L.L.Bean

Infobox_Company
company_name = L.L. Bean
company_
company_type = private
foundation = 1912
location = Freeport, Maine
industry = Retail
products = Clothing and outdoor equipment.
homepage = [http://www.llbean.com/ www.llbean.com]
revenue = $1.78 Billion 2006
operating income = $3.8 Billion
net income = $1.40 Billion

L.L.Bean is a privately held mail-order and retail company based in Freeport, Maine, specializing in clothing and outdoor recreation equipment. Its annual sales were USD $1.47 billion in 2005. [cite web
url= http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/21/biz_06privates_LL-Bean_J18E.html
accessdate= 2007-09-26
title= #259 LL Bean
work= The Largest Private Companies
publisher= Forbes
date= November 9, 2006]

Company history

L.L.Bean was founded in 1912 by avid hunter and fisherman Leon Leonwood Bean in Greenwood, Maine, who had developed a waterproof boot (a combination of lightweight leather uppers and rubber bottoms) that he sold to hunters. He obtained a list of nonresident Maine hunting license holders, prepared a descriptive mail order circular, set up a shop in his brother's basement in Freeport, Maine, and started a nationwide mail order business. By 1912, he was selling the "Bean Boot," or Maine Hunting Shoe, through a four-page mail-order catalog, and the boot remains a staple of the company's outdoor image. Defects in the initial design led to 90% of the original production run being returned: Bean made good on his money-back guarantee, corrected the design, and continued selling them. Leon L. Bean died on February 5, 1967, in Pompano Beach, Florida. He is buried in Freeport's Webster Road Cemetery. [Rogak, Lisa (2004), "Stones and Bones of New England: A guide to unusual, historic, and otherwise notable cemeteries", Globe Pequat ISBN 07627-3000-5 ] The company passed into the directorship of Bean's grandson, Leon Gorman, from that time until 2001, when Gorman decided to take the position of Chairman of the Board, leaving the position of CEO to Christopher McCormick, the first non-family member to assume the title.cite web
url= http://www.llbean.com/customerService/aboutLLBean/background.html
accessdate= 2008-08-09
title= Company Information: Background
publisher= L.L.Bean]

Product line

Since its conception, the company has branched out not only to variations on its boots but to other outdoor equipment such as backpacks and tents, as well as producing a full line of clothing, which is now its mainstay.

In 2000, L.L.Bean formed a contract with Subaru, making L.L.Bean the official outfitter of Subaru, spawning an "L.L.Bean edition" Subaru Outback and Forester for the USA market. The L.L. Bean trim levels on American Subaru vehicles are the top-spec versions, with leather and wood trimmed interiors and all available options offered as standard equipment. This relationship with Subaru ended June 30, 2008.

Branches

Along with a number of retail and outlet ("factory") stores, the company maintains its flagship store on Main Street in Freeport. This branch, originally opened in 1917, has been open 24 hours a day since 1951, with the exception of two Sundays in 1962 when Maine changed its blue laws; a town vote reinstated the store's open-door policycite web
url= http://www.llbean.com/customerService/aboutLLBean/95thAnniversary.html
accessdate= 2008-08-09
title= 95th Anniversary Timeline
publisher= L.L.Bean
pages= 1962] . The flagship also closed to honor the death of President Kennedy, as well as that of Bean himself.

L.L.Bean has stores as far away as Tokyo, as well as a large presence through its mail-order and online catalogs.

Retail and outlet stores

*Connecticut: South Windsor ; outlet store:Orange
*Delaware: outlet store: Rehoboth Beach
*Illinois: South Barrington
*Maine: Freeport (two stores open 24 hours/day: Retail Store; Bike, Boat & Ski); outlet stores: Freeport, Ellsworth, Portland, Bangor
*Maryland: Columbia; outlet stores: Hagerstown, Queenstown
*Massachusetts: Burlington, Mansfield; outlet stores: Dedham (opening Summer 2009); Wareham
*New Hampshire: West Lebanon; outlet stores: Concord, Manchester, Nashua, North Conway
*New Jersey: Marlton; outlet store: Flemington
*New York: Albany; outlet store: Fayetteville
*Pennsylvania: Upper Saucon Township, Pittsburgh (Opening Fall 2008)
*Virginia: McLean; outlet store: Williamsburg
*Japan: 9 retail stores

Outdoor Discovery Schools

L.L.Bean has education programs connected to many of its retail outlets to support the outdoor interests of its customers. Customers can participate in a number of outdoor activities without prior arrangement by signing up in the store on the day of their visit and paying a small fee. Some of the sponsored activities include archery, trap shooting, fly casting, and sea kayaking. More advanced classes are conducted as well, but generally must be reserved in advance.

