America’s ‘vanity economy’ is reshaping retail leasing

Article originally posted on CoStar on August 27, 2026

Americans are spending more money on looking better, feeling better and living longer as part of what’s been dubbed the “vanity economy.” Shopping center owners are cashing in.

Demand for specialty fitness and beauty services is getting a lift from a combination of social media, a growing focus on wellness and the potential influence of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, according to real estate professionals. That includes boutique gyms, namely small fitness studios offering limited-size classes or personal training, with upscale decor and — often — premium prices.

The category includes Pilates operators such as Club Pilates and Strong Pilates as well as high-intensity interval training chains F45, Burn Boot Camp and Barry’s. Collectively, they are expected to open more than 700 locations this year, creating demand for roughly 1.5 million square feet of retail space, property services firm CBRE estimated in a recent report. Those openings are also expected to provide a significant new source of leasing demand for shopping center owners.

Unlike traditional gyms, boutique fitness operators typically occupy compact storefronts focused on a single workout style. The format creates frequent repeat visits, helping to keep locations in shopping centers active throughout the week. It’s a business model directly in contrast to chains such as Planet Fitness, a firm that leases large spaces and operates by signing up a lot of members at low fees. Those big-box gyms no longer fit all consumers’ needs, real estate analysts say.

“As U.S. consumers prioritize wellness — 84% according to McKinsey — and direct their spending toward products and services that improve quality of life, fitness studios can no longer limit themselves to exercise alone,” Anjee Solanki, national director of retail services for Colliers, wrote in April. “A new wave of centers now emphasizes sleep, nutrition, and more personalized forms of movement. … Underlying this evolution is a growing recognition that health is not one-size-fits-all.”

The boutique fitness category is not without risks, however. Memberships, cosmetic treatments and other wellness services often depend on discretionary spending that can weaken when consumer confidence declines.

Even so, spending on beauty, wellness and specialty fitness services rose from $86 billion in 2020 to $132 billion in 2025, helping to drive that vanity economy, as CBRE calls it.

The shift is reshaping retail real estate. Service-based retailers, including fitness concepts, briefly leased more space than traditional goods-based tenants earlier this year for the first time on record, according to CoStar. Preliminary first-half data, however, shows goods-based retailers have since regained the lead, according to Brandon Svec, CoStar’s national director of U.S. retail analytics.

CBRE doesn’t mean “vanity” in a pejorative way but rather as a “neutral term,” report author Ebere Anokute, the brokerage’s head of retail research for the Americas, told CoStar News.

Driving the trend are changing consumer habits, social media and an expanding array of fitness and beauty offerings, retail professionals say. Americans have become more conscious of their appearance as TikTok, Instagram and other social platforms expose users to a constant stream of fitness, beauty and lifestyle content and influencers.

“The omnipresence of camera phones and the meteoric growth of influencer marketing have heightened society’s emphasis on appearance,” according to that report. “This has altered consumer behavior and laid the groundwork for the ‘vanity economy.’”

Consumers these days also have access to a much wider array of fitness and beauty offerings beyond traditional gyms and hair salons, including Pilates and yoga studios, high-intensity interval training, red-light and cryogenic therapy, cosmetic beauty treatments and skin aestheticians.

But retail analyst Svec, among others, said the rise of boutique gyms is largely an extension of the post-pandemic wellness boom rather than a new phenomenon. And it’s too early to make a judgment about whether GLP-1 drugs correlate to an increase in boutique gyms and beauty treatments rather than cause that increase, according to Svec.

In terms of what’s happening in the market, CBRE described GLP-1 weight-loss treatments as a tailwind and “an unexpected demand driver for medical aesthetics services and health-focused fitness concepts, positioning the vanity economy for continued growth well into the next decade.”

Those on weight loss drugs may want to exercise to stay slim or tone up or try new beauty treatments now that they’re thinner “to continue with that sort of new walk in life,” Anokute said.

“A lot of times that encourages a new, healthier lifestyle,” he said. “Maybe people who historically have not loved going to the gym in the traditional sense are now seeing that there’s a lot of different ways to exercise. Then they’re able to find one that meshes well with them. So, whether that’s Pilates or yoga or high-intensity interval training, there’s just more options these days as a result of this specialty fitness boom.”

Svec is looking at the impact of higher GLP-1 usage on the retail real estate market and is planning a presentation on the topic at the National Retail Tenants Association conference in Arizona next month.

In terms of boutique fitness offerings, CBRE data shows that Pilates concepts are driving the largest share of expansion activity, led by Club Pilates and Strong Pilates, chains that are expected to open more than 350 locations combined. Club Pilates is slated to debut 200 new locations and Strong Pilates is expected to open 155.

The growth builds on Club Pilates’ already sizable footprint. The chain said this month that it surpassed 1,500 studios worldwide following recent openings in Thailand and Mexico, underscoring the scale Pilates concepts have achieved as they expand into shopping centers and other retail locations.

High-intensity interval training chains — including F45, Burn Boot Camp and Barry’s — are expected to add more than 100 locations combined, while yoga concepts are slated for more than 50 new studios, according to CBRE.

For retail property landlords, boutique fitness concepts generate visits several times a week, “helping drive foot traffic while increasing cross-shopping opportunities for other retail tenants, including restaurants, grocery stores and service providers,” according to CBRE’s report.

“Boutique fitness concepts are also highly effective at absorbing second-gen space in lifestyle and strip centers,” CBRE said.

Beauty and wellness retailers can be a boon to shopping centers as tenants because they “generate outsized dwell time, resist e-commerce displacement and foster a complementary retail ecosystem,” according to CBRE.

The brokerage’s report found that the beauty category, where physical retail rules, is surging. Brick-and-mortar stores — including the Ulta Beauty and Sephora chains — account for about 74% of U.S. cosmetics sales, according to data cited by CBRE.