NEW HAVEN — Outdoor store L.L. Bean will be a major tenant for a development project on the Yale campus.
Officials announced Monday, the Maine based retailer will open a two-story, 9000 sq. ft. store at 272 Elm St. in New Haven during the summer of 2018. The store will employ at least 60 people.
“We are happy to be able to provide the opportunity. We love the fact that most of those employees will come from the local community here,” said Jamie Gull, with L.L. Bean.
The area already includes Apple, J.Crew and Urban Outfitters, award-winning restaurants and theaters. Officials say the district has been building a reputation as a shopping destination.
“They draw from a broad area, but they also really are great for the population that lives and resides and work and studies in New Haven,” said Lauren Zucker of Yale University Properties.
“You have to have unique products and a unique setting and Broadway is now one of the more exciting small retail districts in America,” said Matthew Nemerson, with the New Haven Economic Development Administration.
In addition to the retail experience, the New Haven L.L. Bean store will feature an Outdoor Discovery School, which “is a broad range of classes that can range from how to tie a fly fishing fly to stand up paddle board classes,” Gull said.
In addition to L.L. Bean, there will be another 6,500 square feet of retail space and some Yale University graduate student housing in the building. The site was a parking lot for a number of years.
