This post is part of our Big Company, Small Town series, featuring large companies and the small towns in which they are headquartered.
Few companies are as strongly associated with their hometowns as L.L. Bean, which has been producing outdoor clothing, sporting goods, and brightly colored preppy wear in Freeport, Maine, since 1912. The company's first product, the iconic rubber boot called the Maine hunting shoe, was manufactured in Freeport, and quickly became a big hit despite the fact that most of the first boots sold were returned due to a design defect.
In the past 95 or so years, both L.L. Bean and Freeport have come a long way. The company store, which began in a basement, grew significantly over the years, despite the fact that most of Bean's $1.5 billion in annual sales come through its ubiquitous mail-order catalog. The store has been open 24 hours a day since 1951, with a few exceptions for the deaths of John F. Kennedy and the founder, Leon Leonwood Bean.
Today, the company dominates the very small town of Freeport, population 7,800. It's much more than just a store, as its multiple buildings, parking lots, and outdoor patios and sculptures define the town itself. L.L. Bean has become more of a campus than a store, with different buildings for clothes, hunting and fishing gear, bikes and boats, and a discount outlet, as well as outdoor spaces dedicated to demonstrations of equipment and live musical performances.
With the tremendous success of L.L. Bean, Freeport has become a town dedicated to one thing: shopping. Shops on the town's main street are now almost all outlet stores or lunch places for shoppers. This is part of the downside of big-time success in a small town. Where once there were hardware stores and grocery shops, now there are discount socks and polo shirts. The saddest case is probably the elegant old town library, built by Carnegie in 1906. It now houses an Abercrombie & Fitch outlet store. So if you need a book or a hammer or a gallon of milk, you might be out of luck in today's Freeport.
Another thing you probably won't find in Freeport: anyone who isn't white. As The Onion "reported" recently, African-Americans have been boycotting L.L. Bean for 80 years. A recent visit by this reporter confirms that visiting customers and natives in Freeport certainly are among the palest people in the United States. According to the 2000 census, Freeport is 97.22% white.
One thing you will find in Freeport, however, is lobster. A recent nonscientific sampling of lobster rolls in southeastern Maine determined that the best lobster rolls were in Freeport. And not just any place in Freeport. Amazingly, the best lobster rolls are at the outdoor grill on the roof of the ice cream stand just outside the main entrance to the L.L. Bean store. So go to Freeport for the duck boots and corduroy pants, but be sure to stop for some lobster on a hot dog bun on your way out of town.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-23-2008 @ 11:19AM
Dave Rotthoff said...
And when in Freeport, make sure you have lunch at The Corsican, which is about a block off the main drag. This place has what my wife calls the best lobster stew she's ever eaten....but it ain't cheap!
6-23-2008 @ 2:03PM
SLY said...
The only comment I have is about Freeport, Me. How could you forget about the Desert Of Maine.
6-28-2008 @ 8:39AM
Peter Troast said...
Up here in Freeport, we're grateful for the attention, but I'm afraid you've mis-characterized our town. Yes, in the one block immediately surrounding L.L. Bean, a variety of national retailers have flocked here to seize on that traffic. But overall Freeport remains a one-of-a-kind national and local retail mix, set in a historic Maine village, that will never be replicated by the trendy but vapid "lifestyle center" malls.
Within the walkable Village core surrounding the Bean campus you will find: a 105 year old sandwich and ice cream market run by the same family for 5 generations; the town's high school and early elementary school; the Bow Street Market--a locally owned and operated grocery and butcher shop; the Harraseeket Inn--a hotel with two restaurants that has been the state's pioneer in sourcing locally-grown organic produce; at least 10 restaurants, none of which are chains, with eclectic choices well beyond lobster; and, coming soon, an Amtrak Station on the Downeaster Line that will drop passengers off in the heart of the Village. (OK, Freeport Hardware is located just outside the core village.)
All of us bristle at the idea of Abercrombie in the old library, but the reality is that building is about as practical for modern library needs as the one room school house. So the new library moved just down the road. Thanks to the Freeport Historical Society's vigilance, and strict planning rules, all of the original buildings have been preserved, even if their tenants aren't, well, historically relevant.
Within Freeport, there is an emerging Buy Local movement that clearly understands the 3-4X economic value of local businesses to the local economy versus the chains. More is written about this on the Future Freeport Blog (http://www.futurefreeport.com) and on the Local's Guide to Freeport Maine (http://futurefreeport.com/locals-guide-to-freeport-maine).
And, while your point about diversity in Maine and Freeport is a fair one (but evolving too), don't let the subtlety of that reference mislead anyone: the Onion originated "boycott" of L.L. Bean is a parody, a funny one to be sure, but a JOKE.
Look me up when you are back here next and we'd happily show you the other side of Freeport, ME.
7-15-2008 @ 9:22AM
Phil said...
You do of course realize that there is a book store and a place to "buy a gallon of milk" within 100 yards of LLBean or did your in depth research via The Onion preclude you leaving the parking lot?
As someone who both works and lives in the downtown I find it mildly amusing and slightly dumbfounding that others cannot find such places. I can easily walk to a pharmacy, a grocery store, numerous restaurants and quick-serve food establishments, bars, a nightclub with live music, a book store, the library (now large enough to offer a much expanded range of services thank you), a dentist, a doctor, an optometrist, a florist, the town hall, the FD/PD, etc, etc, etc.
At the end of the day Freeport is still a small town of 7500 people and therein lies both its limitations AND its charm. You see, Freeport doesn’t have to pretend to be authentic - it is, you just need to look around.
8-01-2008 @ 11:46AM
insaneboy said...
I wonder if the writer has even been to Freeport(I doubt it). I might suggest that he do a bit more research first before making articles of this sort so as not to come off looking like a total idiot. Quoting the onion HA!