!

Through mid-May, store brands held a sizable lead over national brands in YTD dollar and unit sales gains. Compared to the same period a year ago, store brand dollar sales were ahead by 4.7% and unit sales were up 0.7%, according to PLMA’s Circana Unify+ data. By comparison, national brand dollar sales rose 1.1% and unit sales fell 0.7%. Store brand market shares through mid-May were robust at 21.2% for dollars and 23.3% for units.

In the Beverages department, store brands performed particularly well. For the 52 weeks ending May 18, dollar sales in the section increased by 4.9% to $14.7 billion and unit sales moved up 4.6% to 5 billion. Store brands in the Beverages department now account for double-digit market shares in both dollar and unit sales.

Natural cheese is the #1 edible category for store brand dollar sales, generating $9.8 billion for the 52 weeks ending March 23, 2025, vs. the same period the prior year, a 3.2% increase, according to PLMA’s Circana Unify+ data.

Dairy milk is the No. 2 category for store brand dollar sales, reaching $9.3 billion in sales for the same period, a 2.5% rise.

In other dairy categories, store brand yogurt sales jumped 14.3% to $1.2 billion; and butter/butter blends increased 10% to $2.5 billion.

Alkaline water has a higher pH than tap water and has several potential health advantages, including improved hydration and better acid-base balance.  Among the many private label brands of alkaline water: BP’s Epic Goods, Aldi’s PurAqua and Safeway’s Signature Select Refreshe.

“As American shoppers become more discerning, retailers are responding by enhancing the quality of their private label ranges, striving to match the standards set by their European counterparts.”
-    Hannah Cleland, Senior Consumer Analyst at GlobalData, a data and analytics company.

Premium private label now accounts for 40% of all private label spend, up 3.8 points since 2019. according to a Numerator report.

The report is based on verified purchase data and a March 2025 sentiment survey of over 21,000 private label buyers across 130+ brands in the CPG and General Merchandise sectors.

Among other results:

• Private label’s presence is ubiquitous across U.S. households. In 2024, household penetration was highest for the grocery (99.9%), health & beauty (99.2%), household (98.9%), home & garden (98.0%), and tools & home improvement (86.3%) sectors. Over three-quarters of U.S. households also purchased apparel (84.8%), party & occasions (82.9%), and office (79.7%) private label products.

Wegmans Food Markets partnered with Irving Consumer Products for its private label sustainable paper towels. Irving says it planted over one billion trees since 1957 and grows more wood than it harvests. “One Billion Trees Planted” is printed on the packaging. Sustainable bath tissue is also available.