Unstuffed Movies (2023)Full HD

DigiDazzle

Tells the story of the famed Build-a-Bear workshop, weaving together stories from when Maxine Clark first conceived the idea, the company’s struggles to stay afloat, and the endless happiness it has provided for children and adults alike

Transcript

00:00:30Hello.

00:01:01That was weird.

00:01:05Happens more than you think.

00:01:08So, am I early or what?

00:01:11No, Peter. You're right on time.

00:01:15Yeah.

00:01:16You know, I haven't seen you around since you were about that tall.

00:01:23And you were always bringing that teddy bear around with you.

00:01:27What was his name?

00:01:29Yeah, Marty.

00:01:31God, I haven't thought about him in years. I love that bear.

00:01:34You know, you two are quite the pair.

00:01:38Yeah.

00:01:40Thanks.

00:01:42Enjoy the show.

00:01:51Wow.

00:01:53Got the whole theater to myself. This is great.

00:01:56What am I, chopped liver?

00:01:58No, I'm hearing voices.

00:01:59No, you're not.

00:02:01Whoa!

00:02:02A talking teddy bear?

00:02:04In a powder blue tuxedo?

00:02:06Well, of course. I have to dress nice.

00:02:08This is my big break, you know.

00:02:10I'm in this picture.

00:02:11No way.

00:02:13Oh, congratulations, talking teddy bear.

00:02:15I really can't wait to see you.

00:02:16Shh. It's starting.

00:02:18Sorry.

00:02:22It was a dark and stormy night.

00:02:25Wait, that's...

00:02:27Oh.

00:02:28A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

00:02:32Oh, no, that's not right either.

00:02:35Once upon a time...

00:02:37No? That's not right either?

00:02:39Okay, here it is.

00:02:41Teddy bears!

00:02:43Everyone loves them.

00:02:45They bring comfort and joy to millions of people all over the world.

00:02:50There is a place where you can go and you can make your own teddy bear.

00:02:54And it's not so much that you make it, you build it.

00:02:58That's right. Build-A-Bear.

00:03:02So, where did Build-A-Bear come from?

00:03:05And how has Build-A-Bear managed to stay relevant

00:03:09when so many toy stores have fallen by the wayside?

00:03:12Get ready to find out,

00:03:14because this is the story of Build-A-Bear Workshop.

00:03:19Growing up, it was always a big treat for me to go to Build-A-Bear.

00:03:23As a kid walking into there, you think it's like the coolest place on Earth.

00:03:27And still, as an adult, I still think it's one of the coolest places on Earth.

00:03:30Kind of like stuffed animal Disneyland.

00:03:32It's so fun.

00:03:34Well, they didn't have Build-A-Bear when I was a kid,

00:03:36but the fact that you can create your own bears is next level.

00:03:40There were a lot of decisions to be made.

00:03:43It wasn't just like, I like that.

00:03:45It was this really cool thing for the kids that they had never had before.

00:03:49None of us had ever seen this before.

00:03:51This is my first impression of Build-A-Bear.

00:03:53I'm sorry, you might not love this, but I'm telling you anyway.

00:03:56Wow, this is genius.

00:03:58They have taken the labor out of putting the animal together,

00:04:01and we're doing it for you.

00:04:04I mean, your profit margin just went brilliant.

00:04:08I mean, you've seen different concepts for kids that are created for kids,

00:04:12experiences for kids coming to go,

00:04:14but Build-A-Bear is a way of life for a lot of us.

00:04:16For a parent, I mean, amazing,

00:04:18because it wasn't just walking into a store and buying something.

00:04:20You got an experience with it.

00:04:22I think there's something very special and unique

00:04:24about the process of creating their own bear.

00:04:26They have a hand in it, and they can customize it

00:04:28with the shoes to the hats to the clothes.

00:04:31Just the hearts, having a little heart on the inside of the bear is just so cute.

00:04:35It's your creation because you're building it and not somebody else.

00:04:39Watching your child be creative and the thought process

00:04:43and all the neurons firing and everything is really incredible,

00:04:47but to watch them create something with love is, it's heartwarming.

00:04:53You can do whatever your imagination wants.

00:04:55You can choose a crazy bear or keep it simple.

00:04:58Also, the environment in Build-A-Bear is always just so happy.

00:05:01Everyone seems to be having an awesome time.

00:05:03As a kid, you're constantly told, oh, behave, like, calm down, like, mute yourself,

00:05:08but in a Build-A-Bear shop, you're able to do whatever your heart wants to do.

00:05:14So, what is Build-A-Bear?

00:05:17Everyone knows what a Build-A-Bear is.

00:05:20I mean, growing up, everyone's passed by it in the mall or seen it.

00:05:24There's not one person who hasn't at least heard of Build-A-Bear.

00:05:27I had never heard of Build-A-Bear, to be honest.

00:05:32And then my son's wife said, yes, I've known about Build-A-Bear all my life.

00:05:41I'm like, how could she know about Build-A-Bears and I don't know about it?

00:05:46But I do now.

00:05:48Better late than never.

00:05:50Do you want to hold my bear?

00:05:52Would you like one?

00:05:55Do you know about Build-A-Bears?

00:05:58Huh.

00:06:00So, the whole world knows about Build-A-Bear but me?

00:06:05Now, if you're watching this movie, it is safe to assume you've heard of Build-A-Bear before.

00:06:12Or at least you have now.

00:06:14But not so long ago, there was no such thing as Build-A-Bear Workshop.

00:06:19It all came from this teddy bear sized woman, Maxine Clark.

00:06:27Hi, I'm Maxine Clark.

00:06:28I'm Maxine Clark and I am best known as the founder of Build-A-Bear Workshop.

00:06:32My title when I was at Build-A-Bear was Chief Executive Bear but sometimes it was Mama Bear, sometimes Chief Executive Bear, sometimes CEB.

00:06:40Maxine, she is a force.

00:06:43I don't even know the words to describe Maxine because she, I think, defies definition.

00:06:48Maxine is a dynamo.

00:06:52Back in that day, you know, there wasn't the internet and so I had to go to the library to look her up to see who she really was.

00:06:59And I'm thinking, oh my, she's the president of Payless Shoe Source.

00:07:08Well, I had a great career with the May Department Stores.

00:07:11Over 20 years, they asked me to be the president of Payless Shoe Source, which was kind of a dream job.

00:07:17I love the shoe business because shoes are something that I could always buy and not have to alter.

00:07:21So, I met her and of course, in my mind, I had made her six feet tall.

00:07:26She came around the corner and of course, she's four foot ten and I'm looking down at her.

00:07:31I think she was really set on accomplishing things in life.

00:07:36To be able to start Build-A-Bear and make it into the, you know, iconic brand that it is today just kind of speaks to how she just goes after things.

00:07:45She is a trailblazer. She is a glass ceiling breaker.

00:07:49As a woman, I admire her and look up to her so much because I know how much she's accomplished.

00:07:54And I think that she's just so inspiring and her footprints are all over St. Louis.

00:07:58And really, they're all over the world because there are millions upon millions of teddy bears out in this world that wouldn't be there without her.

00:08:06I love documentaries. So, I'm always sort of fascinated to see how things came about.

00:08:11Me too, A.C. Slater. Me too.

00:08:15And I know Build-A-Bear was a phenomenon. So, I'm curious to hear the back story.

00:08:22The year was 1997.

00:08:27So, during the height of the Beanie Baby craze, Maxine had picked my brother and me up from school and we went to the toy store after school.

00:08:34We went looking for Beanie Babies, if you remember when those were very popular.

00:08:38Yeah, I remember.

00:08:39It's estimated that close to 10 million people collect Beanie Babies.

00:08:43For many of us Beanie Kids, we just love them because they're so cute and cuddly.

00:08:47I wasn't really into Beanie Babies. Maybe I had 10 and I think other kids had 1,000.

00:08:53For others, collecting beanies is an obsession.

00:08:56Huh, like you Beanie Moms out there.

