Value Retail Sales Rose 11.6%. Conventional Retailers Managed 2.3%.

From January through May 2026, sales at value retailers rose 11.6% from a year earlier, according to NielsenIQ data reported by Reuters on July 23. Conventional retailers grew just 2.3%. The gap suggests that consumers are not abandoning the checkout line. They are changing where they shop and which names they trust once they get there.

The key observation is that value is becoming a source of loyalty, not merely a temporary response to high prices.

Reuters reported that value-retailer sales increased 11.6% year over year during the first five months of 2026, compared with 2.3% growth for conventional retailers.

The Private Label Manufacturers Association’s 2026 report, using Circana data, showed that U.S. store-brand sales reached a record $282.8 billion in 2025. That was an increase of more than $9 billion. Store-brand dollar sales rose 3.3%, nearly three times the 1.2% gain for national brands.

Store brands accounted for 21.3% of retail dollars and 23.5% of units in the 52 weeks ended December 28, 2025. They generated 47% of the industry’s total dollar-sales growth during the year.

Retailers are expanding around that demand. Aldi plans to open 180 U.S. stores in 2026 and another 400 through 2028. Target plans to introduce 600 private-label food and beverage items over two years. Numerator reported that private-label products represented 26% of unit volume across ten major product sectors during the latest 12-month period.

President Trump is launching a new $250 bill with his face on it – the first living president to do so since Abraham Lincoln’s $10 demand note in 1861.

Earlier this year, he instituted another currency change – insisting that his signature appear on all new bank notes.

If you’re starting to sense that Trump has taken an unusual interest in our money, you’re on the right track.

In fact, I’d like to show you that his new $250 bill is a mere distraction from a far bigger and more consequential change to U.S. currency being orchestrated behind the scenes.

Something that will affect every dollar you've ever saved or invested.

Bypassing all conventional legal and political channels, under the guise of national security, Trump is enacting a total money reset using a landmark executive order (14241).

Democrat or Republican, support him or despise him, it doesn't matter – the wheels are already in motion.

And that means every American may soon be forced to use Trump's New Dollar to fill your gas tank, buy groceries, pay the bills.

Which is why I've produced this critical new documentary laying out exactly what this means for your savings, your investments, and your family's financial future…

Detailing three important steps you can take today to prepare – including details on a core band of assets connected to Trump’s initiative that could surge, if this plays out as I predict…

Plus the name and ticker of my #1 move to make today.

As you’ll see in my briefing, the last time America reset its money like this – under Richard Nixon’s presidency in the 1970s – it created one of the greatest wealth divides in the history of our nation.

On one side, it minted an average of 1,300 new millionaires a day for over half a century. And on the other… the folks left behind, with many drowning in debt, and no idea how to use America’s new money to create wealth.

As Trump rolls out his new dollar, the question is:

Which side will you be on?

PS. If you’re wondering what Trump’s new money will look like, when it will be issued, what it means for your investments – all of those questions are answered in my briefing.

This is a brand-loyalty reset.

The consumer is still spending, but the old link between a familiar name and a higher acceptable price is weakening. Retailers that control their own brands can offer a lower shelf price while keeping more control over sourcing, placement, promotion, and margins.

That changes the competitive test. National brands must support their premium with a clear difference. Retailers are no longer just distributing someone else’s product. They are building competing brands inside their own stores.

One key signal is unit growth. Store-brand unit sales rose 0.6% in 2025 while national-brand units fell 0.6%. That suggests the difference was not created only by price increases. More physical products moved under store-owned labels.

Another signal is whether value growth continues across income groups. Reuters reported that the shift appears among low-, middle-, and high-income households. Broad participation would make the trend harder to dismiss as a short-lived reaction from financially strained shoppers.

A common misread is that faster growth at value retailers means consumer demand is collapsing. The figures show migration more clearly than disappearance. Spending is moving toward channels that offer a more visible exchange between price and quality.

Another mistake is treating every store brand as a generic substitute. Retailers increasingly use private labels to offer premium foods, health-focused products, distinct flavors, and merchandise unavailable elsewhere. The goal is not always to be cheapest. It is often to make the store itself harder to replace.

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Focus on where demand moves, not whether it disappears.

Consumer pressure does not affect every retailer in the same way. When households become more selective, sales may leave one channel and appear in another. Businesses with cost control, strong private labels, and a clear value promise can capture that movement without relying on stronger overall consumption.

The deeper change is in pricing power. A national name carries less weight when shoppers believe the store alternative is good enough—or sometimes better. That forces more brands to justify the premium rather than assume it.

Value retail is no longer confined to periods of acute financial stress. The latest growth gap suggests that consumers may be turning habits learned during inflation into a more permanent standard: quality still matters, but the price must make sense.

Talk soon,
The Playbook Daily