L.L. Bean reopens its Freeport flagship after a seven-year, $50 million renovation
Chief executive Greg Elder says the store, open around the clock every day of the year, still draws more than 3 million visitors annually.
L.L. Bean has reopened its Freeport, Maine flagship after a $50 million renovation that took seven years to complete. The retailer calls the result a reboot, and the store has grown from around 130,000 square feet to 150,000 as the project reshaped the campus that underpins downtown Freeport.
Chief executive Greg Elder said the company began discussing a renovation in 2017, the store's hundredth anniversary, and that the project itself broke ground in 2019. Construction forced the closure of parts of the campus for two years, during which the company operated out of a 30,000-square-foot tent.
Elder called reimagining an icon an extraordinary undertaking, and credited the result to the team behind it. He described the flagship as the most important physical expression of the brand and as a gateway to the outdoors and to the state of Maine, calling it the company's north star.
The rebuilt flagship centres on a grand staircase and a two-tiered trout pond, doubled in size from the previous one, alongside a new stream tank stocked with twice the number of fish. A discovery park in the middle of the store adds green space to the shopping experience.
The surrounding outdoor park has also been enlarged, growing to 18,000 square feet. A new custom shop offers more than 200,000 monogramming, engraving and embossing options, and the 1912 Café has been expanded to 3,000 square feet with an upgraded menu.
What else changed inside the store
The children's department has been remodelled, and the store now carries a New England village design aesthetic throughout. Displays trace the brand's history, including the Bean boot and the Boat and Tote, positioning the flagship as a showcase for the products that built the company.
L.L. Bean was founded in 1912 by Leon Leonwood Bean, who began selling a hunting shoe by mail order out of his brother's basement. The first store opened above the Freeport post office in 1917, and the flagship has stood on roughly the same site for more than 110 years.
How the flagship fits the wider chain
The store operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and hosts more than 3 million visitors annually, according to Elder. Board chairman Shawn Gorman, the founder's great-grandson, called it the unofficial hub of downtown Freeport and a celebration of his great-grandfather's legacy.
Beyond Freeport, L.L. Bean runs 72 stores across the United States, split between 61 full-price locations and 11 outlets, plus 21 full-price and 16 outlet stores in Canada. The company has been opening four to six new stores a year, a pace it plans to raise to ten in 2027.
Elder said the chain remains present in only 21 states despite a large and successful website, and that customers keep telling the company they still want to experience products in person. Branch stores typically run 15,000 to 18,000 square feet, far smaller than the Freeport flagship.
Top-selling categories across the chain include men's and women's outdoor lifestyle apparel, footwear, outerwear and accessories, alongside dedicated hunting, fishing, camping and hiking sections. Elder said the assortment is curated down for regional stores from the full range carried at the flagship.
Elder put direct-to-consumer sales at 70 percent of the business, split into 60 percent e-commerce, 30 percent stores and 10 percent catalogue. He said a devoted segment of customers still prefers to receive the printed catalogue in the mail and page through it rather than shop online.
He said interest in the outdoors has held up since the pandemic-era surge faded, with customers still turning to L.L. Bean for products built for outdoor credibility and versatility, whether that means hunting and hiking or simply walking the dog or fetching the mail.
What comes next
L.L. Bean will run a series of grand-opening events through October, including concerts, a heritage celebration of vintage products, contests and giveaways, and appearances from the Boston Red Sox and the Hearts of Pine soccer club, before the flagship settles into year-round operation.
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Images: Courtesy of LL Bean