L.L.Bean will cease bike sales with Freeport store redesign
As it wraps up a multiyear redesign, the L.L.Bean campus in Freeport will stop selling cycling equipment, a spokesperson confirmed Wednesday. The company is also moving retail operations out of the Bike, Boat & Ski Store on Main Street.
The change is part of an effort to focus on “heritage activities like hunting, fishing, family camping, watersports and winter fun,” L.L.Bean public affairs manager Jason Sulham said in an email Wednesday.
Boat and ski items will be moved over to the new flagship store, Sulham said, but the retailer will no longer carry cycling equipment.
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The Bike, Boat & Ski Store, a separate building from the flagship, will still be owned by L.L.Bean, but be used for “non-retail” purposes, Sulham said.
“In the near term, the Boat, Bike & Ski store will support Thule rack installations and campus events,” he said. “Exciting, longer-term plans for the space are expected in 2027.”
The Freeport retailer is planning on unveiling its renovated campus in September with a series of grand opening events, it announced in June.
The company first announced the $50 million makeover of its home base in 2023. During the renovation, much of the store’s products were moved to Camp L.L.Bean, a 28,000-square-foot, hard-sided “tent” erected in a nearby parking area.
Updates to the store include a new entrance and facade, new fish enclosures and expanded monogramming and kids’ departments. The new flagship includes a cafe and adds green space to Discovery Park, which sits in the middle of campus.
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Katie covers Brunswick, Bath and Freeport for the Times Record. She was previously the weekend reporter at the Portland Press Herald and is originally from the Hudson Valley region of upstate New York. More by Katie Langley
