LL Bean: December 4, 2008

For my last and final visit, Ashley and I went to L.L. Bean. We were already heading there to get some Christmas shopping done, so I thought it was a good idea to use LL Bean as my last site visit. We went on a very cold day and it was starting to snow outside. So when we parked, we ran inside because neither of us decided to put on jackets. We rushed to the entrance of the store, where we took each others pictures near the big boot. We have been coming here for years and we have just finally gotten a picture of us near the big boot. We went inside and chaos rained supreme.

There were people everywhere. Trying on shoes, clothes, checking out at the registers, and flipping through the clothes. Everyone had something in their hands and everyone had at least one bag from another place in their hands as well. Once we squeezed our ways through all the crowds, we went upstairs.

Once we were upstairs, we went and looked for some shoes for Ashley's mom. We couldn't find any, so we then went and poked around the store. We looked at all the local grown food and supplies and looked at some of the neat clothes. Once we got our fill of looking around, we went downstairs and looked around the men's section for her dad. We didn't find anything there either, so we both decided to leave before we started spending money on ourselves. By the way, I forgot to mention, that LL Bean has a pound in it with trout in it. How cool is that?!

Historical Significance

L.L. Bean is home away from home for most Mainers. If you need good camping supplies, you go to L.L. Bean. You want to have the best outdoor supplies, you go to L.L Bean. If you are the U.S. Navy Seals and you need certain gear, you go to L.L. Bean. If you are simply visiting Freeport, Maine, you go to L.L. Bean. If you are a Mainer, you are L.L. Bean.

Growing up, I used to be dragged to LL Bean at ten o'clock at night. Since the store is open 24 hours a day, my father thought it was the best time go to LL Bean at nighttime. It was less lines at the checkout and less people in the store. Still you wouldn't believe how many people were still there. The place is like Denny's for teenagers but its for adults instead. I remember being bored out of my mind, while my dad salivated all over the camping supplies and talked to all the employees. I really believe that most of them knew my dad on a first name basis. My dad was so well acquainted with the staff, that they would give him there employee discount when he went to the checkout line. Hey, I'm not complaining to much because I got my first hiking backpack for 40 dollars when it was originally 129 dollars. The employees helped my dad out that much. In addition to buying his own gear, my father set up a contract with LL Bean with the US Navy Seals to get equipment at a really cheap rate if they bought in bulk. My parents are spilt and my dad was a Navy Seal Officer and when he came to visit, he used the excuse that he had to conduct business with LL Bean. This was another reason why we were there so late. So as you can see, LL Bean has a lot of history to me. Today, I love shopping at LL Bean and usually spend about two to three hours in there myself. So all I can say is thanks dad!

LL Bean was first established in 1912 by Leon Bean. Bean was an avid outdoors man and started his business by his invention of the waterproof boot. (I have like twenty pairs of LL Bean boots, hiking boots, ski boots, snow boots, and any type of boot you can think of) He began selling his boot from the basement of his brother's house in Freeport and had a catalogue in which people could order from. He focused a lot of his business towards nonresidents. Eventually Bean's business would skyrocket and today it is a multi-billion dollar business.

LL Bean is historical because its the pride of Mainers. We can say that a Mainer started this business and in Maine it resides. Sure it has other locations, but the first store and headquarters are in Maine. Most if not all Mainers have a piece of LL Bean apparel. If not, your not a Mainer or resident. LL Bean is one of the oldest big time businesses in Maine, and a lot of people know where Maine is because they have ordered from LL Bean. In addition to being apart of Maine's life, LL Bean gives back to the community it resides in as well as Maine itself.

Since I work at the Home Depot, I know a lot of things that happen around with big area businesses. One of these businesses that Home Depot deals with is LL Bean. Recently, LL Bean asked my store to send a few people to teach their staff in the ways of energy savings. About four people from my store went to the headquarters in Freeport to teach the executives as well as the employees about energy saving products. This included bathroom, kitchen, plumbing, appliances, wood stoves, heating, water heaters, insulation and various other products. LL Bean asked the Home Depot to teach them about all this stuff because they wanted to lead Maine to an energy saving Maine. They wanted to make their company as energy efficient as possible then preach that upon Maine. LL Bean wants the ability to help promote energy efficient products because of the hard times and the cost of living.

In addition to helping out its community through energy saving products, LL Beans frequently holds concerts outside of the store to entertain the people. At Christmas time, they have a Christmas tree lighting ceremony and they also teach survival, camping and outdoors classes.

LL Bean adds to the economy of Freeport because its the largest business in town plus its the beacon for many shoppers. Because of its big popularity, it helps out a lot of businesses in town as well.

As you can see, LL Bean is another great thing for Maine. Its apart of Maine's identity. Like, Lost on a Mountain in Maine, its part of our culture. L.L Bean is a Mainer.

Resources: Wikipedia, The Home Depot