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L.L. Bean: the store that never sleeps

By Nancy Better
NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE, FREEPORT, MAINE
Sunday, Aug 24, 2003, Page 12

L.L. Bean, a retail store in Freeport, Maine devoted to the great outdoors, is the largest tourist attraction in Maine, hauling in 3.5 million customers annually -- nearly three times the state's population. It is also a paradise for traveling insomniacs, as it remains open 24 hours a day. Kathy Durr re-folds shirts at the store at 1:43am on Thursday, Aug. 14. PHOTO: NY TIMES

Elaine Marshall was in the L.L. Bean store in Freeport, Maine, recently, strolling around the luggage department, checking out the camping gear and surveying the women's wear.

She paused to be photographed next to an enormous stuffed bear and poured herself a free cup of coffee. Nothing out of the ordinary, except for one thing: It was 12:15am.

Marshall, the secretary of state of North Carolina, had arrived on a large tour bus that hit the store at midnight, disgorging dozens of conventioneers in business suits and with name tags around their necks.

The group, in town for the National Association of Secretaries of State annual convention, had been to dinner at Bowdoin College, nearby in Brunswick, and to a performance of Jekyll and Hyde before reaching the store.

"It's been a long night," Marshall said with a laugh.

For 20 minutes, Marshall and her colleagues fanned out around the store.

The registers rang up brisk sales, especially of canvas tote bags that can be monogrammed on the spot. Then the public-address system buzzed to announce the departure of the bus, the crowd filed out, and the store was quiet.

So goes a typical Saturday night at L.L. Bean. It is the largest tourist attraction in Maine, hauling in 3.5 million customers annually -- nearly three times the state's population.

The store is devoted to the great outdoors, even if many customers rarely heed the call of the wild. Instead, they use their Magalloway Bay fishing vests to attend soccer games, their Appalachian expedition packs to lug books, and their Maine hunting shoes to shovel snow.

It is also a paradise for traveling insomniacs. Since 1951, when Leon Leonwood Bean, the founder himself, removed the locks from the front doors and threw away the keys, the store has been open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day.

"It's pretty much self-service after midnight," said a tent salesman identified by his name tag as Michael.

"We get the camp counselors, after the kids go to sleep. We get some locals who don't like the lines during the day. And we get celebrities, people who don't want to attract attention," he said.

A recent overnight visit revealed that there is apparently no shortage of people who prefer to while away the wee hours testing hiking boots on artificial rocks or fishing for trout in an indoor pond.

10PM

Renovated last year, the Hunting and Fishing Store, directly opposite the Flagship Store, resembles a taxidermy museum, with trophy heads dotting the walls.

On the first floor, a group of bikers in black leather jackets huddled at the gun counter, gazing at the shiny New Englander rifles (US$1,995).

Upstairs, an elderly couple from New Jersey shopped for fishing rods, pausing to peer at the fishing videos running continuously on monitors.

The Hunting and Fishing Store's newest attraction, open since last month, is the interactive archery studio.

A guide named Butch demonstrated how to use a bow and arrow, then dimmed the lights. A pair of enormous elk ambled slowly by on a movie screen.

"Get your aim," Butch instructed his customer, a Manhattan doctor. "Now release."

Pow! An arrow nailed the smaller elk in the leg. Butch punched his computer keyboard. This time, the elk were camouflaged by dense trees. Zing! An arrow pierced the larger elk's shoulder, scoring a virtual bull's-eye.

Midnight

In front of the Flagship Store, a group of Japanese tourists took digital photos of each other with the huge Maine Hunting Shoe that was erected in celebration of the company's 90th anniversary, last year. Illuminated at night, the two-story boot is a Maine icon, as much a symbol of the state as lobsters and lighthouses.

The boot's origins date to 1912, when Bean returned from a hunting trip with cold, wet feet and an idea: He would hire a local cobbler to stitch leather uppers to a pair of simple workman's rubber boots. Although 90 of the first 100 pairs were defective, that didn't deter Bean.

He borrowed money, improved his manufacturing technique and mailed brochures to holders of Maine hunting licenses.

Business flourished, and by 1921 he opened his first store. According to company lore, customers frequently dropped by after hours; a night bell allowed them to summon a watchman for assistance.

Since 1951, when he instituted his round-the-clock open-door policy, the store has closed only twice: When then-president John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 and when L.L. Bean himself died at age 94 in 1967.

Post-midnight shopping sprees have become something of a summer tradition for Dr. Chris Guion and his family of Birmingham, Ala. Each year, the Guions, who spend a few weeks each August on Wilson Pond in Wayne, Maine, take a late-night drive over to L.L. Bean, about an hour away. This year's group included Guion's son Ben, 14, and his daughter, Kim, 23, along with her boyfriend, a cousin and two family friends.

"Everyone looks forward to going," Ben said. "It's easy to find parking, and there are no long lines."

The Guion clan roamed through the store for more than three hours, accumulating three large shopping bags. Ben bought a backpack, a pocketknife and a zippered fleece jacket. By 2am they were heading back to the lake.

Another regular visitor is Jim Lebson of Portland, Oregon, who stops in at L.L. Bean en route to his family's cabin on a lake near Freeport.

On this year's trip, Lebson arrived at the store at around 1:15am and promptly bought a Maine fishing license from a cashier in the Hunting and Fishing Store.

"It's always an adventure," Lebson said of his annual visit. "I've even run into friends at three in the morning, buying flies on their way to go fishing."

2AM

The second-floor book department in Flagship Store, with its deep leather armchairs and cozy rag rugs, is an inviting spot. There are sections on everything from hunting and fishing to gardening and cooking, as well as a shelf labeled Maine Authors, which is heavy on children's books by Robert "Make Way for Ducklings" McCloskey. Unfortunately, the adjacent Dew Drop Inn cafe, which serves beverages, bagels, soups and brownies, is open only from 8am to 10pm.

Over in the footwear department, three college students tried on felt clogs. A bearded man from Chicago studied the wall of boots, which includes 32 variations on the original Maine hunting shoe. He also examined the irregularly shaped gray bridge in the middle of the department, which on closer inspection turned out to be an agglomeration of artificial rock surfaces intended for testing boots.

5AM

By this hour, the extra-large bolstered dog bed -- more than 5 feet wide and covered in soft fleece -- looked appealing. In the home department there were wrought-iron beds sumptuously dressed with thick down comforters and smooth chamois sheets. The smell of balsam sachets filled the air.

During the third shift, as midnight-to-8am period is called, workers were busy restocking shelves, vacuuming carpets and rearranging furniture. They scarcely noticed a lone customer, and when they did they smiled sympathetically. A saleswoman named Valerie roved the second floor, offering assistance.

"I meet a lot of people this time of night who are just passing through and need to stretch their legs," she said.

7AM

Dawn was breaking, and in a corner of the second floor, a couple of kayakers from Boston were getting an early start. En route to their destination on the Allagash River, they had stopped to pick up a compass and to make a map at the National Geographic computer kiosk. For US$7.95, customers can produce a detailed topographic map -- in pastel colors -- of any area in the US.

Green plastic shopping bags in hand, the Boston kayakers headed outside.

They gazed at the L.L. Bean Subaru Outback station wagon and the L.L. Bean Old Town canoes displayed near the store's entrance. Then they passed by the huge Maine hunting shoe and disappeared into their kayak-topped SUV.
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