Since March 8, the meat department has been the undisputed sales leader of the perimeter. Year-to-date through April 26, meat department dollar sales were up 21.7%, boosted by double-digit growth for seven weeks running. Year-to-date volume sales through April 26 were up 15.9% over the same period in 2019 as volume has been trailing dollars throughout the pandemic. Additionally, the gap between volume and dollar sales is widening —signaling significant upward pressure on pricing due to tightness in the supply chain.
For the last full week of April, ending April 26, dollar sales were up 49.7% and volume increased 34.8%. This week, there was an increasing amount of coverage of the various plant closures in consumer media which likely caused additional trips and purchases of shoppers looking to stock up some more. In addition to the continued strong performance by the meat department, overall perimeter sales gains rebounded in the holiday-free week in either year, up 23.1%. For the total perimeter, significant decreases in deli-prepared, fresh bakery and seafood pulled down the increases achieved by meat but fresh foods overall are still positive.