LONDON — New York City is back on the map as the destination for luxury store openings, according to research released this week by the international property company Savills.
Savills said North America was the leading region for luxury store openings in 2025, and accounted for 27 percent of global activity. Savills said the city, which last held the crown in 2019, was one of only a small number of markets to record an increase in activity. Luxury store openings rose 23 percent year‑over‑year in 2025.
Savills attributed the resurgence of New York City to “a shift in market conditions across the city’s prime luxury corridors.”
It said increased availability and a rebase in rents over the past three years, most notably along Fifth Avenue and Madison Avenue, “have created a clear window of opportunity for brands to secure flagship space. This has translated into a strong spatial concentration of activity, with 56 percent of New York’s new luxury openings located along these two established luxury corridors.”
Those slick shopping streets have undergone major changes pre- and post-pandemic, with the closure of Brooks Brothers, Barneys New York and Calvin Klein on Madison Avenue, and the shuttering of Lord & Taylor’s flagship on Fifth Avenue.
Anthony Selwyn, co‑head of global retail at Savills, said the resurgence in North America “signals a broader recalibration in brand expansion strategies, with renewed emphasis on cities that combine scale, depth of wealth and long‑term strategic relevance within global luxury networks.”
Selwyn added that New York “continues to benefit from its position as the world’s largest high‑net‑worth market, reinforcing its role as a cornerstone destination for brands seeking sustained exposure to resilient, high‑spending customers.”
Savills said luxury retail expansion moderated further across all regions in 2025, with total new store openings falling to their lowest level since 2020. The company said the slowdown reflects “a more cautious occupier environment, with brands prioritizing quality of presence over scale of network.”
China recorded the most pronounced decline in new openings. Savills said the trend was exacerbated by timing effects following the delivery of major prime retail schemes in 2024, rather than a fundamental shift in long‑term brand intent.
By contrast, North America and Europe showed “relative regional resilience, with new openings declining by 13 percent and 8 percent, respectively. Activity continues to concentrate in a smaller number of global and destination cities offering established luxury ecosystems, depth of demand and long‑term strategic relevance,” Savills said.
Marie Hickey, global retail research lead at Savills, said although expansion volumes have softened, “the data shows activity becoming more selective rather than retreating. Brands are clearly concentrating investment in markets where demand fundamentals, future growth and long‑term positioning align — a trend clearly reflected in New York’s return to the top of the global rankings.”
The trend dovetails with the brands’ belief that the U.S. consumer still has a strong appetite for luxury. As reported, Watches of Switzerland has been investing heavily in the U.S., opening multibrand showrooms and buying regional, family-run watches and jewelry businesses.
In Watches of Switzerland’s first fiscal half, the U.S. grew 20 percent, despite higher tariffs, and the region accounted for a little less than half of overall group revenue.
Chief executive officer Brian Duffy said despite the spike in precious metal prices over the past year, sales of gold watches and jewelry in the U.S. have been “unaffected,” for a variety of reasons.
“The economy, particularly for those who are asset rich, has been good. People have disposable income, particularly the higher-income groups. And when those groups are buying, it’s less about affordability,” he told WWD in an interview earlier this month.