00:08:58We walked into the store and they had a big sign that said, we have Beanie Babies, but they didn't.

00:09:03I was looking for Rover the Red Dog and the toy store didn't have that Beanie Baby in stock.

00:09:10Because during the day, parents trolled the stores and they took all the fun out of it, the fun of discovery.

00:09:15And so, we walked into the store and they didn't have what they said on the sign.

00:09:19And Katie just looked at one of them that was on display that was kind of ragged and she said, you know.

00:09:24Maxine, these are so easy, we could make them.

00:09:27Well, she meant go home and make a bear in our craft room.

00:09:32But Maxine said that light bulb moment of, you know, we can make these was actually.

00:09:38That was the moment of inspiration for Build-A-Bear Workshop.

00:09:42We went back to the house. She and Jack, her brother, went downstairs, get out all the stuff.

00:09:46And she came up and I was on the computer Netscaping.

00:09:50It was quite slow, as you recall.

00:09:52Could I find a business that I could buy that I could turn into this idea that when she said we could make these,

00:09:58I thought of a store where we could make these.

00:10:00When she came upstairs, she said, what are you doing?

00:10:02And I said, I'm looking to see if I should.

00:10:04Well, that's not what I meant.

00:10:05And I said, I know that's not what you meant, but I think it's a really good idea.

00:10:09I'm going to start looking at it.

00:10:10And I did do some research and I did find a couple of factories that were available for sale.

00:10:15I thought they would be, but they thought I was crazy.

00:10:17They had a price on it that was way too high.

00:10:20I told Katie and I wasn't able to buy the one that I thought we could really make into this.

00:10:24And she said, well, why don't we do it?

00:10:27Now, I'm not sure she remembers it exactly that way, but that's what I heard.

00:10:33What I saw is Maxine had an idea and then found the right people and brought it to life.

00:10:39It just seemed almost seamless to me.

00:10:41I went right to work on that project.

00:10:42That was probably February of 1997.

00:10:45And by October of 1997, we had opened up our first store at the St. Louis Galleria.

00:10:57Welcome to the Build-A-Bear workshop.

00:10:59Have you ever been into a store where you can make best friends?

00:11:07No matter what, at any cost, we were going to succeed in convincing people this was the concept to believe in.

00:11:15Have you met Maxine?

00:11:18She's very convincing.

00:11:19And once you meet her and you fall in love with her, you're not going to let anything fail.

00:11:27Welcome to Build-A-Bear.

00:11:30It's an unbelievable feeling to be standing here with you and talking to you about the story of Build-A-Bear.

00:11:37Because when we started, there were lots of people that didn't think you would make it.

00:11:41But not children.

00:11:43All the kids that I asked knew that it was going to be successful.

00:11:46Kids aren't the only ones who love teddy bears.

00:11:49Some grown-ups do, too.

00:11:51Meet the McCarthy twins.

00:11:55I'm Mary Beth McCarthy.

00:11:56Hi, I'm Ellen McCarthy.

00:11:58And we're Identical Twins.

00:12:01And this is Colby.

00:12:06Colby is our life companion.

00:12:08Life companion, yes.

00:12:10He has been with us for so many years, he's essentially an extension of us.

00:12:15Oh, really?

00:12:16Especially her personality, yeah.

00:12:17Because I voice Colby, which I think freaks some people out.

00:12:22People are like, oh, are you hungry?

00:12:23No!

00:12:24Why not?

00:12:25Because I'm stuffed!

00:12:27Somehow never gets old.

00:12:28And he was talking from the second he was in that nice little cardboard box that they give you to take home.

00:12:32I love that box.

00:12:33It's like a little house, and I'm like, yeah, let's go home.

00:12:35And it was just, you know that scene in Willy Wonka that I can't sing because of copyright, but you walk in, and it's just...

00:12:41I'm sorry, the song Pure Imagination from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is not currently available.

00:12:49You look at everything, and it's literally pure imagination.

00:12:51It was like us during Minnesota.

00:12:53We went to the Minnesota one in Mall of America, and we were just like...

00:12:58Oh my god, this is magical what it says.

00:13:00Once you know us, you're very used to it.

00:13:03Once you know us, you're very used to it, yeah.

00:13:04But if you're just meeting us, you're like, oh, there's a bear!

00:13:09And it talks!

00:13:10What time's your bus coming?

00:13:11And he travels on planes with me a lot.

00:13:13I always have that brief 12 seconds of panic attack when you have to put him through the belt in the airport.

00:13:19I hate that part.

00:13:20And I'm there just like, do the wand, do the wand, get me through!

00:13:23But you can't yell, my kid's in there, because they're like, what?

00:13:28How many times have we been to Build-A-Bear?

00:13:31We have lost count.

00:13:32Yes.

00:13:33We've gone enough that they knew us by name.

00:13:34Whenever we're dressed in our princess outfits, we go, and we take pictures for them and everything.

00:13:39The conventions are a lot of fun, because we get to dress him kind of like how we're dressed.

00:13:46The joy of him is that he finds joy in everything.

00:13:50And so I wrote this first one, which is Colby and the first date ever.

00:13:54And it's about how he and I meet and become a family.

00:13:57Some people ask about where you come from.

00:13:59Like, are you from a big place or a small place?

00:14:02I do not know where I came from.

00:14:04All I remember is being asleep, and then I woke up.

00:14:08And then it's just about how we met and became a family.

00:14:11And he just opened his eyes, and there I was.

00:14:14My hair is amazing in this book.

00:14:16Went through 17 colored pencils. It was great.

00:14:19It's so weird. Before they started this company, I have no memory of anything.

00:14:23I can't figure it out.

00:14:26You tell me if I'm, you know, fidgeting or whatever.

00:14:29You'll just, you'll...

00:14:31Look.

00:14:32It's okay.

00:14:34Well, Build-A-Bear had a reputation in St. Louis of being, you know, the hot company.

00:14:38And so I was actually diagnosed with cancer

00:14:42and got through all the treatments and everything and needed to find a job.

00:14:47So I had a friend that was working with Build-A-Bear,

00:14:51and she took my resume to Maxine.

00:14:53Maxine said, I think you might be a good fit here.

00:14:55I said, okay. I just have to be honest with you.

00:14:58I just finished cancer treatment like a year ago,

00:15:00and odds are that, you know, I'll be able to give you at least a couple of good years.

00:15:05And she's like, okay, thanks for telling me that.

00:15:09I think you'd be good for the role if you want the job.

00:15:11Sure. No tests, no assessments, and I got the offer like the next day.

00:15:15It was difficult in the very beginning because a lot of people know, you know, disrespect.

00:15:22A lot of men didn't believe we could do it.

00:15:24And so, you know, they didn't understand how you could have an interactive retail concept.

00:15:29What was that? In fact, we couldn't even lease our own space.

00:15:32We subleased from Maxine's husband because the landlord wouldn't rent to us.

00:15:37I mean, banks wouldn't lend to us because we were female-led and weren't proven yet,

00:15:43even though Maxine had a great repertoire of business knowledge.

00:15:47You know, maybe you could call us trailblazers. I don't know.

00:15:51I mean, we just did what we needed to do.

00:15:55We basically were on path to reinvent retail.

00:16:00If you think about what Build-A-Bear is, it's a very specific product.

00:16:03You know, how many bears do you need a year, right?

00:16:06So in a very real sense, they need a place where there's lots of traffic.

00:16:11It's not like the supermarket where you go every single week to restock the fridge.

00:16:15This is something you do on special occasions, right?

00:16:18And you need a place where a lot of people go a lot of the time

00:16:21to have the kind of exposure to make that business model work.

00:16:25In the mid-90s, that place was the mall.

00:16:30The mall was the center of commerce. It was the center of retail.

00:16:33That's where you went.

00:16:36I love the smell of commerce in the morning.

00:16:39You know, you couldn't buy stuff offline and have it hand-delivered to your house.

00:16:43You literally had to go and drive to the mall and pick up, you know, whatever item you want.

