Freeport-based retailer L.L.Bean has scaled back its plans to open new stores this year from eight to one.
L.L.Bean’s newest retail store is slated to open July 24 in Dedham, Mass., making it the retailer’s 13th store outside of Maine, according to the Portland Press Herald. The company had planned to open seven other new stores this year, but have put those plans on hold, Carolyn Beem, L.L.Bean spokeswoman, told the paper. Two other stores in New York and Pennsylvania will open next year. L.L.Bean had planned to have a total of 32 retail stores by 2010, but Beem said the company is now “[taking] a wait-and-see approach.”
The shaky economic times have taken their toll on L.L.Bean, which saw revenue drop 7.8% to $1.5 billion for the fiscal year ending in February. The company furloughed 150 workers in April.
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