On Friday, Apranga Group, the leading fashion retailer in the Baltic States, opened a new HUGO store in Kaunas. It is already the third store of this brand opened in Lithuania in the course of three months; the first two stores have been opened in Vilnius and Klaipėda. A 169 sq. m store in Kaunas Akropolis Shopping Mall now greets Kaunas residents and guests looking for youthful and modern style clothes and accessories.
“Our customers have known the Hugo Boss brand, which is among our most successful partners, for twenty years already. After the Hugo Boss company adopted a strategy to differentiate the development of the Boss and HUGO concepts, we have also taken the same direction. HUGO is a brand distinguished by youthful and modern spirit,” claims Rimantas Perveneckas, General Manager of Apranga Group.
Long-lasting cooperation with Hugo Boss
The first HUGO brand store in the Baltic States was opened in Riga Spice Shopping Mall last March.
According to Mr. Perveneckas, Riga residents appreciated the new concept store and this unique style brand has already established among the popular casual luxury clothing brands in Riga. The bright red colour – the sign of recognition of this style – and a modern atmosphere also prevail in Lithuania’s stores.
Apranga Group has been cooperating with Hugo Boss since 2001, when the first Hugo Boss store was opened in Vilnius under the franchise agreement. The Group currently operates four HUGO stores and three Hugo Boss stores – in Vilnius, Riga and Tallinn. The latter are located in the best spots of the old town and have become integrated in the main shopping streets/areas.
Less than a month ago the fully refurbished Hugo Boss store was opened in the centre of Vilnius – now in an even more convenient location in Didžioji Street.
Continuing with investments
This year, Apranga Group has been seeking to keep up with its project implementation plans that have been suspended during the pandemic and has been actively pursuing renovation of its operated store chain: investing in new and reconstructing existing stores, refurbishing stores according to the highest sustainability standards, boosting e-commerce volume, as well as process integration between the physical chain and e-commerce.
“Although lockdown restrictions made us revisit our Group’s investment plans for 2020 and 2021, we sought to take advantage of this difficult period and renovate the retail chain as efficiently as possible so that reconstruction and closure have minimum impact on active sales. In 2021, the Group plans to reorganise over 10 000 sq. m of sales area in Lithuania,” states Rimantas Perveneckas, General Manager of Apranga Group.
Klaipėda is among the cities that has received the largest amount of investments. Within a year since the beginning of the pandemic last March, Apranga Group implemented six projects: conceptually refurbished the Mados linija store, and expanded the Stradivarius store as well as presented the Orsay store in Akropolis Shopping Mall. The Mango store as well as the Apranga and Aprangos galerija stores have been renovated and reconstructed according to the latest concept of improved shopping experience.
Kaunas has also opened an exceptional store in Akropolis Shopping Mall – the new Zara store of almost double the previous area, now covering 3 000 sq. m.
This store stands out by its interior and overall aesthetics – the entire store extends across a seamless space, with its shapes creating a spacious impression and a feeling of freedom. The new Zara store is highly focused on integration of e-commerce, creating a more streamlined experience of shopping both physically and online.
Besides Zara and the new Hugo store, visitors to Kaunas Akropolis will also see other good news. The refurbished and expanded Mango store with a brand new Mango kids department will open shortly. Customers will be able to buy trendy and school-appropriate clothing for their little ones already this fall season. The renovated footwear and accessory store Aldo was also opened last week on the second floor of the shopping mall.
The lockdown period in Vilnius has been used to refurbish the Apranga store. This store, functioning since the opening of the first Akropolis Shopping Mall in Vilnius, has been refurbished for the fourth time already and now greets customers with a completely new appearance.
Apranga Group has recently undertaken reorganisation of the luxury segment stores in Vilnius Old Town. The new concept Mados linija store has been opened in a new location.
In 2021, Apranga Group has plans to reorganise or reconstruct ten stores and open five new stores in Lithuania.
Apranga Group operates a chain of 173 stores in the Baltic States (101 in Lithuania, 47 in Latvia and 25 in Estonia), with a total area of 92 000 sq. m.
