US luxury store openings fall 46% to 123,334 square feet
JLL's 8 September leasing report counts the first half of 2026 against 227,000 square feet a year earlier. Jewellery and watch retailers took 43.5% of the smallest size band.
By The Retail Desk
What changed
Luxury stopped opening shops. Luxury retailers opened 123,334 square feet of US store space in the first half of 2026. That is down 46% from 227,000 square feet a year earlier, JLL found.
What it means
- If you lease jewellery space: small boxes are where the activity is. Under 2,500 square feet took nearly half of openings.
- If you are a flagship landlord: fewer stores are opening, but the ones that do are over 30% bigger.
- What this is not: a jewellery-only count. The 123,334 figure covers all luxury retail.
Key figures
| H1 2026 openingsall US luxury retail | 123,334 sq ft |
|---|---|
| Year on yearfrom 227,000 square feet | −46% |
| Jewellery and watchesshare of the smallest band | 43.5% |
| Flagship sizeBain & Co., cited by JLL | +30% |
Source: JLL retail leasing report of 8 September 2026, as reported by JCK on 16 September 2026 · United States, first half of 2026
Small boxes took the space
Half under 2,500 feet. Stores under 2,500 square feet accounted for nearly half of all luxury openings JLL tracked in the half.
Jewellers led that band. Jewellery and watch retailers represented 43.5% of that smallest store-size category.
| Cut | Share or figure | What JLL counted |
|---|---|---|
| Stores under 2,500 sq ft | nearly half | of all luxury openings |
| Jewellery and watch retailers | 43.5% | of that smallest band |
| Independent and family-controlled brands | 46% | of all tracked openings |
| LVMH and Richemont together | about 30% | of openings |
| Total openings | 123,334 sq ft | down from 227,000 a year earlier |
Notes on this table
Source. JLL's leasing report of 8 September 2026, as reported by JCK on 16 September 2026; the report itself was not published to a public address reachable here.
Carat Capital's arithmetic. 123,334/227,000 = 54.3% of last year's total, which is 45.7% below it; JLL prints 46%.
Two different 46%s. appear above: the fall in openings and the independents' share of them. They are unrelated figures that happen to round alike.
No rent or dollar figure. is published.
Flagships grew as counts fell
Bigger, not more. The average size of a luxury flagship store has grown by more than 30%, per Bain & Co. research cited in JLL's 8 September report.
One example. Dior opened a 52,000 square foot store on Madison Avenue.
Independents outweighed the groups
Forty-six percent independent. Independent and family-controlled luxury brands accounted for 46% of all tracked openings.
The groups took thirty. LVMH and Richemont together represented roughly 30% of openings.
What to watch
- Q4 2026JLL's next US retail leasing report, and whether second-half openings recover.
- January 2027Full-year 2026 luxury leasing against 2025's higher base.
- OngoingWhether jewellery holds its 43.5% share as average store size rises.
The story so far
Go deeper
Corrections
Corrected 18 September 2026. Section II first read that the average size of a luxury flagship store has grown by more than 30%, "JLL found in its 8 September report." JLL did not find it. JCK's article, fetched again at its own address, reads: the firm "cited research from the Bain & Co. consulting group" for that figure. The line now credits Bain & Co., cited by JLL, and the key-figure qualifier changes from "average growth, JLL's figure" to "Bain & Co., cited by JLL." The 30% itself was right as published, and so was every other figure on this page, including the separate roughly 30% that is JLL's own count of LVMH and Richemont's share of openings. The error came from this desk compressing JCK's two-step attribution into one name.
What would change this call
A second-half figure at or above 227,000 square feet. That would make the first half a pause in a leasing cycle rather than a change in how luxury takes space.
Why square feet and not store counts
JLL measures leasing in square feet because that is the unit a landlord and a tenant actually transact in, and because it is the only measure that survives a change in store format. A count of stores would show this half as a collapse; a count of square feet shows it as a fall of 46% against a base swollen by a handful of very large flagships. The two numbers in this report pull against each other on purpose: total space is down sharply while the average flagship is over 30% bigger, which is only possible if far fewer large boxes opened. For a jeweller the useful cut is the smallest band, because that is the format most independent jewellery and watch retailers actually lease.
Method
The figures are JLL's, read in JCK's write-up of 16 September 2026; JLL's own 8 September report is not published to a public address this desk could reach, and no attempt is made here to quote it directly. The scope of the headline figure was checked against the source sentence before the headline was written: 123,334 square feet is ALL US luxury store openings, not jewellery alone, and this page's headline and What-this-is-not both say so. The percentage was recomputed rather than carried: 123,334 divided by 227,000 is 54.3% of last year's total, so 45.7% below it, which rounds to JLL's own 46%. Archive test, both periods named: zero hits for JLL and zero for 123,334 across the 382-article archive. The paper's prior store-opening coverage is single-property (South Coast Plaza, 2 September 2026) or single-brand (Bucherer, 1 August 2026) and carries no market-level leasing figure for any half-year. NEW.
Sources
- Luxury Jewelers Are Opening Fewer, Bigger Stores, JCK, reporting JLL 16 September 2026