L.L. Bean's flagship store only ever closed for JFK's assassination, the death of its executives, a fire, and the pandemic. Now it's closed for a mass shooting.
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Over a century after its founding, the L.L. Bean flagship store has only closed a few times.
Those closures came after presidential assassinations, executive deaths, and fires.
Now, the store has closed after a mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine.
In 1917, L.L. Bean opened its flagship store in Freeport, Maine.
Over a century later, the store is still standing and sees more than 3 million visitors each year. It is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The only times it has ever closed are for the death of its executives, a fire, the assassination of JFK, and the pandemic.
Now, it has added one more American tragedy to the list of things that have forced it to close: a mass shooting.
The store closed out of an "abundance of caution" on Thursday, according to a statement from the company, as Maine authorities search for the man accused of killing 18 people and injuring 13 others in a mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine on Wednesday night.
Authorities have issued an arrest warrant for Robert Card, the man police suspect is the gunman. He is a firearms instructor who serves in the US Army Reserve, Insider previously reported.
The company has also closed several other locations in the area, according to their statement.
L.L. Bean has only closed its doors five additional times in its history, spokesperson Amanda Hannah told Insider.
The last time L.L. Bean closed its stores in southern Maine was because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hannah told Insider. Before that, the store closed its doors for the funeral of the company's longtime president and chairman, Leon A. Gorman.
Before that, stores closed for President John F. Kennedy's funeral in 1967, the funeral of founder Leon Leonwood Bean in 1963, and the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Hannah said.
This story was updated to include a comment from an L.L. Bean spokesperson.
Read the original article on Insider
