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Published: Mar 22, 2016 2 min read
Toronto Eaton Center is shopping centre and office complex in downtown Toronto that provides store directories, special events, February 17, 2014.
Nisarg Lakhmani—Alamy

To some extent, we are what we buy. American consumption trends—what we're purchasing more of, and what we suddenly stop buying—reveal a lot about who we are, and what's happening in the country.

Based on the list below—featuring a wide range of goods experiencing sharp sales growth—it's easy to see how American demographics are changing, as are our collective feelings about issues like personal health, safety and security, and the general state of the economy and the job market. In some cases, a sudden surge in sales might also come as a result of American consumers reacting to exciting new products hitting the market, interesting new marketing and pricing strategies, or dramatic changes in the purchasing power of the American dollar.

Here are a dozen categories benefitting from sudden sales increases lately. Odds are, you've been buying quite a few of them, and in greater quantities.

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