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"The obvious trend is that few (clothing retailers) speak about expansion, but they speak about cutting their store numbers and increasing their areas. For example, Zara has until, now developed 1,500-square-meter stores. Next year, we will open four stores with twice the area, of 3,300 sq. meters each," Rimantas Perveneckas said during a discussion hosted by Newsec Advisers LT.

"Similarly, many market players say they need bigger stores in the best shopping centers," he added.  

Perveneckas was also skeptical about opening a clothing business in central streets of Vilnius or Riga.

"Owners (of premises) in Gediminas Avenue (...) want to lease (retail space) at high rents. The parking situation there is hopeless and I don't have a single foreign partner who would want to see how Gediminas Avenue looks. They all want to be in shopping centers. I don't believe in Gediminas Avenue at the moment. I we had a buyer, we'd sell everything there," he said. 

The Apranga Group has plans to open or refurbish stores with a total area of 20,000 sq. meters in Riga next year, the CEO said.  

The Vilnius-based clothing retailer currently owns 182 stores in the Baltic countries, including 110 in Lithuania, 43 in Latvia and 29 in Estonia, with a total retail area of 84,200 sq. meters, down by 0.4 percent compared with a year earlier.

The group posted 161.5 mдn euros in revenue for the three quarters of 2018, a rise of 1.4% y-o-y.