This week, retailers offered specials for the Veterans' Day 3-day weekend. They focused largely on bakery and snack items, but produce popular for gatherings, such as baby carrots, cucumbers, strawberries, and packaged salads, were also featured. Stores were doing their best to put shoppers in the holiday spirit despite it only being early November. Holiday fruits like cranberries, pomegranates, persimmons, and grapes were displayed prominently. Winter vegetables like broccoli, Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, and cauliflower were on hand for hearty meals. Christmas decorations and gift ideas filled out seasonal sections in store aisles and ad flyers alike.
Due to the observance of Veteran's Day, this report has been issued early. No ads breaking on Friday, November 10, 2023, are included in ad totals nor in weighted average prices. Total ad numbers this week were 259,605, a 9% decrease from last week's total of 285,800. The total for the same week last year was 5% higher than for this year. The total number of ads broken out by commodity groups: fruit 131,587 (51% of all ads), onions and potatoes 22,326 (9%), vegetables 100,941 (39%), herbs 1,909, ornamentals 604, and hemp 4,147. The number of ads for organic produce was 35,514, 14% of total ads.
The following are the prices of major advertised items (3,000 plus ads) this week, compared to the same week last year.
Significant increases in price for fruit this week included seedless grapes (red at 57%, white at 35%), apple juice (64 oz.) at 24%, and avocados at 14%. Significant decreases for fruit included only strawberries (1 lb.) at 20%. There were no significant changes in price for potatoes and onions this week. There were no significant increases in the price of vegetables this week. Significant decreases for vegetables included only asparagus at 11%.