Build-A-Bear Research Paper

Build-A-Bear, a place where kids can build, dress, and name their furry friends. A place where families race around looking for the outfit that their child's heart desires.

This fun filled place is a global brand of fun, furry stuffed animal friends that all of the little children and parents love. Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc is an American headquarter in Overland, Missouri. Build-A-Bear Workshop states that this is their mission, “ To empower kids of all ages to express themselves in a safe, warm space through services, experiences and, of course, furry friends!” Build-A-Bear Workshop has over 400 different shops all over the world. A description from the actual Build-A-Bear website is,”We partner with local, national, and international

Build-A-Bear workshop became present to the mind whenever Maxine Clark had a fun conversation with her friend’s son. Maxine Clark became the President of the Payless Shoe Store. After awhile that job lost its spark so she began to do something new. Maxine was shopping with a daughter of one of her good friends and her brother Jack in which collected beanie babies, they began to discuss that whenever they got bored or couldn't find anything new to do they would make beanie babies. Maxine read between those lines and came up with the idea of creating a store that kids could be able to create custom stuffed animals. She began to build a plan and that was when it all came together. In 1997 she withdrew $750,000 from her retirement account to get Build-a-Bear Workshop off the ground. All of that money covered the start up cost and building. During the process of building, her first store coming soon signs appeared all over St. Louis. The signs caught the eye of Barney Ebsworth and his partner Wayne Smith. They bought in for 20% for $4.5 million.The first store opened up on a Sunday in St. Louis Galleria. Over 160 million Build-A-Bears have been created

This means that everything has to go through the kids before it can be carried out. For example, if Build-A-Bear wants to include a new pair of shoes into the shop, they have to show it to the children in the advisory board and if they say they like it then if can be a thing. If they don't then it won't become a product in the store. The executive workers are called “ Bears”. The -A-Bear website explains this, “The corporate offices of Build-A-Bear are never in danger of running low on bear puns. Their St. Louis offices are known as “bearquarters,” all executive staff are officially listed with titles like Chief Executive Bear, Chief Human Resource Bear, and Chief Operations Bear. Only Chief Financial Officer Voin Todorovic is credited without a furry designation. Most people at build-A-Bear feel as if they constantly babysit little kids, because most parents allow their kids to run around freely. One of the biggest parts of the overall experience is allowing guests to kiss the heart and make a wish before you put it in the bear. The majority of people's eyes light up with an excitement that makes your smile reach from ear to ear. There are others who will look at you like you're completely and utterly insane. They think that you're stupid and you're trying to trick them into looking like a fool, but you're so invested that you will have an