Linstow began active operations in the field of real estate in the Baltic region toward the end of 1997. After purchasing 50% of the local real estate holding company SIA Varner Hakon Invest, Linstow began to develop a network of shopping centres in Rīga. It bought out Varner Hakon Invest completely in 2004, and now the company is wholly owned by Linstow AS.

The decision to invest significant capital in Latvia’s real estate market was based on the concern’s belief in long-term opportunities in the region. When Latvia implemented a market economy in the 1990s, development of modern retail operations began, and there was significant growth in this area.

Linstow began to reorganise its structure in 2004, because it had rapidly expanded over the course of the years and was not really easily surveyed any more. A separate company has been established to develop and manage shopping centres — Linstow Centre Management. Each centre has its own real estate company, too.

Linstow’s first shopping centre was Dole, which it began to build in 1996 and opened up in February 1997. Dole featured a new combination of local and Norwegian stores, arranged in accordance with the requirements of a modern shopping centre. Dole successfully passed the test in terms of an entirely new retailing concept in the Baltic States, and this encouraged Linstow to pursue other activities in the capital cities of the three countries.

In January 1997, the concern took over the Minska department store. After renovation, it reopened in August of the same year.

Also in January 1997, the company bought the Mols shopping centre, which had not yet been completely built. Once that work was done, it opened its doors in September 1998. Mols was expanded and reopened four years later, in November 2002.

In December 1997, Linstow took over the Centrs department store, purchasing a controlling share in its owner — the stock company Universālveikals Centrs, which was undergoing privatisation. This popular store is in the Old City of Rīga, and the first two floors of the reconstructed building were opened up in December 1997, with the remaining floors being opened in May 1998. In 2006, Centrs underwent another reconstruction and major expansion. After the drafting of a completely new concept, it became known as Galerija Centrs. The new and expanded version of the shopping centre was opened in August 2006.

In 1998, the concern launched two major investment projects in Rīga — the Alfa shopping centre was opened in June 2001 and expanded in October 2004, and there is also the Origo shopping centre. Origo is a modern centre at the heart of Rīga — a place where traffic and pedestrians come together. The shopping centre is merged with the central railway station in Rīga. Linstow managed the establishment of the Origo centre in several phases. First, in 1999 and 2000, the company renovated the train station’s pedestrian tunnels. In 2001, it completely renovated the building’s waiting halls. The last phase of construction involved the erection of two new buildings. Origo was opened as a new and modern shopping centre in 2003.

LCM also reconstructed several objects that are important to the city as part of the Origo project — the massive clock which stands outside the train station, as well as the central square which is in front of it.

After establishing its significant real estate platform in Rīga, Linstow began to expand into the capital city of neighbouring Estonia, Tallinn. In April 2004, it opened the largest shopping centre in Estonia — Ülemiste.

The long-term goal for Linstow Centre Management is to stay at the top of the heap when it comes to developers and managers of shopping centres in the Baltic States. Linstow AS is the leading foreign investor in the Baltic sector for shopping centres at this time — total investments of more than EUR 200 million in the shopping centres that have been opened.