The head of the retail chain “Litas,” S. Bumšteinas, confirmed to 15min that the store “Litas” located at Verkių St. 42 in the capital will be closed from August 3.
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This first “Litas” retail chain store operated for less than a year – it was opened in September 2025.
Although S. Bumšteinas, a shareholder of “Litas,” which aims to become a new retail chain in Lithuania, spoke to 15min last September about plans to open 25 stores within three years, only two “Litas” stores have been operating so far. The second store was opened on February 26 in Vilnius, at Laisvės Ave., in the “Pas Juozapą” arcade.
S. Bumšteinas told 15min that the decision to close the store on Verkių Street was made because the premises became too cramped, and “all efforts will be focused on the Laisvės Avenue store.”
“We simply outgrew the Verkių St. store. It was our pilot store – we started with a relatively small assortment, and today’s assortment and its volume no longer allow us to maintain stock. We simply sell everything out before the next delivery. To maintain our assortment and stock, we need much larger premises than we had in this store.
Moreover, the owners of the premises themselves have plans for these premises – considering the expected changes and limited possibilities to invest additionally in this location, we saw that it was not feasible,” commented S. Bumšteinas.
Expansion plans were paused
S. Bumšteinas manages the new retail chain through two of his companies: “Senamiesčio erdvės” and “Esser projektai,” real estate companies established two years ago.
The head of the retail chain told 15min that they have not abandoned expansion plans and are currently looking for new locations – not only in Vilnius.
“Expansion plans have not changed. They were only briefly paused due to internal structural reorganizations within the company. But currently, we are actively monitoring the rental market and see new opportunities emerging and spaces becoming available after certain market players have withdrawn,” commented S. Bumšteinas.
Asked whether “Litas” could settle in the place of the “Mere” retail chain, which closed all its stores on Friday, S. Bumšteinas did not rule out such a possibility.
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“I definitely would not rule out such a possibility. But, as far as I know, it is quite a complicated process regarding the closure of such a retail chain and the reasons why it is closing,” he said. “I think it will be neither a quick nor a simple process. There are manufacturers’, importers’, and suppliers’ goods in those premises. And what will happen to them, what will happen to the equipment in those premises – that’s a big question.”
S. Bumšteinas evaluates the 10-month operation of “Litas” as successful.
“The result is steadily growing. We can simply ask ourselves: who nowadays does not want to save money and shop rationally? I believe that customers have definitely discovered ‘Litas’ and have already formed shopping habits in our store. All these signs show that customers respond very positively to a new market player who offers the opportunity to shop more rationally – that is, the same products as other market players, but at a lower price,” he commented.
According to reports submitted to the “Register Center,” the company “Senamiesčio erdvės” earned 543 thousand euros in revenue and 44.6 thousand euros in net profit in 2025.
Who the investor is – unclear
However, who exactly is the main investor of this new retail chain remains unclear. S. Bumšteinas is a 21-year-old shareholder of real estate companies with no experience in the retail chain market, where competition in Lithuania is fierce. He stated that “investors stand behind him,” but refused to name them either last September or now.
“There are several investors, all Lithuanian capital, earning money in Lithuania,” S. Bumšteinas answered abstractly last September.
Although at that time the “Litas” head promised to name the investors soon, on Monday S. Bumšteinas told 15min that he still cannot disclose their names.
“I can only reassure once again that our financial base consists of local Lithuanian capital, operating in Lithuania for a long time. However, the investors’ request, which we must respect, is to maintain their privacy. Therefore, I cannot comment further at this stage,” he said.
Although readers who contacted 15min last year noted that “Litas” strongly resembles the retail chain “Mere” operating in Lithuania, S. Bumšteinas told 15min that “Litas” has no connections with “Mere.”
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