File photo / Tim Greenway
Mary Allen Lindemann
April 4, 2023
Coffee By Design to close Freeport café inside L.L.Bean flagship store slated for reboot
Courtesy / Coffee By Design
Coffee By Design will close its Freeport cafe inside L.L.Bean's flagship store by the end of May.
A May 30 gathering "to have a proper goodbye" for Coffee By Design's Freeport shop at L.L.Bean is in the works, according to CBD co-founder Mary Allen Lindemann.
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Fifteen years after opening a café inside L.L.Bean's flagship store, Portland-based Coffee By Design is moving out as the Freeport retailer embarks on a campus-wide revamp.
"To our Freeport family, today we are sharing some sad news," Coffee By Design said in a Facebook post on Tuesday about the plans to leave May 31.
The coffee house is on the lower level of L.L.Bean's flagship store, accessed both from within the store and via a ground-level entrance on Main Street.
News of Coffee By Design's departure comes less than two months after L.L. Bean announced a $50 million renovation plan "to more fully activate the brand's purpose of enabling people to experience the restorative benefits of outside."
According to Coffee By Design, the renovation includes the space that's home to its coffee house, necessitating the closure.
"We opened our doors on May 19, 2008, and have enjoyed getting to know the community and its hundreds of thousands of visitors over the years," Coffee By Design said on Facebook. "Together we weathered COVID, marked milestones, celebrated successes, and experienced loss. With much love and gratitude, thank you for a great 15 years."
Coffee By Design employs 10 staff members in Freeport, including seasonal workers who had planned to return, according to co-founder Mary Allen Lindemann.
"We are working closely with our team to ensure everyone has a job with us if they would like to stay with CBD," she told Mainebiz. "It’s an amazing team, very close-knit and loyal. Not everyone has transportation to Portland, but we are doing all we can."
She also said to keep an eye out for an announcement about a May 30 community gathering just approved by L.L.Bean for Coffee By Design "to have a proper goodbye" in Freeport.
A spokesman for L.L.Bean did not immediately return a request for comment and further details about the planned renovations.
Coffee By Design, a wholesaler and retailer founded in 1994, has three coffee shops in Portland, including Diamond Street, which is also home to its roastery. Lindemann was honored as a Mainebiz Woman to Watch in 2019, 14 years after she and fellow co-founder Alan Spear were honored as Mainebiz Business Leaders of the Year.
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