The week ending July 19 was the second of eight non-holiday weeks between Independence Day and Labor Day.

The meat department had much improved its in-stock position and assortment continued to recover from May lows.

The week ending June 21st was Father’s Day weekend and the results for the meat department as a whole, and beef in particular, were astounding.

Prices remained elevated, which resulted in high dollar gains of 15.9%.

The first week of June marks three full months of Coronavirus-related shopping patterns.

Plant-based meat alternatives, both refrigerated and frozen, have experienced robust growth throughout the pandemic.

Despite the supply pressure, dollar sales grew 18.7% the week of May 31 versus year ago and volume grew 2.8%.

Year-to-date through May 24, meat department dollar sales were up 24.7%, boasting double-digit growth for eleven weeks running.

Year-to-date volume sales through May 10 were up 17.6% over the same period in 2019.

For the week ending May 3, meat department dollar sales were up 51.3% and volume increased 37.2%.