This past summer, shoppers continued to celebrate the summer holidays with avocados. The Hass Avocado Board recently released its holiday and events report for Q3 2018, detailing retail avocado category performance across the country for this past Father’s Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day. Fourth of July sales continued to grow, reaching a four-year high in 2018 of nearly $53 million in sales and 50 million in units. All regions showed very strong growth, ranging from 10 percent in the Great Lakes to 54 percent in the Northeast.

“Avocados are being added to traditional summer fare, including burgers and salads,” said Emiliano Escobedo, executive director of the Hass Avocado Board. “We’re also seeing avocados show up in fresh new ways, such as in refreshing ice pops. Shoppers look for unique and delicious healthy options for summer holidays and Hass avocados are a perfect addition. Each year sales have been exceeding the previous year’s record highs as avocados become more mainstream.”

Retailers also saw avocado unit and dollar sales grow to four-year highs for Father’s Day, with nearly $52 million in avocado sales. The 2018 sales for Father’s Day topped 2015 sales by 33 percent in dollars and 27 percent in units. The Southeast showed a significantly higher dollar sales growth rate than any other region at 25 percent.

Labor Day marked the last traditional summer holiday of the year, and avocados worked their way to a record-setting $51 million in sales. Nationally, Labor Day volume rose 32 percent to 38 million units with very strong, double-digit trends in all eight regions.

To get more in-depth information about avocado sales for each holiday, visit https://www.hassavocadoboard.com/retail/holidays-events. Sign up here for the Hass Avocado Board’s Hass Insights Newsletters to receive updates on current retail avocado trends.