Ad numbers bounced back some this week as new flyers replaced those that were extended over Thanksgiving. Retailers focused on holiday celebrations with offers designed to help shoppers maximize their budgets. Holiday fruits like pomegranates, grapes, pears, apples, cranberries, offshore cherries, and persimmons were popular. Hearty vegetables like winter squash, cabbage, carrots, and potatoes were well advertised. Gift ideas and decorations occupied ad space in most flyers. Ads for lettuces continued to be extremely light, with no ads reported for red leaf, green leaf, or Boston lettuce this week.
Total ad numbers this week were 253,799, a 20% increase from last week's total of 212,246. The total for the same week last year was 16% higher than for this year. The total number of ads broken out by commodity groups: fruit 143,271 (56% of all ads), onions and potatoes 21,989 (9%), vegetables 81,811 (32%), herbs 1,179, ornamentals 4,962 (2%), and hemp 587. The number of ads for organic produce was 32,356, 13% 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 apple juice at 37% and Bartlett pears (per lb.) at 21%. Significant decreases included blackberries at 20% and raspberries at 14%. Significant increases in price for potatoes and onions this week included red potatoes (5 lb. bag) at 36% and Russet potatoes (5 lb. bag) at 19%. There were no significant decreases. Significant increases in price for vegetables included only green cabbage at 17%. Significant decreases included only spaghetti squash at 11%. Poinsettias (6 in. pots) increased by 16%.
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