00:16:48Shopping malls were the hub for young kids.

00:16:52We're going shopping.

00:16:54I'd like to welcome you to our mall.

00:16:56All the action's on the other side of the mall.

00:17:02It's mall madness. It's the mall with it all.

00:17:05Yeah, you know, shopping malls have changed so much.

00:17:08But I remember when my kids were little and you needed things to do, right?

00:17:14You went to the mall.

00:17:16In my small town, we really didn't have much to do other than go to the mall.

00:17:20So the mall was like a big tree and a big outing.

00:17:23And in our mall, the only fun store that they had was a Build-A-Bear.

00:17:28Aunt Deanne's was here. There was a fountain over here.

00:17:30We brought a lot of pennies with us.

00:17:32We made a lot of wishes. We got pretzels.

00:17:34And we went to Build-A-Bear.

00:17:37Here we are at the St. Louis Galleria,

00:17:39the home of the first Build-A-Bear workshop store back in 1997.

00:17:43It's a great mall, and we picked it because it was a great mall,

00:17:46but also because this location right here in the center court of St. Louis

00:17:51is really hard to come by at any good mall,

00:17:53but let alone the best one in St. Louis.

00:17:55And the other great thing about this particular space

00:17:58is that this is where Santa Claus comes, the Easter Bunny,

00:18:01all kinds of Girl Scout events.

00:18:03So everybody gathers at this central location

00:18:06right in front of the Build-A-Bear store.

00:18:08You can't ask for anything better than that.

00:18:13[♪ music playing ♪

00:18:22Wait, I think I skipped ahead.

00:18:24Let's go back to the part about teddy bears.

00:18:27Teddy bears have a unique and special place in our lives.

00:18:30They're warm, friendly, and caring.

00:18:33And they're there for you, always.

00:18:36Hi, my name is Lucy Manassian.

00:18:38I am a licensed clinical social worker with over 20 years of experience

00:18:42working with children and families.

00:18:45Teddy bears come up in my line of work all the time.

00:18:48Teddy bears help kids feel safe

00:18:50because it's a sense of security and a grounding force for them.

00:18:53If they're angry or upset, they grab the fuzzy animal and they hold it.

00:18:56It reminds them of safety and security.

00:18:59Children use stuffed animals as a form of expression.

00:19:02They talk to it. They care for it.

00:19:04It becomes like an extension of the child.

00:19:07And what children often tell me is if they're going through a tough time,

00:19:10they grab that one teddy bear,

00:19:12that one thing that they have a connection with.

00:19:14Especially in, you know, families that are maybe not functioning as well,

00:19:18the bear becomes a secret keeper.

00:19:20It becomes the one thing that's stable and safe,

00:19:25despite whatever's happening in their life.

00:19:28And that teddy bear is never going to disappoint them.

00:19:31Because how can it?

00:19:32It's an extension of their imagination and their love.

00:19:37I think kids love teddy bears so much

00:19:39because our imagination when we're younger is just so much more vivid.

00:19:42When you're a kid, you're like, oh, this is like a real bear.

00:19:45I wonder why the stuffed animal, a bear,

00:19:49why it became a bear.

00:19:51Why not a puppy?

00:19:52A bear's like a big scary thing.

00:19:54Bears can be pretty intimidating.

00:19:56If I saw a real bear in the woods, I would run.

00:19:59I would run as fast as I can.

00:20:01So how did we get from this...

00:20:07to this?

00:20:11We invited some friends to tell us the story of the teddy bear,

00:20:14but they wanted to build a bear first.

00:20:16What brings us in today, guys?

00:20:18To build a bear, I guess.

00:20:20Well, you've come to the right place.

00:20:22All right, so we can make it here?

00:20:24Of course.

00:20:25What do we do?

00:20:26Is that one we decided on?

00:20:27Yeah.

00:20:28I think so.

00:20:29Honestly, I don't know what I was expecting,

00:20:32but it was definitely not how they, like,

00:20:35took a tube and fuzz,

00:20:38high-power pressurized fuzz,

00:20:41into the hole in the bear.

00:20:43Go for it, my friend.

00:20:45Oh, that is...

00:20:50pretty cool, huh?

00:20:52Yeah.

00:20:53Did not expect that.

00:20:54Do a ritual.

00:20:56Rub it in your hands, make it nice and warm.

00:20:58You're going to shake that heart up high and say,

00:21:00Wake up, heart.

00:21:01Wake up, heart.

00:21:02I did not expect that.

00:21:04You're going to go ahead and put that right inside.

00:21:07Wow.

00:21:09What are you going to name your bear?

00:21:11Ah!

00:21:12So maybe we could call him...

00:21:18I mean, this is the classic teddy bear,

00:21:21so maybe kind of like a classic name, like...

00:21:26Teddy!

00:21:28That's not very creative, but whatever.

00:21:31Oh, I think this is the part where they tell us

00:21:34the history of teddy bears.

00:21:36Can't you just go on Ancestry.com?

00:21:38Ah, very funny.

00:21:40Don't you mean beer-y funny?

00:21:43I'll show myself out.

00:21:45Shh!

00:21:47Sorry.

00:21:49Everyone's a critic, right?

00:21:52It stinks!

00:21:55Who is this guy?

00:21:56I thought I was telling the story.

00:21:58Hi, I'm Kermit Roosevelt III.

00:22:00Who?

00:22:01And I'm the great-great-grandson of Teddy Roosevelt.

00:22:03Oh, okay.

00:22:05So it's 1902,

00:22:07and Theodore Roosevelt is in Mississippi,

00:22:10and he's hunting black bear.

00:22:12So obviously when the President of the United States

00:22:15comes to your state,

00:22:16you want to show him a good time.

00:22:18So they've set up a hunting party for him,

00:22:20they've got a guide for him,

00:22:22who's a very famous hunter,

00:22:24a formerly enslaved person named Holt Collier,

00:22:27who's killed over a thousand bears, apparently.

00:22:30And they send this party out

00:22:32into the swamps of Mississippi.

00:22:34Holt Collier's there to make sure

00:22:36that Theodore Roosevelt gets a bear,

00:22:38and also to keep him safe,

00:22:39because you don't want the President of the United States

00:22:41to be killed by a bear.

00:22:43So there they are,

00:22:44they're traipsing through the woods and the swamps,

00:22:46and it's just not going very well,

00:22:48particularly for Theodore Roosevelt.

00:22:51TR is just having no luck.

00:22:53Holt Collier was tracking a bear with his dogs

00:22:56and followed it into this very dense stand of swamp trees

00:23:01and realized this would be too dangerous for the President.

00:23:04So he says, Mr. President, you wait.

00:23:06I'm going to go in with the dogs,

00:23:08I'm going to flush the bear out.

00:23:10So Holt Collier and the dogs go in,

00:23:12finds the bear, it attacks his dogs,

00:23:15there's a fight,

00:23:16he ends up clubbing it unconscious with his rifle.

00:23:19And then he basically drags the bear out

00:23:22and ties it to a tree.

00:23:23So he blows the bugle to summon Theodore Roosevelt,

00:23:26and the hunting party gathers around

00:23:28and everyone is saying, shoot the bear.

00:23:31And Theodore Roosevelt had nothing against shooting animals,

00:23:34but he did have a sense of fair play and sportsmanship,

00:23:38and he wasn't about to shoot a bear

00:23:41that someone else had tied to a tree for him.

00:23:43So he said, no, I'm not going to do it.

00:23:47And there were, of course, reporters on this hunting trip,

00:23:50and this really captivated them.

00:23:52So there's a political cartoonist named Clifford Berryman

00:23:55who in 1902 draws a cartoon,

00:23:57he titles it Drawing the Line in Mississippi.

00:24:00It's got Theodore Roosevelt standing there

00:24:02with the bear in the background being held by a guide,

00:24:06and Theodore Roosevelt is refusing to shoot it.

