L.L. Bean To Open In Champlain Place This August
DIEPPE – Outdoor outfitter L.L. Bean is setting up shop just across the border from where it all began, in Maine, 110 years ago, with its first New Brunswick store.
L.L. Bean officially announced on April 21 that it will open its first-ever retail store in New Brunswick this August, in Dieppe’s CF Champlain Mall.
“We’re grateful to our Canadian customers who continue to look to L.L. Bean to outfit them for adventures of all kinds,” said Charlie Bruder, company vice-president and general manager of international and wholesale.
“As a heritage outdoor brand, our focus has always been to ensure our customers are equipped with durable, quality goods they can depend on for years to come. By joining more communities across Canada, we’ll ensure even more people are outfitted to experience the restorative power of time outside.”
L.L. Bean’s announcement comes about a month after curious locals started seeing signs of the expansion, with the appearance in early April of a store manager job in Dieppe on a prominent online job board.
Huddle contacted CF Champlain about L.L. Bean’s plans earlier this month but was referred to the mall’s parent company, Toronto-based Cadillac Fairview, and received no response.
L.L. Bean has five brick-and-mortar locations planned to open in Canada this year, including in Kitchener, Kingston, and Niagara Falls in Ontario–as well as one in Edmonton.
This will bring the outdoor fashion retailer Canadian store count to 13 and create 150 new full and part-time jobs. In 2021, the outfitter also opened four stores in Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary, and Dartmouth.
“We have seen strong demand for our selection of outdoor footwear, apparel, equipment, and gear, exemplifying Canadians’ love for the outdoors,” said Howie Kastner, president of the Toronto-based Jaytex Group, the clothing supply company L.L. Bean partnered with to open its Canadian locations.
Information released by L.L. Bean says the plans for its four new stores come after one of the retailer’s most successful financial years in its history. In 2021, the company saw a 14 percent annual revenue increase as e-commerce sales grew by a fifth in Canada.
That comes on the heels of skyrocketing demand for outdoor clothing and paraphernalia across Canada, likely as a response to pandemic restrictions and lockdowns.
L.L. Bean was founded in 1912 in Freeport, Maine by Leon Leonwood Bean. The family-owned outfitter operates 56 stores in 19 American States, 24 stores in Japan, and eight stores in Canada.
L.L. Bean made its first foray into the Canadian market with the 2018 launch of a Canadian e-commerce site and the opening of its first store in Oakville, Ontario in 2019.
Sam Macdonald is a Huddle reporter in Moncton. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].