Photo courtesy of catharine pierce ’20
Last Wednesday, Sept. 18, the Sadove porch was transformed into an L.L. Bean pop-up shop for students to browse and explore the brand’s fall clothing and footwear. Hamilton was just one of the many schools that the “Bootmobile” will stop at on its fall college tour.
The pop-up shop at Hamilton was the work of L.L. Bean student ambassador and Hamilton student Ruthie Schmidt ’20. As a student representative on Hamilton’s campus, Schmidt is involved in club visits, tabling events, social media posts and organizing events like the pop-up shop.
In order to visit as many campuses as they can, “L.L. Bean puts together a route that includes all of the colleges and universities of the ambassadors this semester,” said Schmidt.
The pop-up shop was busy all day with students taking advantage of the discounted merchandise.
Hannah Budner ’23 commented on the unique shopping experience that the bus created, saying, “The store made me feel like I was shopping off-campus, which was so nice. So was the 20 perecent off. I definitely bought more than I needed.”
Gavin Meade ’20 said he valued the helpfulness of the L.L. Bean employees at the pop-up shop, saying, “I appreciated their support and expertise while I was deciding on what to buy.”
According to Schmidt, “The pop-up shop seemed really well received by the students, and the bootmobile employees were really impressed at the turnout and the student body’s excitement about the event and the gear.”
Though there will be no more pop-up shops this year, Schmidt says she will be hosting two tabling events before L.L. Bean’s college program ends after Thanksgiving.
“In general,” said Schmidt, “I think Hamilton welcoming more brands and pop-up shops that are relevant to the student body could be really fun and exciting for the students, especially if there are students on campus willing to work with the brands or organize it themselves.”
The Bootmobile is on its way to the University of New Hampshire this week. Though it may not return this year, the image of the giant boot-themed truck and colorful pop-up shop will no doubt persist in memory.