00:24:08Word gets around,

00:24:09and there's a convenience store owner in Brooklyn,

00:24:12a guy named Morris,

00:24:14who sells candy and novelty and toys,

00:24:17but his wife has also been making some stuffed bears,

00:24:20and he's got a couple lying around the store,

00:24:22and he thinks, hey, I'll put these in my window,

00:24:24take advantage of the news,

00:24:25I'm going to call them Teddy's Bears.

00:24:28And he thought he should actually get approval

00:24:30from the president to do this,

00:24:31since he was using T.R.'s name,

00:24:33although T.R. interestingly hated being called Teddy.

00:24:36Morris writes him a letter, sends him one of the bears,

00:24:39which T.R. gives to his son Kermit,

00:24:41that's my great-great-grandfather,

00:24:42and says, would it be okay if I marketed these as Teddy's Bears?

00:24:47Theodore Roosevelt writes back and says,

00:24:49sure, you can do it, I don't think it's going to go anywhere,

00:24:52you know, good luck with that.

00:24:54And, of course, it takes off.

00:24:57You know, the rest is history.

00:24:59There had been stuffed bears before,

00:25:01and children would play with the stuffed bears,

00:25:03but they were fearsome,

00:25:05and the teddy bear is the first sort of childlike,

00:25:08almost babylike representation of a bear.

00:25:11This is where Winnie the Pooh comes from,

00:25:13this is where Paddington Bear comes from.

00:25:15There's sort of a bear mania that sweeps the nation.

00:25:19And then you have your bear.

00:25:22Enjoy yourselves.

00:25:23Thank you.

00:25:24Have some fun.

00:25:25We will.

00:25:26All right, clothing.

00:25:28I'm named after Teddy Roosevelt?

00:25:30Oh, please.

00:25:32He's named after me.

00:25:34We have always loved teddy bears,

00:25:36and so they've just always been a part of our lives.

00:25:40When Hook came out, and I was 10,

00:25:42and I felt absolutely in love with it,

00:25:44and he had a teddy bear.

00:25:52And it was Taddy, and I've looked for that bear so much.

00:25:56Teddy bears just have this thing, like Taddy and Hook,

00:25:59that connected Peter to his childhood.

00:26:01That teddy bear reminded him of who he was,

00:26:03and it brought him back to being Peter Pan.

00:26:05Teddy bears bring you back to your childhood.

00:26:08They bring you back to when you could believe in anything,

00:26:11and you could be anything.

00:26:13It's like, hey, you know, these are all the good things,

00:26:15and this is kind of symbolic of that.

00:26:17This is the love.

00:26:19It's wrapped up in a bear.

00:26:21My philosophy is that Elvis Presley

00:26:23actually made the teddy bear into a love object

00:26:26when he sang, I Want to Be Your Teddy Bear.

00:26:29So I think that in all this time,

00:26:31at least since the 50s when he sang that wonderful song,

00:26:35the teddy bear has become a sign of love

00:26:37and compassion,

00:26:39and I don't think that's ever going to go away.

00:26:43Thank you. Thank you, bear, very much.

00:26:51Who labels a box

00:26:53very important historical documents?

00:26:56I one time went to Disneyland,

00:26:58and I saw how Walt Disney saved everything,

00:27:00so I did the same.

00:27:01Touché, madam.

00:27:03This box has so many memories.

00:27:05Oh, wow, here's our race car bear.

00:27:08This was our ski bear, which was really, really cute.

00:27:11Here was a fairy princess dress.

00:27:13Of course, you have to have a fairy princess dress.

00:27:16This is one of our first dresses that we had.

00:27:19We had a tennis outfit, which is really cute.

00:27:22This didn't sell so well.

00:27:23Most little kids that made a bear

00:27:25didn't play tennis too well.

00:27:26That was not one of our better sellers.

00:27:28Wow.

00:27:30This is a precious picture.

00:27:34Maybe we should do something with this.

00:27:36Like, there's the original drawing of Build-A-Bear,

00:27:39and then here is the photograph of the store

00:27:41after it opened,

00:27:42and how exact the design was

00:27:45and how we were able to really bring it to life.

00:27:48This is a bunch of really good stuff in here.

00:27:50The bear promise.

00:27:51My bear is special.

00:27:53I brought it to life.

00:27:54I chose it. I named it.

00:27:55Now I'm taking it home.

00:27:56Best friends are forever,

00:27:57and I promise right now

00:27:58to make my bear my number one pal.

00:28:01We had every child say that to us,

00:28:03that they were going to take care of their bear.

00:28:06The people that helped us with this

00:28:07were amazingly talented.

00:28:08They did all kinds of displays

00:28:09for all kinds of theme parks.

00:28:11The stuffing machine that we used,

00:28:13they wanted to invent a new one,

00:28:14but it was really hard to do that in nine months.

00:28:17This is a much more modified stuffing station.

00:28:19The original one that we bought

00:28:20was a machine that stuffed up upholstery.

00:28:24That's what was available.

00:28:26So this is a very important part of the process here

00:28:29This is where you can stuff it as much as you want,

00:28:31and the pedal is there for that.

00:28:33The wishes that you put in your bear,

00:28:35the engagement with our store associates.

00:28:37This is a really personal one-on-one experience.

00:28:41The heart's the most important.

00:28:43Yeah, the heart!

00:28:45My very close friend, Sarah Russell, was an artist,

00:28:49and I brought over my toad of bears,

00:28:51and she was taking them out,

00:28:52and she was hugging them,

00:28:53and she said, Maxine, these bears need a heart.

00:28:56And I said, what do you mean?

00:28:57And she took out a pencil,

00:28:58and she sketched this little heart,

00:29:00and I said, that is a fantastic idea,

00:29:02and I sent it over to our factory.

00:29:04They made thousands and thousands of hearts

00:29:06and shipped them to us,

00:29:07and by the time we opened our store,

00:29:08we had the hearts,

00:29:09and we had them in a heart-shaped box.

00:29:11But it was one of our associates, Jeff Marks,

00:29:14who was a teacher and worked part-time for Build-A-Bear

00:29:16that really put the heart in Build-A-Bear Workshop.

00:29:20My name's Jeff Marks.

00:29:22I started with Build-A-Bear in 1997.

00:29:25Guests would go over to the heart bucket,

00:29:28pull a heart out of the heart bin,

00:29:30and then they would put it inside the bear.

00:29:32And I was on the stuffing machine one day,

00:29:34and I remember thinking,

00:29:35this seems to be such a critical moment.

00:29:38I remember thinking, there's more we could do with this.

00:29:42A couple days later,

00:29:43a little bitty boy came in the workshop,

00:29:46and he was about 4 years old, I would guess,

00:29:48and he was a little bit intimidated

00:29:51by this flat teddy bear.

00:29:52He wouldn't touch the bear.

00:29:53He didn't want to hand it to me.

00:29:55Mom held it, and I thought,

00:29:56what can I do to get him to connect with his bear more?

00:30:00And that's when the idea came in my mind of,

00:30:02maybe if I have him warm up the heart

00:30:05that's going to go in there and kiss it,

00:30:07maybe he'll be comfortable with that,

00:30:09and then that'll connect him to the teddy bear.

00:30:11And then I said, let's put your hands together

00:30:13around the heart and make a wish for your teddy bear.

00:30:16And he made a wish on the heart.

00:30:17And as soon as I asked him to put it inside the teddy bear,

00:30:21I could see that his face lit up,

00:30:23and he connected with his bear,

00:30:24and that's when I knew this is something I needed to do again.

00:30:28So I started doing it with the very next customer,

00:30:30and that just became something I did with every customer.

00:30:33He just went with it to kiss the heart,

00:30:35to put it on your elbow, to put it on your knee,

00:30:37to put it on your brain for extra smarts.

00:30:39Take your heart and rub it on your head

00:30:41so your bear is smart like you.

00:30:43Or on your muscles so your bear is strong like you.

00:30:47To me, the heart ceremony is just something

00:30:50that is a piece of the puzzle

00:30:52of how we connect with each other,

00:30:54how we connect with the stuffed animals,

00:30:56and our own creativity.

