Weekly ads and deals in United States

Guide to Weekly Weekly Ads, Deals and Grocery Savings in United States

Shopping culture and the weekly publication cycle

Weekly weekly ads are part of everyday grocery shopping in United States. Instead of walking through a store to find out what is on sale, many shoppers read the weekly ad first, build a list around the deals and only then decide where to buy. CatalogueThisWeek collects 122 current weekly ads from 115 retailers in United States, so one page replaces a dozen separate websites. Start with the main groups of stores: Supermarkets, House & Garden, Clothing & Shoes and Other.

Most new weekly ads in United States start on Wednesday, and a typical weekly ad stays valid for about 7 days. Those figures come from the weekly ads that are currently in our index, not from an assumption, and they change whenever retailers change their schedule. Many chains publish the next weekly ad a few days before it begins, which gives you time to compare it with the current one. Every weekly ad on this site shows its exact start and end date, so check it before you plan a trip.

National and seasonal events shape the promotional calendar as well. Christmas, Easter, the start of the school year and the summer sales usually bring larger or longer weekly ads, and many retailers publish a dedicated Black Friday edition in late November. When a retailer releases a special edition, we add it next to its regular weekly ad, so you can see both before you decide where to shop.

Leading supermarket chains and the discounter landscape

The grocery market in United States combines full-service supermarkets, large hypermarkets and hard discounters. Among the stores with a current weekly ad on our site, the busiest are Albertsons, Aldi, Dollar General, Food Lion and Fred Meyer. Each of them has its own hub with the active weekly ad, upcoming editions and a short archive, so you can open the retailer you normally use and compare it with the others in a few clicks.

Hard discounters such as Aldi and Lidl build their offer on a limited range and low everyday prices, so their weekly ads often feature non-food specials and seasonal items. Full-service chains such as Albertsons, Food Lion and Fred Meyer carry a wider range and use the weekly ad to promote fresh food, brands and multi-buy deals. Neither model is always cheaper: compare the same basket across two or three weekly ads before you shop, and look at the price per kilogram or litre rather than the headline number.

Many retailers tie part of their weekly deals to a loyalty programme. In United States the ones you will meet most often include Just for U (Albertsons), MVP (Food Lion) and Fred Meyer Rewards (Fred Meyer). A price printed in a weekly ad can differ from what a card holder pays, so read the small print on each page and check whether a card or app is needed to get the advertised price.

How to get the most out of weekly weekly ads

Compare unit prices, not shelf prices. A larger pack with a deep discount is not always the cheaper choice once you divide by weight or volume, and a multi-buy offer only saves money if you would use every item. Write your list first, mark the deals that match it and ignore the rest: impulse purchases are where most of the savings in a weekly ad disappear.

Plan around validity dates. A weekly ad that ends tomorrow is still useful for a quick top-up shop, but stock-dependent offers are often gone by the last day. If the next edition is already shown, you can wait for it when the product you need is not urgent. Remember that offers apply only within the dates printed on the page and while stocks last.

Use the store pages to follow the retailers you trust: Albertsons and Aldi are good places to start, and category hubs such as Other and Clothing & Shoes group similar stores side by side. Our figures update whenever a retailer publishes a new weekly ad, and older editions stay available in each store's archive for a short time.