Big outdoor apparel store to open this summer in Toronto

A large U.S. outdoor apparel and equipment store will open a new location in Toronto this summer.

L.L. Bean plans to open a 9,500-square-foot store in the Manulife Centre, at Bloor and Bay streets, according to Retail Insider.

The new store will be on the concourse level of the Centre, across from Indigo, in a space previously occupied by an LCBO location, Retail Insider said. The Manulife Centre is also home to an Eataly and a Loblaw City Market.

This will be the second L.L. Bean store in Toronto. The first location opened in CF Shops at Don Mills in October 2020.

Hunter and fisherman Leon Leonwood Bean founded L.L.Bean as a mail-order business selling waterproof boots in 1912 in Freeport, Maine. The store has since expanded to locations across the U.S., Canada and Japan.

L.L.Bean entered the Canadian market in 2018 with the launch of its Canadian e-commerce site, which was followed by the opening of its first Canadian retail store in Oakville, Ontario in 2019, according to a 2022 press release from the company.

The exact opening date of the new L.L. Bean is not yet known.

Lead photo of the Manulife Centre: Google Maps