L.L.Bean has begun recruiting staff to run its first retail location in Kansas and second store in Ohio as well as its first outlet in New York.
New locations in order of expected openings including:
- Columbus, OH; Fall 2015: This new store will open in the Easton Town Center about the same time as L.L.Bean opens its first store in the state near Cleveland. The company announced plans for the 16,000-square-foot store near Cleveland in March.
- Leawood, KS; Fall 2015: While not yet officially announced, job listings show L.L. Bean is shooting to open its first location in Kansas this fall. The location near Kansas City is expected to do $8 million in annual sales.
- Lake George, NY; 2016: This 13,600-square-foot outlet will mark L.L.Bean's first outlet location in the Empire State and eleventh nationwide. The new outlet will be located in the Adirondack Outlet Mall off I-87 just south of Lake George, a popular summer tourism destination. The mall is currently home to Coleman, Eddie Bauer, Famous Footwear, Hanesbrands, Reebok/Rockport, Timberland and Under Armour outlet stores. L.L. Bean already operates four full-price stores in the state in the Albany, Syracuse and Rochester metro areas as well as in Yonkers.
In March, L.L.Bean CEO Chris McCormick told fellow employees the company's board of directors had approved a plan to have at least 100 full-price retail stores open by 2020. The company announced plans for its Cleveland store later that month and in May disclosed plans to open a 15,500-square-foot store near Richmond that will be its second location in Virginia. L.L.Bean opened its first locations in Colorado and Minnesota in 2014.
Currently, L.L. Bean operates 28 full-price stores, including 24 outside of Maine and 10 outlet stores, including seven outside of Maine.
