History
Build-A-Bear Workshop was founded by Maxine Clark in 1997, with its first store in the Saint Louis Galleria. By 2007, the store had sold over 50 million bears and had over 400 stores in operation worldwide in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, the Netherlands, Norway, the Republic of Ireland, Poland, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States, including Puerto Rico and also Mexico. While the majority of Build-A-Bear stores are in shopping malls, by 2008 the company had opened five stores in Major League Baseball stadiums.
In 2006, the company acquired The Bear Factory from Hamleys and began operating in its flagship store in London.
Build-A-Bear has also engaged in various charities, including the WWF Collecti-bear series which has given over $1 million (USD) to the World Wildlife Fund. As part of its tenth birthday celebration, the company built 11 playgrounds throughout the USA and Canada in partnership with KaBOOM! and announced that it had donated over $11 million to various child and family causes since 1997. The store also hosts an event called "Stuffed For Hugs Weekend" in May, in which guests at Build-a-Bear are given the opportunity to stuff a pre-selected animal for charity. There is a similar weekend that occurs in late October known as "The Spirit of Giving" in which guests can make stuffed ghosts. A Build-A-Bear Workshop video game was developed by The Game Factory and released for the Nintendo DS platform for Christmas 2007.
Build-A-Bear has also created several tie-in stuffed animals for various promotional events, including a toy The Cat in the Hat, a toy Shrek, a toy Cody Maverick penguin from Surf's Up, a toy Mumble from Happy Feet, a toy E.B. from Hop, both Alvin and Brittany from the Alvin and the Chipmunks (movie) series, a Jonas dog and a Wizards of Waverly Place bear. Build-A-Bear workshop has also released several lines of miniature toys included in Happy Meals at McDonald's restaurants, running first in May 2006 followed by a second promotion in August 2007, a third in October 2009 and a fourth one in February 2012. These were only available in McDonald's in America.
In 2010, in honor of the Sanrio company's 50th anniversary, Build-A-Bear released limited edition Sanrio characters, including Hello Kitty, Chococat, My Melody, and Keroppi. This even included the release of mini keychains of the four characters along with Deery Lou. In 2010, Build-A-Bear also started selling Zhu Zhu Pets, a line of electronic hamsters by Cepia LLC.
Starting in 2011, Build-A-Bear added Victoria Justice as their new spokesperson. In the mid-year, she began appearing in all Build-A-Bear Workshop commercials. Build-A-Bear also released a feature film available on IPad through MoPix in December of 2011.
In about 2005, Build a Bear started selling stuffable plushes of Rudolph and Clarice, from the famous holiday special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, made by Rankin/Bass.
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