U.S. retail alcohol volume fell 2.4% before Halloween

U.S. retail beverage alcohol sales were nearly unchanged in dollar terms in the week ending October 25, but volume continued to fall, showing a market that remained under pressure even as spirits and ready-to-drink cocktails performed better than other segments before Halloween.

According to weekly scan data from market research firm Circana, off-premise beverage alcohol dollar sales slipped 0.6% from a year earlier to $1.365 billion. Volume, measured by case sales, fell 2.4% in the same period. Off-premise sales refer to alcohol bought in retail channels for consumption away from bars and restaurants, such as grocery stores, liquor stores and mass merchants.

The figures covered the period just before the October 31 holiday and did not include Halloween week itself. That means the data offer an early read on seasonal demand, but not a final picture of how the holiday affected alcohol sales.

Within that market, spirits and ready-to-drink products showed relatively stronger momentum than the broader beverage alcohol business. Brewbound, citing the Circana scans, reported that those categories outperformed heading into Halloween. The available data excerpt did not provide a full category-by-category breakdown, but the headline pattern was clear: consumers bought fewer total cases overall, while spirits and RTDs held up better than the rest of the market.

The gap between dollar sales and volume also stood out. Spending was close to flat, but the number of cases sold dropped more sharply. That indicates retailers moved less physical product even though total revenue changed only modestly from a year earlier. The data do not by themselves explain why that happened, but they show that category growth remained difficult to sustain on a volume basis in late October.

The report adds to a broader set of signals that beverage alcohol suppliers and retailers are entering the holiday selling season with an uneven market. For brewers, winemakers, distillers and distributors, weekly readings like this can influence decisions on inventory, shelf space and promotions during the final months of the year. A near-flat sales result at the national level may encourage a cautious approach, while the stronger showing from spirits and RTDs could support more targeted bets on those segments.

That matters across the beverage business because late-year demand often shapes production and ordering plans. If spirits and ready-to-drink cocktails continue to outperform beer and wine, retailers may shift more display space and promotional support toward those products. At the same time, the continuing decline in total case volume suggests that suppliers across categories are still competing for a consumer who is buying less overall.

Circana’s weekly scans are closely watched by the alcohol industry because they provide one of the fastest snapshots of supermarket and retail trends. In this case, the latest numbers showed a market that was not collapsing before Halloween, but also not returning to broad-based growth. For the industry, that leaves a mixed picture: spending remained resilient enough to keep sales close to even, but underlying demand in volume terms stayed weak as the holiday period approached.