More fuel for the SL/SR fire...

[jerryg]

Can't blame them. They also have to find a way to pay for season passes! =)

Absolutely no bias there! :blink:

 

[jerryg]

Call me conservative but I get a little jittery when companies get involved in business areas outside their core competencies. Ski resort operation is a big jump from retail. I can't blame LL Bean for becoming more aggresive and diversifying but in my experience, company's end up doing one or both businesses badly.

Anyway, we digress.

I think you are right on the money, Snowmonster. Whereas this deal may or may not involve LL Bean, I personally think it is a poor business decision on LLB's part. It is way outside their core business model and would have limited reach for their retail products. It would make much more sense for them to inroduce an alpine clothing line and market to ski resorts. As others have said, though; this may just be someone involved with Bean, lending money, or perhaps no one at all.

As Bobr said, it would be nice to know. This whole thing got old a few months ago.

 

[thetrailboss]

The whole "we'll let you know what season pass prices are going to be soon" line is getting very, very old.

 

[wa-loaf]

Interesting thought and would definately help Saddleback but I think it would just end up screwing up the very thing folks go up there for.

The place in Maine that makes me keep scratching my head is how underused and not really known outside of northern NE is Baxter SP.

Milinocket which is the gateway community is very depressed, due to paper mill problems. You can buy a decent house in town for $40,000. Baxter/Katadhin is huge and really beautiful with amazing wildife and mountains. If you talk to the locals they would love more business from the increased usage of BSP.

I agree with on the Rangley area. But Katahdin is packed all summer long and does bring a fair amount of business to Millenocket in the summer. In the winter due to the restrictions in Baxter against snowmobiles getting anywhere is under your own power, so it limits the park to only true backcountry enthusiasts (check out meatheads Epoch to see the slog you need to take to get to Mt Katahdin in the winter). Unless someone wants to open Baxter to development (which will never happen) not much can be done to increase tourism in the area.

 

[Angus]

a couple of quick points

- # of visits to Baxter have been seriously down the last couple of years

from the globe..."Maine also is seeing a dramatic falloff in park attendance. At Acadia National Park, the boundaries of which contain the highest peak on the Atlantic coast, attendance plummeted to 2.05 million last year from 2.56 million in 2002. At Baxter State Park, which contains magnificent Mount Katahdin, the numbers took a free fall to 56,000 last year from 75,000 in 2000." source: http://www.boston.com/news/local/ar...fficials_fear_trend_toward_the_great_indoors/

- not sure why LLBean - the corporate entity - would be interested in "diversifying" into the ski operating business. I can understand the owners of LLBean perhaps being interested in making a "Maine" investment - this would be on their own behalf, not the companies. They don't know much about running ski areas or real estate, et cetera. Their competency is retail merchandising.

 

[Angus]

They don't know much about running ski areas or real estate, et cetera. Their competency is retail merchandising.

well, chock that up to "what the hell do I know!" - I still think it's odd!

from the globe minutes ago...

REEPORT, Maine --Mail-order retailer L.L. Bean is looking to develop a theme park-style adventure center, a move that would build on the company's outdoors heritage, drive sales and cement Freeport's place as a top tourist destination.

The project featuring lodging and dining facilities is centered on a 700-acre parcel owned by the outdoors outfitter about a mile from Bean's flagship store. Visitors to the site, and another Bean-owned property along Casco Bay, could try their hand at a range of activities, from biking and archery to kayaking and snowshoeing.

The concept was the brainchild of Leon Leonwood Bean's grandson, former CEO and current board chairman Leon Gorman, as a way of making it easier for people to enjoy outdoor activities, said Carolyn Beem, a Bean spokeswoman.

The idea resonated with shoppers Tuesday.

Don Norkett, a retiree from Merrick, N.Y., said the idea of creating something for the entire family could be a winner.

"A place like this could have wide family appeal. There's something for the children, something like kayaking for the macho guys, and shopping for the ladies," Norkett said as he sat outside L.L. Bean while his wife shopped inside.

The plan, still in its preliminary stages, was first reported Tuesday in the Portland Press Herald, which obtained a copy of a confidential document asking hotel development companies to spell out their qualifications for taking on such a project.

Bean envisions a "family-friendly outdoor adventure attraction with lodging amenities under something similar to a theme park operating model," the document said.

There are no plans for roller coasters or log flumes. Instead, the idea would build upon efforts by outdoors outfitters like Cabela's, L.L. Bean and Bass Pro Shops to generate customer traffic by offering rock-climbing walls, aquariums and even ponds to let customers try out equipment.

"Cabela's and Bass Pro have incorporated a lot of what maybe L.L. Bean will multiply into an entirely outside-the-store environment to try to make themselves a destination," said Bob Simonson, who covers Cabela's for William Blair & Co. "Cabela's has always called itself the destination store."

Beem insisted the project was not a response to plans by Cabela's to develop a 125,000-square-foot store in Scarborough, 25 miles from Freeport. That store is designed to anchor a $75 million development that includes a 200-room hotel, restaurants and a bank.

The new center would build on Bean's experience with its Outdoor Discovery Schools program that offers instruction in skills such as fly fishing and kayaking.

Bean recently acquired an additional plot of land that brings the size of its Desert Road property to 700 acres, a threshold that provides enough open space to move ahead with the planning process, Beem said.

The company plans to narrow its search this summer for a hotel development company to finance and operate the buildings on the site and hopes to have the facility up and running within three years.

Sales at family-owned Bean grew by 4.6 percent last year, topping $1.5 billion for the first time. The company also opened new stores in Massachusetts and Connecticut and four stores in Japan, in addition to a bike, boat and ski store in Freeport.

 

[wa-loaf]

well, chock that up to "what the hell do I know!" - I still think it's odd!

See my earlier post on that. :grin: But that adventure park ties in well to their retail offerings and will drive people to purchase at the main store. A ski area, not so much.