Can we deduct renovation materials on our small business even though we don't own the store location? We pay a monthly rental fee for the space

[altemus44]

We were permitted to do renovations to our business location at our own expense

[M-MTax]

Those are leasehold improvements and need to be capitalized so you deduct yearly depreciation expense.

[Mike9241]

Qualified improvement property. Generally, this is any improvement to an interior portion of a building that is nonresidential real property if the improvement is placed in service after the date the building was first placed in service.
the renovations would seem to meet this definition so you can take section 179 depreciation. note that you must have sufficient business income to take this deduction.

review what was done.  certain renovations like painting the walls could be classified as repirs and maintenance. on the other hand a gutting of the interior of the business site would be a qualified improvement.  also, the $ spent. $100,000 is one thing a few hundred dollars is another