There are more people than in 2004.
So you’d expect Americans are spending more at supermarkets.
Fewer and fewer Americans eat anything that involved washing or cutting. (Just opeing bags and boxes.)
So again, you’d expect Americans are spending more at supermarkets.
But apparently that is not the case.
I honestly didn’t know restaurants are considered retail trade
They are, but they are not included in the red line above (presumably they are included in the blue line tho.)
Gasoline sale, new cars, and used cars, are also included in “retail sales” and their inclusion also surprises some people.
I understand why cars are retail.
But what do you mean presumably as to restaurants? Are they kind of included or is that like being kind of pregnant? 
Restaurants are included (as food service) in retail which is the blue line above. (So are cars and gas.)
They are not included in the red line.
Thank you. That’s what i was trying to figure out. I thought they would be part of a separate line like service industry.
Actually, just going by the legend by the FRED label, I would think supermarkets would be in both lines. All Retail for blue. Supermarkets/(etc.) broken out in red. But the blue line dips below the red early on, so that can’t be. Thus (to me) blue is all OTHER retail.
Still doesn’t answer definitively if restaurants are in red or not. Just a comment on my observation. (I wouldn’t expect restaurants to be included in the red, for the record. But that’s just my opinion.)
I’d be curious what would have caused the red jump around 2004. It stands out on that line. And the covid effect is obvious in 2020.
Looking at a chart like that is revealing. At the beginning, food was about the same as “all retail”. And the blue line has some very cyclical spikes, which I’m guessing is the holiday season each year.
The obvious explanation (which is not necessarily true)
would be some combination of
I’ll admit that I am scratching my head though.
Take out is the name of the game in our household.
If I would let her, my wife would bust the budget to avoid cooking.
Door dash type services are very popular, even out here.
I think those first two are spot-on. Meals out of the home have increased dramatically (don’t make me pull the number! Also, in case it’s not obvious Door-Dash etc… is considered meals out of the home) in recent years; and food prices (adjusted for inflation) have declined.
(AND I’m wrong about the price of food falling relative to CPI. it seems it tracks CPI very closely, actually)
I spend way too much on door dash. One night I wanted ice cream and we have an amazing ice cream shop literally 5 mins drive away.
I was lazy, could not be arsed to drive so ordered it via Door Dash. $7 ice cream cost me about $15 with Tip 
We all have our priorities.
I live in the red line of the OP chart. I wouldn’t spend $7 for an ice cream except under rare, rare circumstances. Never mind $15.
But the culture changes. Generations change. Values change. I’m amazed at how full restaurant parking lots are, any day of the week. When the occasion comes that warrants eating in the blue line, I make sure I call ahead for a reservation even at the little hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant down the road. People place more value on dining out (or door dashing in) than I do, certainly.
And as far as I am concerned, to each his own.
I cook on the weekend but considering I work 10-11 hours a day minimum, when I get home I am not cooking. Easier to pick something up on the way and eat when I get home, then walk the pooch, who is standing at the back door waiting to hit the road. By the time I settle down for the night it’s 8pm and I am usually out by 10. Not going to bother cooking something with the little time I have.
The weekend, however, is a nice time to fire up the smoker and make lunch for the entire week. Food is pretty cheap to take out, groceries don’t offer enough savings to make it worth the bother and mess.
Indeed, its all about individual priorities and what we perceive as value. Value is different to each one of us.
That’s another common cultural factor in the red-blue line divergence. Lots of people work longer hours (and it’s a common comparison of sociologists to show how much more we worm than Europeans, for example.) Or Mom (or dad) works, and then takes kids to baseball, and then does 100 other things, and simply doesn’t have the time or the energy to cook.
I agree, when I lived in Germany the whole town shut down for lunch, and lunch was 2-3 hours. You could go home at 1100, have lunch with benefits with the Mrs. and still be back by 2 pm to finish out the day. Americans are slaves to the grind.
Part of it might be the Walmart effect.
Anything sold at Walmart does not count as food sold at a supermarket becasue Walmart is in another category.
They first started experimenting with the new format in 1988,
but if they expanded that circa 2004, that would explain a lot.
Huh.
Makes sense (from and accounting standpoint.)
Wal Mart is the biggest supermarket retailer in the USA though. That really skews the red line downward if Wal Mart isn’t included.