00:30:57So for me, it isn't the heart ceremony

00:31:00that makes me think, wow.

00:31:02It's what Build-A-Bear Workshop represents

00:31:05and the creativity that happens at that moment

00:31:08when a guest is stuffing their bear.

00:31:10That piece of creativity is what excites me still to this day

00:31:14about what Build-A-Bear Workshop does.

00:31:16Most people don't realize that you don't have to have every idea.

00:31:19You know, if you create a canvas on a business

00:31:22that people want to participate in,

00:31:24they'll give you it back a hundred times over,

00:31:26and you let them share their experiences and their ideas

00:31:29and be on committees to help you make the business better,

00:31:32you're going to find that that works,

00:31:34and I can't think of a business that that wouldn't work in.

00:31:36You don't want to overwhelm the guest,

00:31:38and you don't want them to feel super awkward.

00:31:40You want them to remember it, but keep it simple

00:31:44and just right for them.

00:31:46There's so many different ways to complete a heart ceremony.

00:31:49When you're stuffing your next furry friend,

00:31:51spend an extra second or two

00:31:53thinking about how this one will be just a bit more special,

00:31:56and you'll be pawfect every time.

00:31:58There's a place called Build-A-Bear.

00:32:01Time out.

00:32:03What's it called?

00:32:04It's called Build-A-Bear.

00:32:05Oh, Build-A-Bear.

00:32:07I went to learn about bears at Build-A-Bear.

00:32:12Build-A-Bear.

00:32:14It was amazing.

00:32:17Have you been?

00:32:19I asked if I could buy this machine

00:32:23so I can make bears in my house.

00:32:28She said no.

00:32:30You know, one thing that we did,

00:32:33this might have been crazy,

00:32:35we had our own music,

00:32:37and I had a friend who was a music writer,

00:32:40and he wrote songs.

00:32:49We ordered music and had music played.

00:32:51Muzak played in our store,

00:32:53but it wouldn't have been kid music.

00:32:54There wasn't anything that was really good.

00:32:56So he wrote teddy bear songs for us,

00:32:58and they were adorable.

00:32:59He's got a teddy bear

00:33:04He's got a teddy bear heart

00:33:11She's a cheerleader bear, yeah

00:33:14She's a cheerleader bear

00:33:18What a wonderful day for the teddy bear parade

00:33:27So how many stores open up and have their own album?

00:33:30And we sold the album as well.

00:33:31It was really, really cute.

00:33:33But it gave it that special flair

00:33:34that people weren't someplace else.

00:33:36They were immersed in the Build-A-Bear experience.

00:33:38Music has always been a big part of the Build-A-Bear story.

00:33:41Artists like the Jonas Brothers,

00:33:44Miley Cyrus,

00:33:45and even Justin Bieber

00:33:47all had strong connections to Build-A-Bear

00:33:50during their illustrious careers.

00:33:52Legally, we aren't allowed to say the Build-A-Bear

00:33:54is the reason they all became huge pop stars.

00:33:56So we won't say that.

00:34:01Early in my days at the May Company,

00:34:03Stanley Goodman, who is the chairman here in St. Louis,

00:34:05came for a visit,

00:34:06and we were all sitting there with, you know,

00:34:08just bright-eyed and bushy-tailed

00:34:09waiting to hear these words of wisdom.

00:34:11And I always sat in the front row because I was small.

00:34:13It was like he was looking at me when he said this.

00:34:15He said, retailing is entertainment,

00:34:17and the store is a stage.

00:34:19And when the customer has fun,

00:34:21they spend more money.

00:34:23Our first guest conspired with a 10-year-old

00:34:26to come up with an unbearably cute idea.

00:34:30That's a story of no,

00:34:31not necessarily a story of yes.

00:34:33I got a call and it said,

00:34:35Oprah Winfrey wants you to be on the show on Monday.

00:34:37And I said, well, I'm sorry, I can't be there

00:34:39because I'm in Japan.

00:34:42And she said, are you sure?

00:34:43I said, yes, I'm sure.

00:34:44I couldn't get back if I wanted to.

00:34:46And then the next call was from the producer

00:34:49who said we could do it on Tuesday.

00:34:51I said, I'm sorry, I can't be there on Tuesday.

00:34:53The next call, about an hour later,

00:34:55was from Oprah Winfrey.

00:34:56Pick up the phone.

00:34:57She said, this is Oprah Winfrey.

00:34:59Of course, she didn't have to give me her last name,

00:35:01but she said, I understand that you're traveling on business

00:35:03and that we would really like to have you on our show.

00:35:06And when could you be here?

00:35:08And I said, I could be there Friday.

00:35:10And in that time period,

00:35:11because I didn't say yes right away,

00:35:13they had the time to set up an entire

00:35:15Build-A-Bear store inside the studio.

00:35:18Oprah wanted to make her own bear on the show.

00:35:20We have a couple of choices here for you today.

00:35:21Then do I get to start?

00:35:22Yes, you do.

00:35:23It's totally up to you.

00:35:25Okay, so I can have as much or as little, right?

00:35:27Yeah.

00:35:28Okay.

00:35:29And it was like this, you know, magic that happened.

00:35:33Oh, this is too cute, too cute.

00:35:40After the show, she let me use her office

00:35:42because I had to do a conference call afterwards.

00:35:44And I'm sitting there in her office and I'm looking around.

00:35:46I mean, I wanted to touch everything

00:35:48just to say I touched it.

00:35:49We're all adults in this audience,

00:35:51and we had so much fun when the bears came out.

00:35:53Everybody, wave your bears in the air.

00:35:59The effect of Oprah was immediate.

00:36:01Like, almost as the show aired, we saw our sales going up.

00:36:05It was off to the races.

00:36:07And we also were launching a national TV advertising campaign.

00:36:13What does your Build-A-Bear workshop bear say about you?

00:36:16Put that together, and you had the perfect storm

00:36:18that really just was a force that, you know,

00:36:22turned us on in a whole new way.

00:36:25And we actually went public as a company,

00:36:27had our IPO that year.

00:36:29And so it was a pretty momentous, activity-driven era.

00:36:36Hey, I'm out of popcorn. You want anything?

00:36:38No, thanks. I'm stuffed.

00:36:41I liked it both times.

00:36:44Hello, my good man. Running low on pops.

00:36:48Got it.

00:36:51Anything else?

00:36:52Oh, yeah.

00:36:53Soda?

00:36:54No.

00:36:55No, thanks.

00:36:56Sandwich. You make sandwiches?

00:36:57No.

00:37:00Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop.

00:37:04Have you noticed anything weird around here?

00:37:09What do you mean by weird?

00:37:11Well, it's that.

00:37:13But I was thinking, like, talking teddy bears.

00:37:17Talking teddy bears?

00:37:19Yeah.

00:37:20You're putting me on, right?

00:37:21No, no. I'm not saying I saw a talking teddy bear.

00:37:24I'm watching a movie about teddy bears.

00:37:25I probably just saw one reflected in the eyeglasses.

00:37:28A movie about talking teddy bears. That's a good one.

00:37:30Was it?

00:37:33Well, I regret every moment of this.

00:37:35Thank you.

00:37:49What'd I miss?

00:37:50A lot.

00:37:51Like what?

00:37:53Mostly bear stuff.

00:37:55Did you say bear stuff or bears stuffed?

00:38:00I'll just watch.

00:38:02I'm Heather Dubrow. I'm a mom of four kids.

00:38:05And we have been Build-A-Bear fans forever.

00:38:09They added things as the years went on.

00:38:11Build-A-Bear always, of course, has the little heart.

00:38:13But then they added the voice.

00:38:15And that just took it to another level.

00:38:18Because now, you know, you have a baby or a young child that's not sleeping well.

00:38:22And all the moms got together like, what are we going to do?

00:38:25Go to Build-A-Bear. Make a bear.

00:38:27Put your voice in there in the middle of the night.

