L.L. Bean

Happy 100th Birthday L.L. Bean store.  My experience with you hasn’t been that long, but boy you sure make an impact in my life.

Just over a year ago, my husband and I decided to retire from our jobs, and to downsize and travel the country, living in our RV.  We put our home on the market, listed most of our household belongings via the internet and started sorting those things we had to take and what we’d get rid of. Several charities received some of our items - several of my L.L. Bears were donated to a Boy Scout troup that was collecting teddy bears for the Barbara Bush Children's Hospital. 

Prior to selling our home, we lived fairly close to the L.L. Bean Flagship Store in Freeport and frequently shopped there or the outlets.  When traveling the East Coast to visit friends and family, I’d always find a way to visit whichever L.L. Bean store was closest to our destination.

As we’ve traveled I’m often amazed at what items we kept and how many came from L.L. Bean. I’d estimate 75 - 80% of items came from L.L. Bean. 

We don’t know where are travels will take us or what the weather will be; we kept winter coats and boots which came in handy during a snowstorm last October.  We have several raincoats and rain pants, along with storm chaser boots which proved useful during several rainy spells.  We have Buzz-Off and Insect-shield clothes, well needed products at many campgrounds.  Our general attire are L.L. Bean jeans or chinos, polo shirts with fleece or flannel jackets.  PJ’s, slippers, robes, bathing suits, silk underwear, socks, hats, gloves; the list goes on and on.

Even the linens in our bedroom and bath: flannel sheets, down comforter, flannel blankets, thick bath towels, you guessed it, all came from L.L. Bean.  In the kitchen, our percolator and travel coffee mugs have the L.L. Bean logo on them.  We have several wind up radios and flashlights sold by L.L. Bean. Our cribbage board is from L.L. Bean.

Our BBQ grill is the O-Grill carried by L.L. Bean.  Marshmallow/hot dog campfire forks, yep, they’re from L.L. Bean too.  The folding chairs we use near the campfire? And don’t forget the 2 kayaks on the roof of our pickup truck or the 2 bicycles on the back of our rig. We even have an L.L. Bean weather sensor for indoor/outdoor temps.

And it’s not just the humans in our household who are in to L.L. Bean products.  Our two dogs have dog beds, leashes, doggie rain coats, dog toys, training collars, and a crate. We bought a tote bag just to carry their items.  

And speaking of tote bags, we’ve got several different sized L.L. Bean tote bags from the largest for laundry to the smallest for a purse. We also kept some L.L. Bean luggage.

Wonder what my home would look like if I didn't have all these L.L. Bean products.