FREEPORT — Outdoors specialty retailer L.L. Bean on Friday reported flat sales in 2015, which was a tough year for the retail industry, especially clothing retailers, officials said Friday. Revenue hit $1.6 billion for the family-owned company’s fiscal year that ended Feb. 28, CEO Steve Smith told workers in a memo. The disappointing news that the […]
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Posted inBusiness, sj-web
L.L. Bean to open first Michigan store in summer
CLINTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. — L.L. Bean plans to open its first Michigan retail store this summer. The Freeport, Maine-based company says Friday the store will be at The Mall at Partridge Creek in the Detroit suburb of Clinton Township. The company says it expects to hire nearly 100 people for store. Information for those interested […]
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L.L. Bean gives $2.1 million to charity in 2015
FREEPORT — L.L. Bean is giving $2.1 million to more than 80 organizations. The Board of Directors approved charitable gifts ranging from $5,000 to $225,000 at its December meeting. Shawn Gorman, L.L. Bean’s chairman, said the 2015 recipients share the company’s values and traditions “by encouraging healthy outdoor living and addressing real human needs in […]
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L.L. Bean taps former Wal-Mart exec for top post
FREEPORT — Outdoor retailer L.L.Bean announced Tuesday that it has named Stephen Smith president and chief executive officer. Smith replaces Chris McCormick, who has served as president and CEO since 2001 and is retiring in February, according to a release issued by the retailer. Smith will be the fourth president in the company’s history and the […]
Posted inObituaries, sj-web
Karen Marie Alexander
1958 – 2015 AUBURN — Karen (Gregoire) Alexander, 57, passed away peacefully with her family by her side on Wednesday, Oct. 21, after a long, hard-fought battle with cancer. She was born in Lewiston, on March 3, 1958, the middle child of Val and Jeannette (Jacques) Gregoire. Karen graduated from Lewiston High School in 1976. […]
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L.L. Bean boots already on back order
L.L. Bean struggled to keep up with demand for its popular duck boots last holiday season and wound up with 100,000 back-ordered pairs and no way to make them fast enough. Since then, the Maine shoemaker has shored up its manufacturing operations so it wouldn’t happen again. It’s happening again. Bean operates two factories, both […]
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L.L. Bean to close Freeport stores Sept. 13 for Leon Gorman’s memorial
FREEPORT — The L.L. Bean flagship store that’s open 24/7 year-round will close for the memorial service next weekend for longtime leader Leon Gorman, who died this week at age 80. It’ll be the first time in 48 years the outdoors retailer has voluntarily closed. It has happened only twice before, following the deaths of […]
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Leon Gorman, longtime L.L. Bean head, dies at 80
FREEPORT (AP) — Leon Gorman, a grandson of L.L. Bean who led a modernization and expansion of the outdoors retailer after the founder’s death, died Thursday. He was 80. Gorman, who died in his Yarmouth home surrounded by family after battling cancer, led the Maine-based company as CEO or chairman for 46 years before retiring […]
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Anita L. Lachapelle
1946 – 2015 AUBURN — Anita L. Lachapelle, 69, of 161 Poplar Hill Road, Turner, died Tuesday, Aug. 18, at the Hospice House of Androscoggin Home Care & Hospice in Auburn. Born in Lewiston on Jan. 9, 1946, Anita was the daughter of Rosaire and Jeannette Gravel Latulippe. Educated in local schools, she was a […]
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Report touts BIW, L.L. Bean efforts to make communities healthier
Businesses could help make their communities healthier, according to a recent national report — but Maine is already leading the way. Whether by partnering with local YMCAs and nonprofits to expand community health programs, creating healthier products, giving to charity, or volunteering time, expertise or resources, the private sector could play a much greater role […]