L.L.Bean is opening four new stores in Canada this year as the U.S. retailer continues to grow its customer base north of the border.
The Freeport, Maine, company says that one of the new stores will be located in Victoria with the others being in Burnaby, Calgary and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.
The 108-year-old retailer sells an array of products including clothing, outdoor recreation equipment and home goods, but is also well-known for its “duck boots.”
The Victoria location is slated to open up at the Mayfair Shopping Centre by this summer.
L.L.Bean says it has seen continued success in Canada since launching its Canadian e-commerce website in 2018, opening its first brick-and-mortar store in the country a year later.
The outdoor clothing and recreation equipment company, which currently has four stores in Ontario, says it doubled its customer base in Canada in 2020 alone.
Meanwhile, the company says it’s also seeing a significant increase in sales this year.
It says its year-to-date highlights include a 500 per cent spike in demand for outdoor furniture, a 400 per cent increase in standup paddleboard sales and a 360 per cent increase in sales of its adventure duffel bags.
“Despite the hurdles that the pandemic presented, in 2020 we successfully opened three new L.L.Bean retail locations in Ontario and saw the strong overall performance in the Canadian market,” Howie Kastner, president of Jaytex Group, L.L.Bean’s Canadian partner, said in a statement.
“This continued success speaks to the inherent love of the outdoors and eagerness for new adventures that Canadian customers share with the brand. We look forward to continuing to explore opportunities across Canada and support this growing customer base.”
With files from the Canadian Press.
Graham Cox
