Bargain Retailers Cash In as Shoppers Hunt for Steals, Deals, & Meals

Turns out, there’s a fortune to be made in selling for less. Thanks to inflation’s squeeze, discount chains are clocking record sales amid hordes of value-conscious shoppers. With budget stocks like our recently covered ThredUpTDUP

posting eightfold returns this year, the low-price playbook is paying off richly.

• Up 47.7% YTD, Dollar General’sDG
  Q2 just beat Wall Street’s top and bottom line expectations — with net sales increasing 5.1% from last year as it raised its full-year outlook.
• Ollie’s Bargain OutletOLLI
  also posted the good ol’ beat and raise this second quarter — with sales jumping 17.5% from last year as the stock outpaces the market with a 21.4% YTD return.

Value for all: It’s not just lower-income consumers shopping this way, as mid-to-high-income earners are increasingly flocking to discount shelves, lifting average spend. To capitalize on this bargain boom, private labels are heating up across the board as food staples like Casey’sCASY

, AlbertsonsACI

, and ConagraCAG

race to build their low-cost brands. Suddenly, clipping coupons and hunting deals is everyone’s idea of a good time.