It was one wacky year for the retail business, but any number of brands endured—even prospered. We expect the same unpredictability in 2026 when both individual and fleets of new stores arrive on the retail landscape. No doubt there will be a few last-minute surprises but, for now, here’s our preview of what’s in store for the new year. We’ve also included a few late-2025 arrivals that may not have been on your dance card.
Limited Openings
- Primark Herald Square New York: The Irish-based deep discounter has stepped up its expansion efforts in the U.S. these past few years, but this opening marks its first Manhattan location, and it went high-profile to be sure. It’s across the street from Macy’s in the former Old Navy flagship. At four stories and 78,000 square feet—54,000 square feet of selling space—it will be the biggest store on the block and should attract serious crowds. The irony that shouldn’t be lost on anyone is that Old Navy was a market leader in its day. Primark, carpe diem.
- Wayfair: The giant home furnishings retailer, so far limited to one full-line store outside of Chicago, will open in Atlanta in the spring and later in the year in the Denver metropolitan area …if all goes according to plan. At around 150,000 square feet, these stores are meant to be the physical manifestation of the online shopping experience, with just about everything and anything somebody could want for their home, including the kitchen sink.
- Netflix House: Technically, the streaming service’s first two stores opened in late 2025, in the Philadelphia and Dallas markets. The next one is not scheduled to open until 2027 in Las Vegas. This retail concept belongs on our list, given how few people in the business have actually been in a Netflix store. These 100,000-square-foot interactive—dare we say immersive or experiential—stores offer countless attractions keyed into the network’s shows, including Stranger Things and Bridgerton. They are free to enter, but the meter starts running pretty soon thereafter. Is this the future of shopping mall anchors? Visit one, and then you tell us.
- Von Maur: We need to stretch the calendar one more time for this one in what will be the midwestern department store chain’s first location in the broader New York metro area. The Freehold, NJ, store is set to open in 2027, but for many snobbish New Yorkers, this will be their first time seeing a Von Maur store in person. Equal parts Nordstrom, Dillard’s and a touch of Macy’s, it will also remind some of vintage Stern’s. Let’s see if it cuts it in the decidedly more volatile and promotional wilds of Jersey.
- Zale’s: In 2025, the moderate jewelry specialty chain opened four new concepts it calls The Edit. For 2026, there are several more on the way. As with any variation on a retail theme, these new stores may have subtle points of differentiation: open layouts, more private shopping spaces and additional digital bells and whistles. As a mid-market player, the chain is clearly trying to offer a fresh face for a shrinking market segment. New stores in Atlanta and Jacksonville are on tap for the first quarter of the year.
Is physical retail contracting or expanding in 2026? And the answer is: From limited-run openings including Primark and Wayfair to a mega 450 new locations for dollar stores, physical retail reflects optimism and courage in the new year.
Retail at Scale
- Walmart: There’s still no hard count on how many new locations the Boys from Bentonville will open in 2026, but it’s probably fair to say the year will mark its largest expansion in a number of years. Walmart is riding a hot hand these days and smelling blood from its biggest competitor, Target. You can bet it’s all about market share.
- Dollar General: However many stores Walmart opens, it will be a rounding error compared to this dollar giant, which says it will open 450 new locations in 2026. All the big dollar brands have always opened large numbers of stores each year, but let’s not forget that many of these are replacements for locations they have closed. Still, 450 is an outrageous number, and we doubt any national chain has ever been this ambitious. By the way, do the math and this works out to 1.2 stores a day…including Sundays.ow HG
- Barnes & Noble: Rising from the dead, it wasn’t all that long ago that this bookstore chain would have been on a list of companies closing stores. Under new leadership supporting a localized merchandising strategy, B&N has undergone a remarkable transformation and says it will open 60 new locations this year, on top of the number it rolled out in 2025. Rumors of going public may alter those plans, and if those rumors are true, we hope that as a public company Wall Street doesn’t push the endangered bookstore model to do anything stupid.
- Lululemon: While the activewear retailer finds itself in a proxy war with its founder trying to once again assert control, the retailer has an ambitious expansion plan in place this year. Unlike some other American brands, it includes overseas locations. Through its franchising model, it will open new stores in six overseas markets: Greece, Austria, Poland, Hungary, Romania and India. This comes as its U.S. growth seems to be stalling out, so it will be fascinating to see if it can succeed in Europe and Asia when so many other American brands have failed.
- Buc-ee’s: The Texas-based, travel-center-on-steroids chain is opening at least five new locations in 2026. But what’s important here is they are entering three new markets: Ohio, Arizona and Arkansas. These represent a continued geographic expansion for this clever little beaver and prove the concept of 100-pump gas stations combined with 50,000-square-foot retail stores, restrooms bigger (and cleaner) than anything imagined before, and Texas barbecue has potentially endless possibilities. And don’t you dare call it a truck stop: Trucks are not even allowed at Buc-ee’s.
We expect other big expansions of retail brands over the next 12 months. But as is increasingly the case in the retail business, the big get bigger, and the rest end up in that big mall in the sky. Stay tuned.
