China leads new stores opening in 2022

The country accounted for 41% of all stores that opened last year.

China remains the leading market in terms of new luxury store openings, accounting for 41% of all the new stores that were launched in 2022 due to brands that continue to focus on the market.

In a report, Savill said Chinese luxury spend remained in the domestic market. 

However, there is a decline in new openings in the market. In 2021, China comprised 55% of the new stores that opened.

“This was not wholly unexpected considering the acceleration in openings the year before and the weakening in occupier confidence in the face of the rolling lockdowns seen in some parts of China throughout 2022,” the report read. 

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Globally, new stores increased by 11% year-on-year in 2022.

Savills said the wider Asia region and Europe were the main beneficiaries of the “marginal softening” in China. Europe came second to China as it accounts for 23% of the new stores opening, with a 77% year-on-year growth.

Europe also saw a fast recovery in luxury spend due to the return of international visitors and rebasing in rents in some of the key luxury streets in the region along with improved availability which supported the leasing activity.

Asia excluding China meanwhile, saw its share of new store openings grows to 12%.e. Prioritising relatively underserved markets with a growing high-net-worth population such as Vietnam also helped in spurring luxury brand activity in the region.