The L.L. Bean Experience

“I watched a woman and her young son examining the towels. The mother explained that these were good towels even if they did have someone else’s name on them, and anyway it was all they could afford. I do hope the McCormicks feel hot shame right now. ” Alex Kuczynski describes the surreal yet somehow folksy aura of the L.L. Bean flagship store in Freeport, Maine — where you can buy fly fishing equipment 365 days a year, 24 hours a day — in The New York Times.