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| By Ric Dugan/Staff Photographer |
Outdoor equipment and apparel retailer L.L.Bean will close its Hagerstown outlet store on April 30, a spokeswoman said.
Public Affairs Manager Carolyn Beem said the company will close the store at Hagerstown Premium Outlets after 10 years of operation despite a successful year companywide.
“Closing a store is never an easy decision to make,” she said. “Based on a number of factors it was decided to close this store.”
Beem said L.L.Bean is not planning to close any other outlet or retail stores in connection with the Hagerstown closure.
“We evaluate each store individually,” she said.
Beem said the decision to close the Hagerstown Premium Outlets location was based on factors she would not detail.
However, she said that while the company overall had a good year in 2010, Hagerstown was not one of its top locations for sales.
“We had a great run there, 10 years,” she said. “We have dedicated staff and great customers, it was just not a high-performing store.”
The approximately 50 employees who work at the outlet store were informed in the fall of 2010 about the impending closure, Beem said.
She said the company will work with those employees on possible placements at other L.L.Bean stores. The nearest outlet stores are in Queenstown, Md., and Williamsburg, Va. The nearest retail store is Columbia, Md., she said.
According to its website, the company has closed one other outlet store in Portland, Maine.
Once the Hagerstown outlet closes, L.L.Bean will have 12 outlet stores, according to the website www.llbean.com.
L.L.Bean was founded in 1912 by Leon Leonwood Bean and has grown to include online, catalog, retail and outlet sales, the site said.
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