OXFORD – L.L. Bean has announced it will open a temporary call center in Oxford on Nov. 1, employing up to 300 people as customer service representatives through the Christmas holiday season.

“We’re very excited because even the short, seasonal work is going to bring additional revenue into the area, and additional income for people before the holiday season,” Barb Olson of the Growth Council of Oxford Hills said Friday.

Employees will work from the former ICT call center north of the Oxford Plains Speedway on Route 26.

The quality of the facility is part of what attracted L.L. Bean to the area, Olson said. And John Schiavi, owner of the former ITC center, has done a wonderful job of making it attractive to L.L. Bean.

A quality workforce also was a major factor in the company’s decision to open a call center in Oxford, Olson said. L.L. Bean had been considering Bangor as well.

L.L. Bean spokeswoman Carolyn Beem said the company felt “quite confident that this was the best place for us to be.”

Oxford is close to the company’s other facilities and there was a good response to an ad put out to see how many people might be interested in the temporary call center positions.

Beem did not know how many people have submitted applications for the Oxford jobs, but Olson said she believed more than 150 people come forward.

Christine Abbott is a service representative with the Norway Career Center, which is helping recruit workers for the company. She said Friday that at least 75 applications were sent to L.L. Bean earlier in the week, “and we’ve got at least twice that many, if not more, ready to go out.”

The response to L.L. Bean’s interest in the area has been “extraordinary,” she said.

Interviews will be held at the end of the month, Abbott said.

A press release from L.L. Bean said the retailer expects to hire more than 10,000 employees as their sales increase over the holidays. And, said Beem, “There would be opportunities at our other facilities if folks did not find a position (in Oxford).”

Last year the company hired 9,300 temporary workers.

Hourly wages for the company’s temporary call centers start at $9.09, and employees are paid $1-per hour in premium pay for all hours worked after 6 p.m, according to the press release. Temporary employees also are eligible for company discounts and holiday bargains at L.L. Bean’s employee store in Freeport.

L.L. Bean employs nearly 4,000 year-round employees, Beem said. The company has call facilities in areas including Portland, Freeport, Lewiston and Waterville.

The building housing the former ICT call center in Oxford has 110 cubicles that were retained when ICT closed its Oxford operation in January. ICT switched to offshore call because the labor costs are cheaper.