00:38:29Then they can hug it and hear your voice.

00:38:31I recorded my voice in the very first bear that my daughter had.

00:38:35Because I was on the road.

00:38:3698 Degrees was on the road a lot.

00:38:37And so I got an opportunity to say, hey, you know, I love you very much.

00:38:42And any time she could hear my voice when I was on the road.

00:38:45What I wanted my voice to say in the animal is, go to bed.

00:38:48Mom is tired.

00:38:52But probably it was something like, I love you.

00:38:55Go to sleep.

00:38:57I'll see you in the morning.

00:38:59You're safe.

00:39:00Everything's okay.

00:39:02There's all kinds of stories.

00:39:04Guys would use it to propose.

00:39:07My son used it to ask his girlfriend to the prom.

00:39:10People recorded their voices to say, I love you.

00:39:12Will you go to the prom with me?

00:39:13Will you marry me?

00:39:14But also, Build-A-Bear has been used for commemorating sad things as well.

00:39:20We all live in a world of unfortunate circumstances.

00:39:22And if you've had a death in the family, but we're fortunate enough to have a voice recording.

00:39:28And have that voice in the bear.

00:39:43So mom didn't have a voicemail.

00:39:46Like it said her number.

00:39:47It didn't have her voice.

00:39:49No.

00:39:50So I went through my voicemails and I found a couple of voicemails and I just put it together.

00:39:56And that's the dress she wore for Dave's wedding.

00:40:00And pushed his hand.

00:40:02Okay baby.

00:40:04Love you.

00:40:14Thank you.

00:40:17Long before there were sounds in bears.

00:40:19Even before there was a single store in a single mall.

00:40:22Maxine had a plan for Build-A-Bear.

00:40:26She always saw it as something bigger than just a single store.

00:40:29So in 1998 they had four stores.

00:40:321999 finished the year with about 15.

00:40:36And by 2001 we surpassed 50 stores.

00:40:41And then just a couple years later our 100th store actually opened in Roosevelt Field.

00:40:47On the 100th anniversary of the teddy bear.

00:40:50And we had kind of internally set our eye to eventually being in New York.

00:40:54And had a float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade that year.

00:40:5876th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

00:41:01Can you bear it?

00:41:03The teddy bear centennial is celebrated with a 100th anniversary party.

00:41:07To be a part of that was a big deal.

00:41:09We were the first retailer that was ever invited to participate.

00:41:13And so it actually was important because it brought it to life.

00:41:17Right?

00:41:18It gave it a personality.

00:41:20At the time our brand awareness was still growing.

00:41:25And so I think a lot of people at that time were like go to what?

00:41:28A couple years later we opened our store in Fifth Avenue in New York City.

00:41:32And we went over 200 stores.

00:41:35Our 200th store was at the Mall of America.

00:41:39Kept expanding probably until about the time that the recession hit.

00:41:45The signs were everywhere but now it's official we are in a recession.

00:41:50But when the subprime bubble popped and the stock market collapsed and home prices collapsed.

00:41:54Well in that kind of world you're not spending a lot of money on Build-A-Bear.

00:41:58In fact discretionary retail in general got hammered.

00:42:02And that was the end of the Build-A-Bear story.

00:42:05That can't be true. I just had one last week.

00:42:08Okay you got me.

00:42:10Let's see where was I?

00:42:12Ah yes.

00:42:14Things were not looking good for the once booming toy company.

00:42:17After years of growth they were facing the first big decline in revenue.

00:42:22Then in 2013 Maxine stepped down as chief executive bear.

00:42:28And someone new took over.

00:42:32This little fella is called a delivery bear.

00:42:36And at Build-A-Bear when you get a job offer.

00:42:41A lot of times you receive the job offer through this little guy.

00:42:46And it says a very special delivery.

00:42:50And I did receive this delivery bear when I got my offer to be the chief executive officer at Build-A-Bear.

00:42:59And of course I had to keep it.

00:43:02One of the things I love about Build-A-Bear is that my kids had already fallen in love with Build-A-Bear.

00:43:09This is my son's doggy that he loved so so so much.

00:43:15And now he's 20 years old.

00:43:17So I'm pretty sure his original name was Excited Ears.

00:43:22For obvious reasons.

00:43:25But he became Ruffy over time.

00:43:27And then this is Pink Stars.

00:43:30And Pink Stars is super special.

00:43:32This is my little girl who's now 17.

00:43:36This was her unicorn.

00:43:37She used to fall asleep chewing on this unicorn horn.

00:43:41And that would just comfort her right to sleep.

00:43:44And I think they all sort of tell a story about how special these stuffed animals are for little kids.

00:43:51Obviously my kids were pretty excited when I started working at Build-A-Bear.

00:43:55But you also have to understand that I'd been working in the toy industry for a long time.

00:44:00So they were pretty used to this stuff.

00:44:17That's so cute.

00:44:19So Sharon came in and, you know, energetic.

00:44:23And she was very kind of business oriented.

00:44:26A lot of when Build-A-Bear started, it was a lot of fun stuff.

00:44:30The titles were like, you know, all had Bear in it and things like that.

00:44:34Did you know that I almost did not get the offer, the final offer, because I didn't want to be Chief Executive Bear?

00:44:42I did know that.

00:44:45I did know that.

00:44:46And then I'm like, why shouldn't Maxine always be the Chief Executive Bear?

00:44:52I think we should retire the title.

00:44:56And that's why I'm here.

00:44:59I appreciate that.

00:45:00I get it.

00:45:01I got it from them.

00:45:06Some of the things I have made for Colbert.

00:45:08Again, I am not good at sweaters.

00:45:10So please forgive me.

00:45:11But he is, we've decided Colbert is a Hufflepuff.

00:45:14Like us.

00:45:15Yes.

00:45:16So he's a Hufflepuff.

00:45:17So I had to make him a Hufflepuff sweater.

00:45:19This is before Build-A-Bear actually came out with anything Harry Potter.

00:45:21We were waiting for years.

00:45:22We were waiting so long for that.

00:45:24One of the hats I made.

00:45:27It has nuts.

00:45:28That's seen some better.

00:45:29Nuts stood the test of time.

00:45:31Some Minion hats.

00:45:33Because I made him and Mary Beth.

00:45:35Oh yeah, we were matching Minions.

00:45:36Matching Minions.

00:45:38And if you're a big nerd, also Doctor Who.

00:45:40Yep.

00:45:41There's the TARDIS.

00:45:42So this is what I do.

00:45:44This is what we do.

00:45:48Did you see that guy?

00:45:50Did you see the magic teddy bears?

00:45:53I mean, that guy is weird.

00:45:56You want some?

00:45:59Okay, in my opinion, I think a tablet or an iPad,

00:46:03you have no connection to it other than addiction.

00:46:06That's the only thing.

00:46:08What?

00:46:09Whereas with a teddy bear, you're able to create a relationship with it.

00:46:14It's a different connection.

00:46:17When you think about what a teddy bear means to a child,

00:46:20I think what's so beautiful is that it means something different to every child.

00:46:23Teddy bears when you're a little kid are just like a little comfort blanket.

00:46:26You sleep with them.

00:46:27You hang out.

00:46:28I remember I used to have like a bunch on this side and a bunch on that side.

00:46:32I mean, teddy bears, they make everyone happy.

00:46:35This should be like a mandatory thing.

00:46:37Everybody just keep one in your car.

00:46:39When you get stressed out, hold the bear.

00:46:43But you can take them anywhere.

00:46:45Like, you can stuff it in your bag while you're going shopping

00:46:47and just like take them out.

00:46:49And like, hey, I have a bear.

00:46:51You don't.

00:46:56I like teddy bears because they keep me company when I'm in bed.

00:47:01I mean, I'm kind of scared sometimes when I'm in bed.

00:47:06And if I have like the teddy bear beside me, I just feel like safer.

00:47:14There.

00:47:15I saw that.

00:47:18Sometimes it's weird because when I have like these toys beside me,

00:47:22I make them sing me a lullaby and sleep.

