The town of 10,000 or so people, around 30 kilometers from Tallinn, has a one-kilometer strip which boasts more supermarkets than many county towns, and is home to a Selver outlet, two Rimis, a Maxima, a Lidl and a Grossi grocery store.

Now in a move suggesting game theory in action, Coop has joined the fray, with a Maksimarket.

"Competition is the driving force, after all. We were the last and only one that hadn't yet opened in Keila," Kadri Aguraiuja, board chair of Coop Harju, told "Aktuaalne kaamera."

Janek Lehtmets, who developed the Keila Keskus mall, which opens Friday, said the bankruptcy saga of Tallin's T1 shopping mall has not been haunting his dreams.

"I sleep quite well. I don't really think about it, although this is brought up as an example. I agree that in Tallinn, T1 was probably poorly timed. At that point in time, Tallinn didn't need another shopping center. But I still believe in this kind of retail in Keila… That a center of this scale here should actually work, although the business risks naturally remain," Lehtmets said.

In addition to grocery and clothing stores, the mall's 13,000 square meters is set to include a bookstore and a gym, and the final stages of a planned cinema and trampoline center are ongoing.

Lehtmets said Keila, due to its location in the "golden crescent" commuter belt surrounding Tallinn, also has enough people living in its catchment area to justify its presence.

"In reality, we will serve around 50,000 people from the surrounding municipalities. We would like to cover an area that essentially includes Paldiski, Vasalemma, half of Saku, half of Saue, Keila, and a bit of Harku," he went on.

Keila is also close to the Ämari Air Base.

Nevertheless this all means competition in Keila's retail sector has become exceptionally intense, and there have been some casualties already: This summer, the Keila tarbijate ühistu cooperative's grocery store, in existence for decades, was forced to close its doors, and it was replaced by a drinks store.

The same cooperative also runs the Rõõmu department store, in operation for 30 years. Mairika Juhandi, the cooperative's commercial director, was confident about the store's prospects of survival.

"Time flies, joys remain, and I think people in Keila are happy because there is so much retail. As my boss says, the soup might get thinner, but I say you have to spice up the soup — and with the right spices. So we'll see how it goes," Juhandi said.

Kristel Mets, CEO of Rimi Estonia, believes Keila has reached the limit of how much retail space and how many retail outlets and chains it can support.

"A Rimi manager's heart is saddened by that. Competition is not exactly welcome, although of course the customers benefit from it," she said.

In the end it will come down to the market deciding, she went on.

"Customers will make their choices, and then we'll see who survives and who dies," Mets said.

Rimi opened its Vesiveski shopping center in Keila in September.

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