Competitors

The major competitors for its outdoor gear line include many other in the United States.

L.L.Bean's clothing line faces a rather different set of competitors. There, they compete with preppy staples such as J.Crew, Barbour, Lands' End, Brooks Brothers, Gant, Izod, Polo Ralph Lauren, Lacoste, Eddie Bauer, Columbia Sportswear, and Patagonia.

L.L.Bean in popular culture

* Broadway musicals "Rent"(1995) and "Grey Gardens"(2006) both reference L.L.Bean in song lyrics. In "Rent" it can be heard in the song "Christmas Bells" and "The Revolutionary Costume for Today" from "Grey Gardens."

* The Official Preppy Handbook, an ironic description of upper-class and upper-middle-class life in America, describes L.L.Bean as "nothing less than Prep mecca."

*Author Hunter S. Thompson referred to wearing L.L. Bean shorts in a number of his works, most notably during the "Wave Speech" featured in chapter 8 of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

*In the movie Beetlejuice, Otho sarcastically says, "Deliver me from L.L.Bean," when first looking upon the office in the Maitland's house. It was decorated in a fashion consistent with L.L.Bean's catalogs.

* In episode 0821 of the cult comedy series Mystery Science Theater 3000, Crow, while watching the movie "Time Chasers" (a.k.a. "Tangents"), makes a joking reference to "the L.L. Bean gang" as two characters run across the screen in rather rugged outdoor clothing.

* The 1990 Paul Rudnick Novel, I'll Take It was a humorous tale of a Long Island mother taking some of her children on a Fall shopping trip through New England with L.L. Bean being the final destination. As the plot unfolds, the mother divulges to her son that she is actually planning to rob L.L. Bean in order to update her and her husbands furniture in their retirement.

* The satire website, The Onion, parodied L.L.Bean's reputation as a white "preppie" brand with a video that claims L.L.Bean had been boycotted by the African-American community for close to 80 years. The report focused on confusion over the fact that, while there was no particular reason for the boycott, every African American interviewed echoed the sentiment that they "wouldn't be caught dead in" anything from the catalog. [cite web
url= http://www.theonion.com/content/video/african_american_boycott_of_l_l
accessdate= 2007-09-26
title= African-American Boycott of L.L. Bean Enters 80th Year
publisher= The Onion
format= Flash video]

* In season 2, episode 20 of Boy Meets World, L.L. Bean is mentioned as having stylish clothing by Joey and Frankie.

Notes

References

* cite book
last= Montgomery
first= M.R.
title= In Search of L.L.Bean
publisher= Little Brown
year= 1984
isbn= 0-316-57864-9 A short, unofficial history.
** [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F02E7D81E39F935A25752C1A962948260 New York Times review]
* cite book
last= Gorman
first= Leon
title= L.L.Bean: The Making of an American Icon
publisher= Harvard Business School Press
year= 2006
isbn= 1-57851-183-6

External links

* [http://www.llbean.com/ L.L.Bean] — official web site
* cite news
last= Abelson
first= Jenn
title= 6 years later, L.L. Bean gets back in gear for expansion
publisher= The Boston Globe
date= September 1, 2006
url= http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2006/09/01/6_years_later_ll_bean_gets_back_in_gear_for_expansion/
accessdate= 2008-08-09
* cite news
last= Reidy
first= Chris
title= Journey of discovery
publisher= The Boston Globe
date= July 28, 2000
url= http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/1981/archives2/
accessdate= 2008-08-09
* cite news
last= Montgomery
first= M. R.
title= The marketing magic of L. L. Bean
publisher= The Boston Globe
date= December 27, 1981
url= http://www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/1981/trial/
accessdate= 2008-08-09