FREEPORT – L.L. Bean, the mail-order company that is celebrating its 90th anniversary, said Thursday that sluggish sales has prompted the company to cut its work force through voluntary retirements.

Lowered sales expectations for the year and a need to cut costs mean L.L. Bean must trim its work force that numbers more than 4,300 regular employees, said company spokesman Rich Donaldson.

“Given current sales trends and projections for next year, we know we are overstaffed,” Donaldson said.

About 500 workers are eligible for the early retirement incentive packages, which include four weeks of severance pay and a 25 percent increase in the regular pension plan benefit, he said.

Like many retailers, L.L. Bean has experienced soft sales and has lowered holiday sales expectations.

Specialty retailers report that sales are off between 6 percent and 20 percent compared to last year, and L.L. Bean is somewhere in the middle of that range, Donaldson said. He declined to be more specific.

Absent an unanticipated surge, the company expects annual sales to be below last year’s level of $1.138 billion, he said.

The company had sought to avoid a work force reduction through attrition, but it became clear that was not enough as the company began its budget process for 2003, said Bob Peixotto, chief operations officer.