Build-A-Bear Essay

The Build-A-Bear Experience

Section One
“Build-A-Bear” is a store that offers an interactive make-your-own stuffed animal retail-entertainment experience. Customers have the opportunity to create their own unique stuffed animal complete with clothing and accessories of their choice. Each customer chooses an unstuffed animal and then works with staff members through eight “creation stations”: choose me, hear me, stuff me, stitch me, fluff me, dress me, name me, and take me home (in new stores there is a ninth station, love me). This is a fun, creative place where children can express themselves by making their animal their own, dressing it and giving it a personality and a name. “Build-A-Bear’s” core
There are company owned stores in the US, Puerto Rico, Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland, and franchise stores in Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, the Middle East, Mexico and South America. In each of the “Build-A-Bear” stores there is a wide assortment of merchandise. There are over thirty different styles of animals to be stuffed. The inventory changes frequently, with different bear styles arriving every week. There are also clothes, accessories, and music available to purchase for the stuffed animal. The clothes and accessories are updated to keep up with current fashion trends. They also have partnered with popular brands in fashion and entertainment, for example: Hello Kitty, Twinkle Toes and Hot Lights by SKETHERS, The Avenger and pop singer Cody Simpson. Limited-edition and seasonal merchandise is also available at times, especially around the winter holidays. The basic bear is about twenty five dollars. In general, stuffed animals can be purchased for ten to thirty dollars. Outfits usually cost about thirteen dollars, and accessories range from three to nine dollars (Teddy
There is a stuffing machine that the kids put the fluff they picked in. The fluff is sent through a big pipe that ends up stuffing the bear. There is a station where the customer has to pick a heart for the bear. There is also a station where the bears can be brushed and fluffed at a “bath” table. There are also computers where customers make birth certificates for their stuffed animals. The stores are bright yellow and highly visual. The colorful appearance includes custom-designed fixtures featuring teddy bears and other themes relating to the workshop experience. The entryway spans the majority of the storefront revealing somewhat of a “theme park” destination in the mall. The six new stores that were opened in 2012 have a new highly interactive design, which features a bold new look and enhanced