On 22 October, Apranga Group, the leading fashion retailer in the Baltic States, opened two new stores – Apranga outlet and Outlet Space – in the brand new Vilnius Outlet Shopping Mall situated in the city of Vilnius. With these projects the Group closes its investment programme for this year.
“The outlet segment is a rapidly growing share of retail clothing market. Vilnius Outlet seems to be an appealing project which attracts a wide audience; thus, it is no coincidence that we are opening two stores: Apranga outlet and the luxury Outlet Space,” says Rimantas Perveneckas, General Manager of Apranga Group.
According to him, last year the company also opened the Outlet Space store in Via Jurmala Outlet Village in Latvia, offering a range of world-known premium brands.
Implementing investment plans
In 2021, the Group has reorganised or reconstructed ten stores and opened five new stores. Among its latest projects is the introduction of the new Hugo brand with as many as three stores opened in the course of three months in Lithuania, and the reorganisation and refurbishment of the network of luxury segment stores in Town Hall Square in Vilnius.
Klaipėda has received almost the largest amount of investments this year, with as many as six projects implemented in the city.
Akropolis Shopping Mall in Kaunas has opened the new Zara store of almost double the previous area, now covering 3 000 sq. m; Mango and Aldo stores have also been refurbished.
“Our investments this year are almost double the investments of 2020. Our business has been significantly affected by the pandemic both last year and this year since we have faced unprecedented activity restrictions in Europe, yet we sought to take advantage of this difficult period as efficiently as possible so that we protect all jobs and successfully continue operations and implement projects of importance in the coming years,” Mr. Perveneckas comments this year’s investments.
This year, the Group has reorganised over 10 000 sq. m of sales area in Lithuania.
Focus on e-commerce
This year, the Group has also invested in further integration of physical stores and e-commerce, as well as the development of omnichannel commerce.
The development of own Soulz.lt and other e-commerce platforms has mainly focused on the improvement of user experience and taking advantage of efficient synergy between the operated physical retail chain and e-commerce channels.
Apranga Group operates a chain of 171 stores in the Baltic States (102 in Lithuania, 46 in Latvia and 23 in Estonia), with a total area of 93 000 sq. m.
