Eligible candidates include retailers, wholesalers, manufacturers, suppliers, the trade press, market researchers, and others who have been invaluable to the private label industry.

The Class of 2026 will be inducted at PLMA’s Annual Meeting and Leadership Conference, April 15-17 in Bentonville, AR

Profiles on all honorees will be featured in the Hall of Fame section of plma.com and on StoreBrands.com.

Beverages showed the largest dollar growth in January with 10.4%, followed by Liquor (8.9%), Beauty (6.7%), Frozen (4.6%) and General Food (3.7%). The other nonfood departments showing private label dollar growth over the first 4 weeks of the year included General Merchandise (3.6%), Pet Care (1.9%) and Home Essentials (0.9%).

Store brands also started the year with unit growth, especially in food departments.

Liquor (9.2%), Beverages (6.1%), Refrigerated (3.7%) and Frozen (1.8%) had strong growth.

Pet Care (1.8%), General Food (1%) and Beauty products (0.3%) rounded out the list.

The PLMA/Circana Unify+™ monthly reporting tool provides topline insight into private brand department and category trends in dollars and units. PLMA members and retailers receive complimentary access. Click here for details on how to become a member and access the data.

“We're committed to supporting your health and wellness, and we’re proud to offer this valuable service at no cost to our customers,” Stop & Shop says in promotional materials.

Meanwhile, Harris Teeter’s new “Happier, Healthier” initiative spans the entire store and includes pharmacy expertise, nutrition coaching, and Harris Teeter’s selection of products, including its new Simple Truth Protein line.

1. Gigglescape (Target)
2. Well Market (CVS)
3. Bettergoods (Walmart)
4. Dealworthy (Target)
5. Nature's Nectar (Aldi)
6. Family Wellness (Family Dollar)
7. Earthly Grains (Aldi)
8. Happy Harvest (Aldi)
9. Fremont Fish Market (Aldi)
10. B Pure (Dollar Tree)

Aldi’s strong positioning in the Top 10 comes a time when Aldi announced that it is opening over 180 stores this year. With its increased footprint, by the end of 2026, ALDI will operate a total store count of nearly 2,800, pushing it closer to its goal of 3,200 stores by the end of 2028.

The 2026 Charts spotlight “What’s Now, What’s New, and What’s Next” across seven categories. They reveal dominant flavors, the fastest growers, and emerging profiles poised to break through in the next 12 months.

“From this session, I want attendees to walk away with a clearer understanding of how the 2026 Taste Charts distill an increasingly complex flavor landscape into intuitive Now / New / Next signals—giving us a sharper, more strategic way to guide private label development, simplify decision making, and spark more meaningful conversations about where their categories can go next,” Carter said.

The presentation will be held online at 12:30 p.m. EST.

Click here to register.

Entitled "Store Brands: A Bright Beacon In U.S. Retail Landscape," the report documents new levels of growth for the U.S. store brands industry. Click here to read it.

It reveals that store brand dollar sales increased nearly three times the rate of national brands, climbing 3.3%, compared to a gain of only 1.2% for their national brand counterparts for the 52 weeks ending December 28, 2025.

Store brand unit volume was up by 434.3 million to 68.7 billion, also setting a new record. This represents a 0.6% rise, while national brands declined by -0.6%.

In store brand unit sales gains, the best performing department for 2025 was Pet Care, up 5.4%, followed by Liquor +4.4%; Beverages, +2.3%; Frozen, +0.9%; Refrigerated, + 0.7% and General Food, +0.2%.

In dollar sales, seven departments finished ahead of the prior year. The Refrigerated department expanded the most, gaining 6.1% in store brand revenue, followed by Beverages, +4.8%; Pet Care, +3.7%; Beauty, +2.8%; Frozen, +2.4%; General Food, +1.6% and General Merchandise, +0.9%.

-All month long, Albertsons offered 5 times the reward points on more than 1,000 store brands, including Signature Select, O Organics and Open Nature.

Casey’s offered a “Buy One, Get One Free” promotion on select store brand products each Wednesday.

-Giant Eagle ran a “Buy Two - Get 1 Free” offer on all its store brands. Its website featured images of various Giant Eagle-brand products, including pasta, bagged salad and cheese.

-At K-VA-T Food Stores, shoppers who purchased $20 in store brands in a single transaction were entered to win free groceries for a year, a $7,800 value.

-In a LinkedIn post, Walgreens said its owned brand products have been an integral part of its heritage since 1901 when Charles R. Walgreen opened his first store.

Here's a partial list of these and many other companies that celebrated Store Brands Month:

Albertsons
Associated Wholesale Grocers
Casey’s
Daymon
Federated Group
FedUp Foods
Gehl Food and Beverage
Giant Eagle
KDV Label
K-VA-T Food Stores
Lassonde 
MIC Food Group
Perrigo
Save A lot
Subco Foods 
Topco Associates 
Walgreens
UNFI

Watch our news report on Store Brands Month here: