Just about the only refuge for local people left on Main Street (U.S. Route 1) is Deering's Ice Cream Store, where any tourist can be assured of meeting genuine citizens of Freeport.

Hungry visitors usually patronize Freeport's version of fastfood fare: McDonald's. There are no familiar arches in this two-century-old Yankee village, however; the town wouldn't tolerate America's most famous golden trademarks. Instead, a century old, black and white New England clapboard has been converted into the only McDonald's in the country with polished oak tables and primative American art. The building is colonial, but the food is McDonald's standard fare.

Bargains Galore

The outlet stores, including one corner of Bean's, sell slightly defective merchandise that sell quickly at considerably reduced prices.

Except for Benetton, which is not a factory store, regular prices can be as much as 40 percent below the standard retail price. Women's boots at Dexter Shoes were selling for 50 percent off, and a pair of standard penny loafers, which normally go for $79, were on sale for $54.99 because there were nicks so small that the cashier had to show them to one curious shopper.

The Polo-Ralph Lauren outlet sells men's suits that are regularly $595 for $319.99 and women's sweaters that retail for $108 for $74.99.

In the part of Bean's that is its factory store, $76 hunting shoes go for $50, a $42 sweater for $25, and a $36 shirt for $27. But the prices don't seem to be what attract college students to the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night.

This pilgrimage phenomenon is known to Freeport natives and store employees alike. "I think it becomes a mark of distinction to be able to say, 'I was in L.L. Bean at 2:30 in the morning,'" says D. Kilt Andrew, L.L. Bean's manager for public affairs.

"We used to do that, get really trashed and go to Bean's," says a former college students who is now working at Benetton, just down the street form Bean's.

"Juan's drunk," one Bradford College student said about a friend who was wandering through Bean's at two in the morning. "He's not only drunk; he's high," says another friend.

"Coffee is free to all customers after midnight," says Jeff Baker who sits behind the desk at the front door. If customers wish to sleep in their cars in the parking lot, the employees will let them, he says.

In the fall, which is the slack season for tourism, only about 20 to 60 people come in each night after midnight. "The main reason we're open is because the store has to be cleaned anyway," says Bob Litchfield, a Bean's employee. He adds that Bean's had not closed its doors since one night back in 1951. After that, L.L. Bean himself made the decision to keep the store open all night.

Ever since 1912 when Leon L. Bean did a mail out to every Maine hunting license holder to sell hunting boots, Bean's has been selling outdoor gear in Freeport. The soles peeled off of ninety of his first 100 pairs of now ubiquitous duck boots, according to company lore and advertising, and he gave the buyers back their money.

The original Bean store has been expanded considerably in the last three years to include a large room with canoes and kayaks hanging in racks and a pond with live Brook Trout--Salvelinus Fontinalis according to the sign.

In the parking lot Jaguars with New York plates sit side by side with Maine pick-ups. In the store itself, however, most of the big purchases seem to be made by urban residents rather than farmers and trappers. "These city people sure like things organized," one customer says in an unmistakable New England twang.