Founded in 1997 in St Louis, USA, Build-A-Bear Workshop will offer South African Guests an interactive make-your-own-stuffed animal retail entertainment experience. Along with the unique and exceptional approach to the retail industry, the teddy bear theme is carried throughout the store with original teddy bear fixtures, murals and artwork creating a bright and fun environment.
The floor staff, known as Bear Builder™ associates, share the experience with Guests at each phase of the bear-making process. Regardless of age, Guests enjoy the highly visual environment, the sounds and the fantasy of this special place while they create a memory with their friends and family.
Guests who visit a Build-A-Bear Workshop enter a lighthearted teddy-bear-themed environment consisting of a series of fun bear-making stations.
At Choose Me™ Guests are introduced to a wide range of furry characters and select one, which will soon become their new best friend.
Guests then proceed to Hear Me™ where they can select from several sound choices to place inside their stuffed animal to further personalise their new friend. Pre-recorded sounds include giggles, croaks, growls and messages such as “I love you”. This sound chip is inserted safely inside the animal during the stuffing process.
At Stuff Me™, with the help of a master Bear Builder™ associate, Guests fill their new friend with stuffing for just the right amount of huggability. At this station a very special step is taken as each Guest selects a small satin heart which is carefully placed inside their new furry friend, binding them forever.
The Stitch Me™ station is where the last seam is neatly pulled shut. Before closing the animal, the Bear Builder associate inserts a barcode, allowing it to be reunited with its owner if ever lost and returned to Build-A-Bear Workshop. The Guest then moves to the Fluff Me™ station to make sure his or her new friend is pawfectly groomed!
At Dress Me™ Guests can dress their new friend in the latest and beary best in furry fashions. Ranges not only include emulations of human-world fashions, but also licensed items such as superhero costumes, branded items such as Skechers trainers and themed items like cricket packs including the kit, bat and ball.
Guests then stop at the Name Me™ computer, where they give their new furry friend an identity of its own, including a birth date and its name. The Guest’s details are merged with the animal’s to make a customised birth certificate which is presented to the Guest at the last station of the bear-making experience, Take Me Home™.
Build-A-Bear Workshop also caters for groups and offers a Build-A-Party™ experience which includes birthday parties, company outings and family reunions – allowing Guests of 3 to 103 to discover or rediscover their inner child.
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