Wondering if store prices are down from last year — I'll pull the latest inflation data to check.
No - in general, store prices are still higher than a year ago, though the rate of increase has slowed and a few items/categories are cheaper.
In the US:
•Consumer Price Index increased 3.4% in August from year-ago levels, the same rate as July.
•Food at home, the grocery-store part of the basket, rose 2.2 percent over the year to August. The Bureau of Labor Statistics table also shows Food at home 2.2% 12-month percent change in Aug 2026.
•Overall grocery prices were 2.2% higher than a year ago.
•On a monthly basis, grocery prices were unchanged, after food prices increased 0.1% in August after increasing 0.1% in July, so flat month-over-month is not a year-over-year decline.
Other measures show the same:
•Prices for everyday household purchases are up 2.2% versus a year ago, down from 2.6% in July, and similar Numerator readings put everyday goods up 2.6% vs 2025 in July and 3.4% versus a year ago in June.
•Analysts note while grocery prices cooled somewhat last month, decreasing 0.1%, consumers are still paying more for food than they were last year.
In Canada:
•Grocery inflation slowed to 2.8% year over yearin August, falling below overall inflation for the first time in more than a year, but still positive.
•Groceries prices rose 2.8% from the 3.1% increase in July.
A few exceptions where prices did fall year-over-year:
•Consumers paid lower prices for used cars and trucks (−1.9 percent) and medical care commodities (−2.7 percent) in July 2026 compared with a year earlier.
•In groceries: Butter (-8.1%), lettuce prices dropped another 6.2% after plunging 16.4% in July, and prices for food at home (grocery store purchases) declined 0.2 percent in the New York area from July to August but remained higher annually.
•Store-level variation: One Portland tracking panel found QFC is actually cheaper than it was a year ago, down 8.2% — the largest single-store drop in the panel — followed by Trader Joe's (-4.4%), while the average basket across 14 stores was up 7.6% over the past year.
So deflation on the overall basket has not occurred — prices are not lower than a year ago in aggregate, they are about 2-3% higher for food at home, and about 3.4% higher overall.