FREEPORT – L.L. Bean plans a significant increase in its network of retail stores, a strategy designed to equalize its three selling “channels”: stores, catalogs and the Internet.

The Freeport-based outdoor outfitter now has stores in Maine, New Hampshire, Virginia, Maryland and New Jersey, along with more than a dozen outlets. It plans to open stores in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania this fall and add two Connecticut stores next year and a store near Albany, N.Y., and another in Massachusetts in 2008.

The expansion will accelerate after that. Bean plans to open three more stores in 2008 at sites yet to be picked, followed by eight more in 2009 and probably another eight in 2010, said Ken Kacere, senior vice president and general manager for retail.

The company’s initial venture into bricks and mortar was with mall-based stores in the Maryland and Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., the results of which were lackluster.

“We stood back and tried to learn from that,” Kacere said.

“We’re a catalog company and we had one store for years. When we first ventured out from that, we were still a company focused on the direct-channel business.”

But Bean felt it hit the right formula on the third try, a free-standing store in New Jersey somewhat removed from the urban core but still within easy reach of Philadelphia suburbanites. That store will serve as the model for the ones planned over the next few years.

Bean got its start as a catalog company in 1912 and has since added online sales. With the increase in the number of real-world stores, the company hopes to generate about a third of overall sales in each of the three channels.

In addition to allowing consumers to return unwanted items in person rather than by mail, future stores will likely offer phone or computer ordering stations to supplement the in-house product line, Kacere said.

Adding the stores to the catalog and online selling options means “anyplace you are, you’re with Bean,” Kacere said. “Our goal is to allow a customer in that market area [where stores are located] to shop anytime, anyplace they choose, with us.”

Madison Riley, a retail strategist with the consulting firm Kurt Salmon Associates, said Bean’s plans reflect the desire of today’s consumers for several ways to buy.

“Brands of the strength and quality of Bean need to be multichannel retailers,” Riley said. “The way consumers purchase today is to use all media. It’s very common for people to go online to see what’s available and then they often go to the store to see what the fit is, how it feels, to touch it.”