L.L. Bean, (Leon Leonwood Bean) was a man who loved the outdoors. Leon when hunting one time, and came home with extremely wet and cold feet, so he decided to create a boot that would be dry and comfortable. He therefore created a rubber bottom, leather top boot, which he called the Maine Hunting Shoe. All of his friends really loved them, so they asked him to make them some boots as well, which he did, and then proceeded to make more boots, and started selling them. These boots sold out extremely quickly, but unfortunatly there was a design flaw, so that all of these newly made boots fell apart very rapidly. So when everyone came running back with their junk boots, Leon immediately gave them their money back. He started again, and made the boots with a better stitch this time, and off he went. His Maine Hunting Shoe is his claim to fame, but now LL Bean produces many different lines of clothes, as well as sells camping gear, hiking gear, canoes and gear, bicycles and gear--basically everything for outdoor use. The clothes and equipment are extremely good quality, but more importantly EVERYTHING that is sold from LL Bean is backed by a 100% satisfaction guarantee. If you are not completely satisfied with every aspect of your item, then you can return it with no questions asked. LL Bean (the company) is considered one of the top most companies in customer satisfaction, if not number one, which in todays age is really something to be said. There are a couple of different venues that LL Bean sells goods--first off there are stores scattered primarily through New England, but the flagship store is in Freeport Maine. There are something like nine stores in Japan. Then there is the catalog--this is a phone service, which which offers 24 hours service 365 days a year--someone is always there to answer the phone. And the most recent addition is to the internet WWW.LLBEAN.COM Here you can brouse catalogs online, or search for items by category, such as men's clothing, outdoor gear, etc. Leon made a company, starting from practically nothing, and it has evolved into a huge business, while maintaining a one-on-one approach to customers. Leon passed away at the age of 94 in the year 1967, which in turn meant that the company received 50,000 condolence letters. Leon had a couple of phrases that he was known for, such as "A customer is not dependent on us we are dependent on him." "A customer is not an interruption of our work...he is the purpose of it. We are not doing a favor by serving him..he is doing us a favor by giving us the opportunity to do so." "A customer is not someone to match wits with. Nobody ever won an argument with a customer". These may be quotes of a man long since gone, but the company puts great importance on remaining true to this way of thinking. Finally, LL Beans guarantee reads as "Guaranteed. You have our Word. Our products are guaranteed to give 100% satisfaction in every way. Return anything purchased from us at any time if it proves otherwise. We do not want you to have anything from LL Bean that is not completely satisfactory." In case you might have been wondering, i actually work for LLBean in the call center(catalog sales), so that is how i have this information. I hope that this hasn't come across as a sales pitch, as it wasn't meant to sound like one, but just to show that the company is extremely upstanding, and well respected within it's field. I really enjoy working for this company, and to give you an idea of the quality of some of the equipment, I'm 23 years old, and i still have a backpack that i got while in the 5th grade, as well as i have my sleeping bag which has lasted me since my parents bought it when i was about 8 years old. I have used this sleeping bag extremely often, and it still looks practically new. If you are still hoping to get a more detailed life of Leon Leonwood Bean, by contacting the company (phone Number should be found on website) they have a pamphlet with a timeline of Leon's life, and breakdown of different aspects of the company. I hope that this is informative in the aspect that you were looking for.

sincerely, Joel.

AnswerL.L. Bean is a store in Freeport, Maine, it also has outlets in Ellsworth.

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