Retailers

Bev-alc retailers are adjusting their buying habits as the Trump administration’s signature economic policy continues to add volatility to the spirits and wine industries.

We chatted with Brianda Gonzalez, founder and CEO of The New Bar, about what’s next, where the hurdles are for ANA, and how ANA brands can take cues from their full-proof counterparts.

Non-alcoholic beer, Italian imports and fruit-forward offerings are just a few of the summer trends popping in Total Wine & More and Whole Foods Market stores. Total Wine’s Adrea Starr and Whole Foods Market’s Mary Guiver offered insights into what they’re seeing as summer sets in.

Resealable packages, smaller sizes and non-carbonated beverages are among the hot bev-alc trends Total Wine & More’s senior leadership team are watching in 2025.

The proposed $24.6 billion Kroger/Albertsons mega-merger was temporarily blocked today by a federal judge, who ruled in favor of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) suing to block the deal.

Beer industry trends have been largely discouraging lately, but one retailer – albeit a mostly private label one – is bucking them. “We are crushing it in beer right now,” Aldi director of buying for adult beverages Arlin Zajmi told Brewbound.

Memorial Day bev-alc shopping “broadly met or exceeded distributor expectations,” according to Goldman Sachs analyst Bonnie Herzog in the investment management firm’s latest Beverage Bytes survey of distributors and retailers.

As speculated last week, the next challenge for the proposed $24.6 billion merger between Kroger and Albertsons is coming from the federal government. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) today announced it has filed a lawsuit to block the merger in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, alongside a bipartisan group of nine attorneys generals from Arizona, California, the District of Columbia, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon and Wyoming.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleges that Total Wine & More “will continue to evade its production obligations absent an enforcement order” from the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. The agency and the national beverage-alcohol retailer are at odds over whether Retail Services & Systems, Inc. (RSSI), Total Wine’s parent company,… Read more »

The legal battle between the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and national bev-alc retailer Total Wine & More continued this week when the chain filed a motion to oppose the agency’s petition to force it to comply with a civil investigative demand (CID). The FTC last month claimed Total Wine’s parent company, Retail Services & Systems,… Read more »

Nationwide, sales of distributed draft beer have stalled at the same levels reached in 2021, as the on-premise reopened following COVID-19 pandemic-driven closures.

Convenience store retailers had a “slightly more pessimistic outlook” for beer trends in Goldman Sachs’ Q2 Beverage Bytes survey, citing “broader economic pressures/fears of recession, impacts from cooler weather” and the continued “negative impacts from the recent Bud Light controversy.”