"Our expansion in Massachusetts signals what we will be doing in retail over the next couple of years," Chris McCormick, president and CEO of L.L.Bean, said in a statement. "We are working to establish a similar presence throughout southern New England, New York and the Mid-Atlantic."
The company's first Bay State store will debut in September at Wayside Commons, a $40-million lifestyle center under development in Burlington followed by the September 2007 opening of a store at Mansfield Crossing, a 420,000-sf shopping center that will open at the same time off Route 495 in Mansfield. Another L.L.Bean store will open in the spring of 2008 at the $125-million Legacy Place, a 735,000-sf lifestyle center being developed at routes 129 and 1 in Dedham. Both stores will be about 30,000 sf and feature programs by L.L. Bean's Outdoor Discovery Schools, such as bike and boating trips and fly-casting demonstrations.
The outdoor retailer currently operates five stores in Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia, along with 14 outlet stores, all located throughout the Northeast.
McCormick says the firm is currently scouting sites for new locations that will bring the company's total stores to 25 within the next few years. Planned openings include a third store in South Windsor, CT, which will open in the summer of 2007, and a store that will open in early 2008 in the Colonie Center Mall, Albany, NY. Other stores are planned for Connecticut, New York and Pennsylvania.
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