Lucky Seven: retail and leisure occupational trends in 2025
Authored by Stuart Moncur, head of national retail, and Tom Whittington, director in commercial research at Savills.
As we head into 2025, despite the hurdles for the retail and leisure industry as it anticipates significant impact on margins from the Budget, there remain plenty of exciting and active retailers that are navigating the evolving retail landscape – we explore the brands to watch this year:
1. Asian flavours in favour
Whether they are incoming international operators, or up-and-coming regional concepts, mass market and aspirational Asian retail and leisure concepts are thriving and disrupting multiple channels. In the world of cuisine Zaap Thai, My Thai, Hop Vietnamese Sticks & Sushi, Chopstix and Maki & Ramen are all on a growth drive.
The Korean beauty market, whose growth has been aided by social media trends, sees operators such as Puresoul, Skincupid and Nature Republic expanding in the UK. Aside from cuisine and beauty, other Asian brands are infiltrating the market as consumer demand grows from international and domestic consumers alike, with Chinese fashion brand Urban Revivo opening shortly in Covent Garden and toy retailer Pop Mart also aiming to target prime sites. The hottest locations are Manchester and London, but brands will be hot on the trail of other regional cities in 2025.
2. Cosmetics sitting pretty
The demand from Korean cosmetics brands is part of a much wider expansion in the health and beauty sector, with the UK market increasing by 4% in 2024 and sales up 8%. We expect this growth to continue into 2025, as consumers prioritise health, wellbeing and cosmetic related spend.
Notable operators include Sephora, who opened their first UK site outside of London last year in The Trafford Centre, and reporting the third highest opening day sales of any of their global sites. Other notable brands include Space NK, who plan to open a further 10 stores in 2025 following a sales surge of 34% in just 12 months, Kiko Milano and Holland & Barrett, as well as further interest from international brands being explored.
3. Quick and healthy F&B
Grab-and-go lunch options are back on the menu – particularly those with healthy offerings. Key brands include Farmer J’s, The Salad Project, The Salad Kitchen, Atis and itsu – many of whom are on a growth drive and plan to increase their store estate in 2025. These operators have benefitted from increased demand for convenient lunchtime offerings, particularly from office workers following a post-pandemic lull.
The food & beverage (F&B) offering in regional cities is henceforth diversifying, with Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool and Edinburgh all experiencing growth in F&B units in excess of 50% over the past 10 years. Gone are the days when a meal deal was the only lunch option, as city centre F&B is evolving in line with consumer palettes.
4. Historic towns are back in fashion
Upmarket fashion brands are turning their attention back towards aspirational towns and smaller cities, like Bath, Winchester, Marlow, York, Exeter, Chester, Cirencester and Canterbury. These locations are providing operators with alternative opportunities to build their UK presence, which can be counter to the London-first requirements often expected from incoming international or pureplay fashion brands.
Operators are benefitting from a resurgence in popularity of historic centres, with occupational costs typically more affordable than in the Capital. Brands are also bringing style closer to home for commuters whose consumer behaviour has been refashioned post-Covid.
Long-established brand Mango has cited the opportunity to consolidate its brand and strengthen its international standing through these locations, while relative newcomers Rodd & Gunn, RM Williams, Brooke Teverner, Scamp & Dude and Lucy & Yak are looking to increase presence in several of these markets.
5. Luxurious neighbourhood moves
While we can’t ignore the slowdown in the luxury market with the consumer whiplash in China impacting global demand, London’s landscape of quiet luxury is standing out, drawing the attention of high-end brands, particularly in affluent neighbourhoods like Chelsea.
Nestled in central London, under the clever stewardship of the Cadogan Estates, Sloane Street has become one of London’s more sought-after fashion destinations. Extensive public realm improvements, coupled with Sloane’s confinement of domestic luxury spend, have resulted in a record number of premium brands keen to join the likes Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Hermes and Loro Piana.
In the last eighteen months major flagship stores each comprising nearly 8,000 sqft have been opened on Sloane Street by Brunello Cucinelli, Yves Saint Laurent, Dior and Valentino. Brands including Temperley, Zimmerman and L’Objet have taken stores at the southern end of the street and the unique vibrant sense of place that this location offers will be further enhanced by the number of restaurants that will open this year.
While Bond Street continues to thrive as a premier luxury shopping destination, in 2025 we will see increasingly more fashion brands eager to secure prime spots in London’s quieter luxury neighbourhood locations like Chelsea.
6. Convenience is king
As ever, convenience is king in the grocery sector and the drive for market share continues unabated in multiple formats and settings. Opportunities are being sought in major city centres for larger formats, often requiring subdivision or amalgamation of units to create the sweet spot of around 20,000 sq ft.
All major brands are pushing their convenience formats (c.2,000-4,000 sq ft) on high streets, and in urban neighbourhoods where high density residential development is rapidly increasing populations and creating new markets; Co-op has announced 75 new stores and Asda’s rebooted c-store format is gathering momentum. Lidl, Aldi and M&S continue to dominate expansion in out-of-town formats, while demand remains for ‘infill’ space from Tesco and Sainsburys, the latter showing a pre-emptive move to secure preferred Homebase stores last August. This trend is set to run, and run…
7. Health and fitness is looking good
And finally on the topic of running, like grocery, the health and fitness market has increasingly been built around affordability and convenience. The low-cost gym market is now effectively the gym market, with growth in CBD locations, local high streets and on retail parks, resulting in a phenomenal 30% increase in sites since the beginning of the decade. The likes of The Gym Group and Pure Gym are set to continue opening two sites a month for the next two years at least, with JD Gyms and Bannatyne’s also in expansion mode.
But while consumers are looking for low-cost-no-contract gym membership, they are countering this with a preference for increasingly aspirational gym wear. Athleisure clothing is by no means solely for the gym, but it is clear that looking good is important to the savvy social media orientated fitness fanatic. Sweaty Betty and Lululemon are closing on 100 stores nationally between them, and this growth hasn’t gone unnoticed by other upmarket athleisure brands like Alo Yoga, Finisterre, UVU, and Represent who are all expected to increase their UK stores.