Faltu

Although the company is 13 years old, the Build-A-Bear retail experience has won the hearts and loyalty of three generations of stuffed animal buyers—kids, parents, and grandparents. Since 1997, Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. has pioneered an experiential retail formula and built a strong, evocative brand experience.

I’ve enjoyed taking my grandchildren to Build-A-Bear stores at a number of malls around the country to select, stuff, and personalize their own stuffed animals. It’s a pleasant way to spend an hour with a child, and you come away with nice memories and a huggable toy that is special because your child helped to create it, dressed it, and named it.

The in-store experience of building your own stuffed bear, puppy, duck, dinosaur, or zebra (or any of 30 animals or characters) is a well-designed, high-touch, and caring experience. First, the child selects which animal they want to create and picks the “skin” out of a bin. Then they select a small satin covered heart that will be placed inside their stuffed animal along with whatever special wish they want to add.

If they want to, they can also record a message the animal will say when you squeeze its paw. Then they move on to the stuffing station where a personable store associate (usually a wonderful young woman with a great sense of humor) helps the child blow stuffing into their animal.

The associate quickly stitches up the toy, and then your child is ready to browse and select clothing and accessories to dress up their new pet. (The costs begin to mount up!)

Finally, your child sits down in front of a special computer to give his or her new friend a name and print out its birth certificate. This registers your pet (and provides Build-A-Bear with the buyer’s complete profile information). The value you get for providing accurate information is the promise that if your toy is lost, Build-A-Bear will be able to return it to you. This seems to mitigate customers’ privacy concerns....