Shortly after Spiegel Group, the parent company of cataloger/retailer Eddie Bauer, filed for Chapter 11 in March 2003, apparel, home goods, and outdoor gear mailer L.L. Bean expressed interest in buying Bauer. But on March 5, Freeport, ME-based Bean issued a memo to employees stating that it was no longer pursuing a purchase.
According to the Portland (ME) “Press Herald,” Bean CEO Chris McCormick said in the memo that Spiegel’s financial condition “is more complex and troublesome than we originally thought. We’ve decided that an acquisition of this size, and this one in particular, is not in L.L. Bean’s best interests.”