00:47:26You make them sing you?

00:47:27Like what does it sound like?

00:47:30You don't want to sing it?

00:47:31It's a secret?

00:47:32Okay, just tell them it's a secret.

00:47:34It's a secret.

00:47:35I like him.

00:47:37Did you know some of the very first employees of Build-A-Bear Workshop

00:47:41were small children?

00:47:42That can't be right.

00:47:45Oh.

00:47:46Our cub advisors were our first board of directors.

00:47:49I obviously was not a small child when I started Build-A-Bear

00:47:54and I knew that I did not know everything.

00:47:56So I went to my friends' kids and brought them all together

00:47:59to ask them questions about what they thought we should have

00:48:02and what we could name them.

00:48:03It just seemed like all the kids got together and voted on their favorite,

00:48:07whatever it was.

00:48:08They were very wise and they had no holdbacks.

00:48:12Like if they didn't like something, they told you.

00:48:14And we would meet at our offices or we would meet in the store

00:48:17on a Saturday morning before it opened.

00:48:19Probably anybody came by, they would sort of wonder,

00:48:22what are all those kids doing?

00:48:23And they're working, but they loved it.

00:48:24And I thought it was a great experience for them to have,

00:48:27to be part of something that was starting up,

00:48:29but also to see what it's like to work in a store.

00:48:32So who wants to work at Build-A-Bear?

00:48:35Just think about the psyche of somebody that would say,

00:48:38I think that would be fine.

00:48:39They're probably the right kind of person to work at Build-A-Bear.

00:48:43My parents were like, you need to go get a job.

00:48:45Please go get a job.

00:48:46And I was definitely not cool enough to work at any of the cool spots.

00:48:50So I worked at Build-A-Bear.

00:48:53We love to hire people who like people.

00:48:57Many of our associates are in their drama club

00:49:00or they're aspiring performers or they're cheerleaders.

00:49:04It's a different personality.

00:49:06And I think they select us because you don't come into Build-A-Bear,

00:49:09you don't join the Build-A-Bear team to just fold clothes.

00:49:12I have never gone in and been like, what's your bear's name?

00:49:15Rub a heart, here you go.

00:49:17No, they have always been like, no, what's their name?

00:49:19And no matter how old or young you are, they treat you the same way.

00:49:22At that moment, you are the most important person in the room.

00:49:26I shopped at Build-A-Bear.

00:49:27I used to go in there for my kids.

00:49:29It is a weird place.

00:49:34Bearism is the language that we invented for Build-A-Bear.

00:49:38We thought about this as a childlike experience.

00:49:41And so the bearisms, the language that we spoke was a little corny,

00:49:45but everybody got into it.

00:49:46So this is a collection of those original bearisms that we used.

00:49:50Here's some of the cute ones.

00:49:51One small step for bears, one giant leap for bearkind.

00:49:54Think like a bear of action, act like a bear of thought.

00:49:57And most of all, it's never too late to have a happy childhood.

00:50:00Build-A-Bear has its own culture.

00:50:03It's a really fun culture, you might imagine.

00:50:06Everything you probably think it is is what it is.

00:50:09Along with that culture comes a language.

00:50:13And that language is really all about bear puns.

00:50:20Hi, I'm Dani.

00:50:21Hi, I'm Dana.

00:50:22And before we start, can I just say how awesome it is to be here?

00:50:27And it's truly an honor, but I mean, this was the bear minimum.

00:50:31Oh, my God.

00:50:33You didn't have to start it like this.

00:50:35What can I say? I'm a genius.

00:50:36Okay, my jokes are unbearable.

00:50:42You know, things like instead of very, something's berry.

00:50:46This is typical vernacular.

00:50:49I'm not kidding.

00:50:50Like, you write this in your e-mails.

00:50:52That's pawesome.

00:50:54And, you know, we have a whole lot of, like, consider the possibility.

00:50:58That's unbear-leavable.

00:51:01And paw-tay.

00:51:07But we do a lot of celebration.

00:51:10That is true.

00:51:12What button does a bear use to pause the TV?

00:51:15Wait, I just said it.

00:51:18Okay.

00:51:19Can we, like, cut that?

00:51:21I can barely stand another one of these jokes.

00:51:25You just get used to it.

00:51:27Okay, so here's the truth.

00:51:29Not only do you get used to it, sometimes you're out in the world.

00:51:34And you still use the language, which is embarrassing.

00:51:40Embarrassing.

00:51:43When Sharon came in, one of the things was to sort of modernize Build-A-Bear.

00:51:49Everybody might remember the fun house font that's on the front of our stores.

00:51:54And we use that everywhere.

00:51:56And real hard to read, especially if you do a whole poster with it.

00:52:00I'm a total font nerd.

00:52:02So for a company, you want the logo to sort of age well.

00:52:08And our logo was starting to look a little dated.

00:52:12It is very iconic.

00:52:14But what I wanted to do was make sure when we rebranded,

00:52:18we kept everything that made Build-A-Bear Build-A-Bear,

00:52:21just making it a little bit more modernized.

00:52:24And one of the great things that Sharon decided to do

00:52:27was separate the brand from the workshop, where we took the head.

00:52:31We call him Bernard, by the way.

00:52:33He's Bernard.

00:52:34You can see him back there.

00:52:36We took his head.

00:52:37He goes into the workshop logo,

00:52:39and then the word workshop is like this real fun kind of a font.

00:52:42I loved Fun House.

00:52:43I loved the typeface.

00:52:44But I got to make it cleaner and neater,

00:52:47and looking at something not like it looked like the past,

00:52:49but create a new future.

00:52:51So this is Happy Hugs.

00:52:53He's one of our best-selling teddy bears.

00:52:55And we generally don't like to show bear bears.

00:52:58You know what I mean?

00:53:00He's a bear bear.

00:53:01Anyway, Happy.

00:53:04Want to tell a little story about Happy Hugs

00:53:06and this, what we call a paw pad.

00:53:09One of the things that I did when I got to Build-A-Bear

00:53:12was make sure that kids would know that it's a Build-A-Bear.

00:53:15Now, we've always had the little tags on them,

00:53:17but having been on Barbie and all these other brands,

00:53:21it felt like that Build-A-Bear should have a brand mark.

00:53:27We created this really, what I would say,

00:53:29natural kind of mark for his paw pad.

00:53:32It's a heart in a paw print with the B-A-B in it,

00:53:36so it makes sense why it's there.

00:53:39We just wanted people to be really proud

00:53:41when they got a Build-A-Bear

00:53:42and know that it was a Build-A-Bear,

00:53:44particularly when we're gifting bears.

00:53:46Hey, I've got a paw pad.

00:53:49So cool.

00:53:54Has that always been there?

00:54:03I'm Damon Elliott, music producer,

00:54:05and I like to think I'm a pretty handsome guy.

00:54:10How long have you known Mike Tyson?

00:54:12I've known Mike since I was 14 years old.

00:54:16He was heavyweight champion of the world,

00:54:18and we hit it off right away.

00:54:21When we do these celebrity bears,

00:54:23we often auction them off or they're at different events

00:54:26and for silent auctions,

00:54:28and we had created a Mike Tyson bear.

00:54:31Our designers are truly fabulous,

00:54:33and they had gone to all lengths

00:54:36to make sure they had gotten Mike's tattoo

00:54:39just perfectly stitched, hand-stitched

00:54:41onto the teddy bear's face.

00:54:43But we were going to get these signed

00:54:45so we could put them at the silent auction.

00:54:47You really want to know about Mike and his teddy bear?

00:54:50Well, the time I gave Mike Tyson the teddy bear,

00:54:53I went to his house and handed him this bear,

00:54:56and his eyes lit up, and he got very excited,

00:54:59and it seems like he got really attached.

00:55:01The bear was supposed to be handed right back to me

00:55:04after he signed it, because it was done for him,

00:55:07for my mom, who's Dionne Warwick, for her charity,

00:55:11and all that went out the window

00:55:13because Mike seemed to become very attached to the bear.

