L.L.Bean Boot (Freeport flagship)

Outside the L.L.Bean flagship in Freeport stands a scaled-up Bean Boot, which a 2022 NewEngland.com guide described as the campus mascot. That guide gives its height as 16.5 feet and says L.L.Bean calculates it would be a size 410 if it were a real boot; Visit Maine describes it in 2026 as nearly 17 feet tall at the main entrance. The boot honours the product the business was built on. According to the Portland Press Herald, founder Leon Leonwood Bean began marketing his Maine hunting shoe in 1912, rented the space above the post office where the flagship now sits in 1917, and in 1951 "threw away the key" so the store could serve sportspeople at any hour. After nearly two years closed for a $50 million renovation, the flagship reopened on 14 September 2026 and resumed round-the-clock operation. The Press Herald noted on 17 September that visitors pass the big Bean Boot on their way into the store, and the 2022 NewEngland.com guide placed it on the southwest side of the main building. Maine Guide calls the boot a popular photo op.