Digital commerce was supposed to make physical retail less important. Wellness is demonstrating one reason that prediction was incomplete: some categories become more valuable when they are experienced in person.

THE MARKET SIGNAL

CBRE reported in August 2026 that U.S. consumer spending across cosmetics, beauty services and specialty fitness reached $132 billion in 2025, up from $86 billion in 2020. The firm also noted more than 700 boutique-fitness openings totaling over 1.5 million square feet planned in the near term.

New York offers a visible example. JLL announced that technology-driven fitness company Hero’s Journey will open its first U.S. flagship in the Flatiron District, combining approximately 1,500 square feet at street level with 18,000 square feet below grade and integrating several training modalities in one destination.

From transaction to destination

Physical wellness businesses are difficult to compress into a product page because the product is partly the environment: coaching, equipment, sensory experience, social energy and the act of going somewhere. That creates adjacent opportunity for apparel, food and beverage, recovery, events and community programming.

It also changes the role of retail space. A location can sell, but it can also teach, host, demonstrate, gather and create content.

NEW YORK REPORT — KEY SIGNALS

• Beauty services and specialty fitness are contributing to a broader shift in retail demand.
• More than 700 boutique-fitness openings are in the near-term U.S. pipeline cited by CBRE.
• New York flagships increasingly combine multiple modalities and functions under one roof.

THE PALM POINT OF VIEW

The most interesting future retail space may not feel primarily like a store. For an emerging lifestyle brand, pop-ups and partnerships can be designed around participation—movement, education, recovery, dogs, community—then let product live inside the experience rather than forcing the experience to exist only to sell product.

Sources

CBRE — beauty and specialty fitness retail demand
JLL — Hero’s Journey Flatiron flagship