BUSINESS

Beijing Retail Rents Slide as Consumer Split Widens

Published: Apr. 9, 2026 10:58 p.m. GMT+8

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A Unitree Robotics store inside JD Mall in Beijing’s Shuangjing area. Photo: IC

Retail property rents in Beijing extended their decline in the first quarter of 2026, as cautious consumer spending forced landlords to cut prices to maintain occupancy.

The weakening commercial real estate market highlights an increasingly polarized retail landscape in the Chinese capital. Mass-market consumers are scaling back on everyday purchases, while affluent shoppers are driving demand for safe-haven gold and emerging technology retail formats.

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Beijing retail rents fell 3% QoQ and 10.4% YoY in Q1 2026; vacancies stable at 7% urban, 3% core.
Mass-market spending cautious (consumption +1.8% vs income +4.3% in 2025); gold sales surged 39.5% amid 2.9% retail decline.
Laopu Gold topped mall sales (~1B yuan/mall); Unitree Robotics opened experience stores.

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Who’s Who

Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.: Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. (JLL), or 仲量联行 in Chinese, released a Q1 2026 report on Beijing retail rents, showing a 3% QoQ and 10.4% YoY decline, with core/suburban drops of 3.4%/2.5%. Vacancies stabilized at 7%/3%. JLL noted retail struggles, cautious mass spending, affluent gold demand, and tech/retail shifts like Unitree Robotics stores.

Laopu Gold Co. Ltd.: Laopu Gold Co. Ltd., Hong Kong-listed, benefited from surging gold demand amid economic uncertainty. It emerged as a key revenue driver for high-end malls, outperforming Western luxury brands. In 2025, it contributed nearly one-seventh of Beijing SKP mall's sales, with average annual sales of ~1B yuan ($140M) per mall, ranking #1 in China for single-mall revenue and sales/sq.m. Customer overlap with top luxury brands rose to 82.4% by Q1 2026.

Louis Vuitton: Customer overlap between Laopu Gold and top luxury brands including Louis Vuitton rose from 77.3% in July 2025 to 82.4% in March 2026. (22 words)

Hermes: Hermes is one of five top luxury brands (Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Cartier, Bvlgari, Tiffany) with rising customer overlap with Laopu Gold, from 77.3% in July 2025 to 82.4% in March 2026.

Cartier: Customer overlap between Laopu Gold and top luxury brands including Cartier rose from 77.3% in July 2025 to 82.4% in March 2026.

Bvlgari: Bvlgari is one of five top luxury brands (Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Cartier, Bvlgari, Tiffany) with customer overlap to Laopu Gold rising from 77.3% in July 2025 to 82.4% in March 2026.

Tiffany: Customer overlap between Laopu Gold and Tiffany (plus Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Cartier, Bvlgari) rose from 77.3% in July 2025 to 82.4% in March 2026.

Unitree Robotics: Unitree Robotics, a developer of humanoid robots, opened its first offline store at a JD Mall in Beijing’s Shuangjing area in late 2025 and expanded to Wangfujing Yintai in88 shopping center in Q1 2026, reflecting tech brands' push for immersive retail experiences.

AI generated, for reference only