The stores are located in the shopping center Spice in Riga, which, in view of Apranga CEO, is now the most suitable for such stores in the Baltic countries.

"Those are affordable luxury stores, which, in most cases, are opened in shopping centers that attract many well-off buyers and boast a sufficient number of stores of more expensive brands. Based on these criteria, the Spice is the best match in the Baltic countries. We have a sufficient number of stores in that shopping center and all of them perform very well," told Rimantas Perveneckas.

"This year, these stores will also be opened in Vilnius and Tallinn and, perhaps, also in Kaunas," he added.

The stores are opened under a franchising contract with France's SMCP, which develops three on-trend affordable luxury brands, Sandro, Maje and Claudie Pierlot. At the end of 2015, the SMCP group managed 1,118 stores in 33 countries.

The retailer currently operates a chain of 175 stores, including 103 stores in Lithuania, 46 in Latvia and 26 in Estonia. The group's retail sales rose by 7.1% in the first two months of 2016 from a year earlier to 29.7 million euros, including VAT.

Apranga, which is controlled by MG Baltic concern, is quoted on the blue-chip Main List of the NASDAQ Vilnius Stock Exchange.

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