L.L.Bean threw open the doors of its new 17,500-square-foot store at The Shoppes at Arbor Lakes on July 31, marking the outdoor retailer's second Minnesota location and the newest addition to Maple Grove's retail lineup. The grand opening featured a ribbon-cutting ceremony and free custom Maple Grove Boat and Totes for the first 100 customers through the door.
The celebration capped months of buildout work at 12289 Elm Creek Blvd. N, across from H&M, where construction crews began combining four previously separate retail spaces into a single footprint starting in late 2025, according to Bring Me The News. The City of Maple Grove marked the milestone on its Facebook page, writing that the store offers outdoor gear, apparel, and expert staff to its new local business community, according to the City of Maple Grove, MN.
Why L.L.Bean Picked Maple Grove
The choice of Maple Grove wasn't random. L.L.Bean store manager Gretchen Austinson told CCX Media that the company selected the suburb for expansion because of a high volume of existing catalog and online orders already coming from the northwest Twin Cities area. The new location becomes L.L.Bean's second store in the state, joining its long-standing 29,000-square-foot anchor store at the Mall of America in Bloomington, the outlet reported.
Maple Grove's demographics help explain the interest. The city functions as a primary commercial hub in northern Hennepin County, with an estimated 2026 population of roughly 74,500 residents and a median household income exceeding $130,000, per World Population Review data. That kind of purchasing power has made the suburb a magnet for national retailers looking to plant a physical flag near their strongest online customer bases.
A Bigger Trend at Arbor Lakes
Marketing management for The Shoppes at Arbor Lakes told CCX Media that adding a major national brand like L.L.Bean is expected to create a trickle-down effect that boosts foot traffic for neighboring retailers at the center. L.L.Bean's arrival follows a broader pattern of outdoor and activewear brands setting up shop there, including Duluth Trading Company, which opened a 9,500-square-foot store in the shopping center in a trio of new store openings last September.
The Shoppes at Arbor Lakes itself carries some retail history. Built starting in 2003, the open-air center spans more than 384,000 square feet and is recognized as Minnesota's first open-air lifestyle shopping center, designed to mimic a traditional pedestrian-friendly downtown commercial district.
Part of a National Expansion Push
Founded in 1912 in Freeport, Maine, family-owned L.L.Bean now operates more than 50 U.S. stores and had planned to open eight new brick-and-mortar locations in 2026 as part of a national retail push. Maple Grove joins a list of recent L.L.Bean openings across the Midwest and beyond this year, including a Naperville, Illinois store on Route 59, an Overland Park, Kansas location at Bluhawk, and an anchor spot at the Lulah Hills redevelopment in Decatur, Georgia.
The push into physical retail comes as the broader outdoor apparel market keeps growing. The U.S. outdoor apparel sector was projected to grow 6.6% in 2024 to $11.2 billion, fueled by consumers shifting toward functional outdoor styles for everyday wear, according to Global Market Insights data reported by Forbes. For L.L.Bean, opening stores in markets like Maple Grove appears to be less about chasing new territory and more about meeting shoppers where their catalog and online orders already show demand.
