FREEPORT – L.L. Bean has set May 4 as the opening date for its second retail venture outside Maine, a 30,000-square-foot store in Columbia, Md.

The store at The Mall in Columbia is part of L.L. Bean’s plan to open three to five new retail stores in three to five years. The first store was opened last July in Tysons Corner, Va.

Both Tysons Corner and Columbia are suburbs of Washington, D.C.

“We’re on track with our original plan,” said Janet Wyper, L.L. Bean manager of community relations.

This summer, L.L. Bean plans to announce its third new retail location, which most likely will be in the mid-Atlantic region.

Retail stores differ from the company’s factory outlets, which generally carry returns, discontinued items and overruns. L.L. Bean has out-of-state factory outlets in Rehoboth Beach and Wilmington, Del.; Lincoln City and Bend, Ore.; Nashua, Concord and North Conway, N.H.; Woodbridge, Va.; and Hagerstown, Md.