NRSInsights’ January 2026 Retail Same-Store Sales Report

Core Insights - January same-store sales increased by 5.8% year-over-year, showing solid growth compared to December 2025, which had a 4.5% increase [5][7] - The average price for the top 500 items increased by 1.2% year-over-year, a decrease from the 2.3% increase seen in December 2025 [6][10] Sales Performance - Same-store sales decreased by 6.6% compared to December 2025, which had a 1.2% increase from November 2025 [6] - For the three months ending January 31, 2026, same-store sales increased by 4.3% compared to the same period last year [6] - Units sold increased by 2.9% year-over-year but decreased by 2.2% compared to December 2025 [6] - Baskets per store increased by 0.3% year-over-year but decreased by 4.6% compared to December 2025 [6] Market Dynamics - The NRS retail network included approximately 38,900 active terminals across 33,500 independent retailers, primarily serving urban consumers [2] - Sales across Spirits remained resilient, with Ready-to-Drink (RTD) Spirits performing particularly well, and Frozen Novelties saw double-digit growth year-over-year despite adverse weather conditions [8] - Raleigh-Durham emerged as a top-performing market area, while New York showed weaker performance, highlighting regional disparities in sales [9] Transaction Data - NRS processed $2.0 billion in sales during January 2026, representing a 16% year-over-year increase across 130 million transactions [13] - Same-store data comparisons for January 2026 were based on approximately 207 million transactions from about 24,700 stores [11]