LEWISTON — L.L. Bean may open its doors to the curious this summer, part of Museum L-A’s area manufacturing tours.
Rachel Desgrosseilliers, executive director of Museum L-A, said going inside the retailer’s manufacturing plants would be one of several business tours she hopes to offer this summer.
“There are businesses that just work in wood, so we could devote a day for people that want to see that,” she said. “I think we are barely scratching the surface.”
Museum L-A began offering a tour in 2011 to local Twin Cities shoemakers as part of a promotion for a new historic shoe manufacturing display.
“I wanted people to see how great we still are,” Desgrosseilliers said. “People say we’re just an old mill town. Things are still happening but they are behind closed doors where people are not aware of it. We thought they should be tooting their own horn.”
The first tour in May 2011 visited Lewiston-based Rancourt & Co. Shoecrafters on Bridge Street, Pamco Shoe Machinery Co. on Beech Street and Falcon Performance Footwear, near the Auburn-Lewiston Municipal Airport in Auburn.
“It was free, as a test piece,” Desgrosseilliers said.
The response was great and demand strong enough that they began charging for later tours.
The next tour went to the Lufthansa Technik project at the Auburn-Lewiston Municipal Airport to see restoration work on one of the 55-year-old Lockheed Super Constellation airplanes. That proved to be so popular that Desgrosseilliers ran two busloads, one after the other.
“We had enough to fill both buses, and we had a waiting list,” she said. “We did it again, and the same thing happened. That’s what tells me this can be successful.”
The tour cost $15.
Desgrosseilliers said she hopes to bring a third tour back to the Lufthansa project this summer, as well as visiting Bean’s operations. She hasn’t worked out most of the details yet, including the price.
“Before, they were two-hour things,” she said. “This would be a full day. We would go to the Lewiston manufacturing plant and then to the Brunswick plant.”
Plans call for stopping for lunch in Freeport, then paying a visit to Bean’s flagship store.
“We’d turn them loose and let them shop a little, then bring them home,” she said.
Other potential tours could go to the New Balance Shoe plant in Skowhegan.
Desgrosseilliers said she is still coordinating tours, but said she hopes to begin taking reservations in May.
“If there are businesses that are doing something interesting and think they could handle a tour, we want them to contact the museum,” she said. “That’s why we did it. I wanted people to see that Lewiston-Auburn is still at the forefront of manufacturing.”
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- Michael Rancourt, owner of Rancourt & Co. Shoecrafters in Lewiston, leads a public tour in May 2011. Museum L-A is hoping to offer tours to Lewiston and Central Maine businesses again this summer.
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- Pamco President Maurice Cote explains some of the processes at his factory to tour visitors in May 2011. Museum L-A is hoping to offer the tours to Lewiston and Central Maine businesses again this summer.
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- Falcon Performance Footwear co-owner Neil Hanley leads a tour of his operation in May 2011. Museum L-A is hoping to offer the tours to Lewiston and Central Maine businesses again this summer.
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- Michael Austermeier, project manager for the Lufthansa Technik project at the Auburn-Lewiston Municipal Airport explains his company’s work to tour visitors last October. Museum L-A is hoping to offer the tours to Lewiston and Central Maine businesses again this summer.
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