NEW HAVEN -- L.L. Bean officially opened its third store in Connecticut on Friday. The brand celebrated its newest location with fun prizes and surprises for all those who were on hand before the doors opened to the public at 9 am.
"They have a basket, and you pull a card out whatever you get you get," said Emerson Poach of New Haven, who was first in line. "Even if I get a ten dollar card it's better than getting nothing, something is always better than nothing!"
The first 200 people in line got a free gift card, and five of those lucky 200, scored 500 dollars!
"We had the day off from work, and decided why not come down, and try to win a 500 dollar gift card," said Teale Buono of Hamden.
Many hope this new store will bring more foot traffic to New Haven.
"I think it's amazing because it is going to bring more people down here," said Aly Wheway of New Haven. "I mean, as you can see there's already so many shops down here, so why not add another great one."
The opening day fun continues through Sunday with free yoga, free food, live music, and a photo op with the giant L.L. Bean Boot Mobile!
"You can find the whole schedule of events online at llbean.com/Newhaven, but the excitement here this morning, of course, is the doors will open at 9 o'clock," said L.L. Bean spokesperson, Eric Smith.
Those who braved the hot and humid weather early Friday morning say it was worth a little sweat.
"There's nothing like an L.L. Bean grand opening," said Stephanie Maybruch, Department Manager of L.L. Bean New Haven. "We are super excited to be here today!"
Even those who were not so sure if they wanted to come, like Hannan Kahn of East Haven, who is happy his sister dragged him along.
"I never won anything, and now I won 500 dollars y'all," said Kahn. "I never win, and I won big today!"
Now, with some extra green, L.L. Bean employees say they hope folks will get outside, and enjoy a different kind of green.
"With L.L. Bean the weather won’t get you down," said Greg Elder, VP of retail for L.L. Bean. "Whether it's hot weather or cool weather or rainy weather, we’ve got it all covered, and you just got to get outdoors, life is too short!"