During store visits, customers go through an interactive process in which the stuffed animal of their choice is assembled and tailored to their own preferences including varying scents, sounds, and outfits. Build-A-Bear Workshop is the largest chain that operates in this style.

During store visits, customers go through an interactive process in which the stuffed animal of their choice is assembled and tailored to their own preferences including varying scents, sounds, and outfits. Build-A-Bear Workshop is the largest chain that operates in this style.

Build-A-Bear started its journey in 1997 when malls were the popular destinations for family shopping and entertainment. The company's iconic heart ceremony, where guests place a small red heart in the teddy bear, is part of the personalized hands-on experience that has helped make the brand so popular.

Building Memories, One Bear at a Time Maxine envisioned an interactive retail destination where kids could make personalized “furry friends.” She ultimately created something that is now called “experiential retail” which has fundamentally helped to change the way we think about shopping.

And today we got our best. Friend our one and only bear. Me. All right so as we're walking through the workshop. We really want to give the guests a full experience. So we do have a full workshop.

Also, each of our animals is made with a unique bar code that is placed inside of it when it's made. We also give each animal a "birth certificate" with that number so it is tied to the purchaser. Found animals can be returned to the store where we can contact the person who lost it.

Through their foraging habits, bears spread plant and berry seeds in their droppings and spread marine-derived nitrogen into the forest surrounding salmon streams. Bears are important links in food webs and help maintain populations of deer and other prey species through predation.

Love my manager, love my coworkers, and love having the chance to make the day of people of all ages. Not the best pay and don't get a lot of hours (I'm part time along with my other Bear Builder coworkers, so it's understandable) but every shift is so much fun! I use this as my “fun job” and I don't regret it at all!!

Customer Strategist: The Build-A-Bear Workshop model is extremely personalized. Customers literally walk through the process of making their own individual bear, then make a wish and give it a "heart" to bring it to (imaginary) life. The company's success is rooted in imagination and experience.

The Bear teaches us COURAGE. The Bear provides many lessons in the way it lives, but courage is the most important teaching it offers. Though gentle by nature, the ferociousness of a mother Bear when one of her cubs is approached is the true definition of courage.

The Bear And Two Friends is a popular animal story from Aesop's Fables. It is a moral story that inspires children to be strong, brave and never leave someone in a difficult situation.

Each creation is genuinely one-of-a-kind - right down to a recorded Build-A-Sound message each Guest can record to add their own special message to their furry friend! And our furry friends aren't just for the little ones - they make heartfelt, thoughtful gifts for grown-ups, too.