American clothing retailer L. L. Bean decided to open Quebec’s first stores

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The American giant of outdoor clothing L. l. Bean is coming to Quebec.

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Four years after its initial entry into Canada, the private retailer is announcing Wednesday that it will open Montreal’s first two suburban locations in the coming months. An 18,000-square-foot store on Promenades St-Bruno will start operating in August. 25, followed by an 11,500-square-foot location in Faubourg Boisbriand in September. 29, said Charlie Bruder, vice-president of international andantanholesale.

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“We think St-Bruno and Boisbriand are the outer gateways,” Bruder said Tuesday in an interview. “They are easily accessible. We did our research and those sites have a really strong demographic fit with our customers. Strategically, our other countries in the rest of Canada and the US are usually focused on these types of gateway countries. It’s about trying to embrace what has worked for us in the past.”

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Quebecers who travel to the U.S. — and those who shop online — are already familiar with the L Brand. l. Bean. Online sales to Quebec customers have doubled in the past four years, and the Freeport, Maine-based company hopes to once again double its revenue in the province with the opening of brick-and-mortar stores, according to Bruder. Quebec now accounts for about nine percent of Canadian sales, he added without elaborating.

The L Stores. l. Bean in the Montreal area will be the company’s 14th and 15th in Canada. The first Canadian venue, in Oakville, Ont. it opened its doors in August 2019.

Canada is the smallest L market. l. Bean, far behind the US, with 56 stores, and Japan, with 25. Total revenue fell slightly to US $ 1.8 billion in 2022, L said. l. Bean on Mars. The company has about 5,500 employees.

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Although some U.S. retailers have tried and failed to establish themselves sustainably in Canada over the years, L. l. Bean isn’t afraid of suffering a similar fate — in part because he’s working with the Ontario-based Jaytex Group, which operates its Canadian stores.

“We’ve tried to get a lot of local expertise into the mix. We understand that it’s not just the northern U.S. market,” Bruder said of Canada. “We think the kind of openness and commitment is what will allow us to be successful where others may have failed.”

The variety of the product is a key feature of the L offer. l. Bean, insists the executive.

“We really think we have a great variety of balanced lifestyles, from active products to casual products, products for outdoor activities and products for the home,” Bruder said. “We do a great job of preparing people for outdoor adventures without breaking the bank, and we do it with products that are built to last.”

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Although it is new to the market, L. l. Bean is very aware of the need to comply with Quebec’s language laws, Bruder said.

“I wouldn’t say it gave us pause, but I would say we wanted to make sure we were being highly considered and thought about our approach,” he said. “It’s definitely a bit more complicated, but we felt like it was absolutely the right thing to do. We have sold in Quebec through our website, but have not yet addressed the entire population of Quebec, so the opportunity to present our brand in French so that all Canadians can interact with it in their preferred way felt like the right thing to do.”

Each Montreal-area store will employ 15 to 20 people, and about half of the positions have already been filled, Bruder said. Residents of the area who want to apply for a job can send their resume to [email protected].

[email protected]

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