00:55:16And he's like, it's mine now!

00:55:19Mike Tyson refused to return his teddy bear.

00:55:22He loved it so much, and then afterwards,

00:55:24we're on a conference call, and I'm like,

00:55:26so we've gotten this bear checked, this bear checked,

00:55:28and who else, and where's the Mike Tyson bear?

00:55:31Oh, no, he's keeping it.

00:55:33What do you mean he's keeping it? He can't keep it.

00:55:35And he's like, you want to get the Mike Tyson bear back?

00:55:38The last time I saw this bear, we were on a private jet

00:55:41going somewhere near Miami, and he had the bear.

00:55:43I saw the bear for about 2 seconds.

00:55:45It seems like he takes this bear everywhere with him.

00:55:49Mike, I need you to take off your...

00:55:54Oh, God!

00:55:58Mike, what happened to that bear?

00:56:01What bear? What are you talking about?

00:56:06The one they made for you for the charity thing.

00:56:10Oh, you mean that bear?

00:56:12Yeah, that's the one.

00:56:14Could we maybe have that bear back?

00:56:17I don't think so.

00:56:26Oh, my teddy bear, my teddy bear.

00:56:29And then Mike would go, he's the best,

00:56:31he's the best bear in the world.

00:56:33You can use that, because he doesn't mind that I do that.

00:56:36So I've asked for it back, and he wouldn't give it back.

00:56:39What do you think would happen if somebody took it from him?

00:56:43How about this, man?

00:56:45How about this, man?

00:56:47I'd like to see you try to take the bear from him.

00:56:55For the record, I think this is a bad idea.

00:56:59I know, right? You don't poke the bear.

00:57:16Hey, what do you think you're doing?

00:57:25When Mike Tyson wants to keep his teddy bear,

00:57:27he keeps his teddy bear.

00:57:29That's all there is to it.

00:57:32And then what was so funny about it is,

00:57:34of course, we could just make another one.

00:57:39I'm Mike Tyson.

00:57:40I've been the wildest, I've been the craziest,

00:57:42I've been outrageous.

00:57:44I'm Mike Tyson, yeah.

00:57:55And so, the teddy bear has once again tamed

00:57:58the mighty heavyweight champion.

00:58:00I'm Trinity, I'm 12 years old, and I like to build a bear.

00:58:06Who's this?

00:58:07This is Irwin. He's my froggy prince.

00:58:10As soon as I laid my eyes on Irwin,

00:58:12I really wanted to bring him to life.

00:58:14They told me he's very famous on TikTok.

00:58:17It came! It finally came!

00:58:20Build a bear frog, build a bear frog, build a bear frog.

00:58:24You did it.

00:58:25Oh, look at the little baby.

00:58:27So, I've seen the build a bear frog,

00:58:29which is actually really funny.

00:58:31My roommate is really afraid of frogs,

00:58:33so I have a frog costume,

00:58:35and I dressed up and seared her in it.

00:58:38Go build a bear frog.

00:58:40We have encountered this before.

00:58:42People are like, aren't you too old for that?

00:58:44And here's the thing.

00:58:46When you're growing up, you're told,

00:58:47dream and use your imagination

00:58:49and make everything around you a part of your life.

00:58:51And when you get older, the world's like,

00:58:52stop that, no, stop.

00:58:54It's like, excuse me, sir.

00:58:55No.

00:58:56No.

00:58:57If my friend was a teddy bear,

00:58:58why would I be a teddy bear?

00:58:59No.

00:59:00No.

00:59:01No.

00:59:02No.

00:59:03No.

00:59:04No.

00:59:05No.

00:59:06If my friend was a teddy bear when I was a child,

00:59:08my friend should be allowed to be a teddy bear now.

00:59:10It's like, just for this tiny bit of time,

00:59:12build a bear.

00:59:14It gives you almost permission, in a way,

00:59:17to embrace who you used to be,

00:59:20like when you were little,

00:59:21when you were happy.

00:59:22With no judgment.

00:59:23With no judgments.

00:59:24And you get to pick out the clothes,

00:59:25which, you know, growing up,

00:59:26you don't always get to do that.

00:59:27But yeah, it's just that.

00:59:37Because you are never too old

00:59:38to have a happy childhood.

00:59:42It's so true.

00:59:43It is so true.

00:59:44You need to tell us to stop.

00:59:46Yeah, we're not going to stop on our own.

00:59:49You can stop.

00:59:51Over the years,

00:59:52Build-A-Bear has branched out

00:59:53into many media formats

00:59:55outside of stuffed animals.

00:59:57With an online community,

00:59:59cartoons,

01:00:00No moose has ever flown.

01:00:02It's a fact.

01:00:03video games,

01:00:04It's always better

01:00:05to party with friends.

01:00:06their own radio station,

01:00:08and they even make movies now.

01:00:11Hi, I'm Frinka McNeilis,

01:00:13and I'm 16,

01:00:14and I play Alex

01:00:15in the Build-A-Bear film,

01:00:16Honey Girl.

01:00:25Well, the first time

01:00:26I ever went to Build-A-Bear,

01:00:27I don't remember that.

01:00:28I was a baby.

01:00:29Okay, at first,

01:00:30when I first got the audition,

01:00:32I'm like, is it an animation?

01:00:34Am I going to be dressed up

01:00:35as a bear?

01:00:36But then once I like

01:00:37read through it,

01:00:38I was like,

01:00:39this is the coolest thing ever.

01:00:41The Honey Girls

01:00:42are a band

01:00:43of three very talented artists.

01:00:46The original names

01:00:47of the Honey Girls were

01:00:48Tegan,

01:00:49Risa, and Viv.

01:00:50Mine's the tiger.

01:00:51Purple tiger.

01:00:52I roar in the movie.

01:00:54Easy tiger.

01:00:59So it was really cool

01:01:00because when we were filming

01:01:01the Honey Girls,

01:01:02we each got like

01:01:03our own little like

01:01:04Build-A-Bear

01:01:05that looked exactly like us.

01:01:07And it was really cute.

01:01:09What's going on?

01:01:13Hi, thank you.

01:01:15Can you do a little dance

01:01:16for me?

01:01:24He's in his own world.

01:01:27Boom.

01:01:28Build-A-Bear.

01:01:30Little moonwalk.

01:01:34That was actually

01:01:35a pretty good moonwalk.

01:01:36I'm not going to,

01:01:37oh, there it goes.

01:01:39Did you do that

01:01:40to everybody or just me?

01:01:41Just you.

01:01:42Thanks guys

01:01:43for the interview.

01:01:44I'll see you guys later.

01:01:50After dark, take one.

01:01:54This old thing?

01:01:55Kid stuff.

01:01:57Herbert.

01:01:58What's the opposite

01:01:59of kid stuff?

01:02:01Grown-up stuff.

01:02:05Cut.

01:02:07Here's a story

01:02:08that has you clicking tonight.

01:02:09Who says

01:02:10stuffed animals

01:02:11are just for kids?

01:02:12We had a marketing campaign

01:02:13called Build-A-Bear

01:02:14After Dark.

01:02:15And it was, you know,

01:02:16like a little kind of,

01:02:17you know, edgier,

01:02:20romantic kind of,

01:02:22you know.

01:02:23And we'd had that campaign

01:02:24for like three or four years.

01:02:25This year,

01:02:26someone picked it up

01:02:27and it went crazy.

01:02:29Build-A-Bear

01:02:30just launched

01:02:31an After Dark series

01:02:32of stuffed bears

01:02:33for adults.

01:02:34These are real.

01:02:38Real seductive.

01:02:39Bam!

01:02:40Bam!

01:02:41You like it?

01:02:43Hey, do you know

01:02:44a bear named Marty?

01:02:45He's about this tall, brown.

01:02:47I haven't seen him

01:02:48since I was a kid.

01:02:49Yeah, I'll keep

01:02:50an eye out for him,

01:02:51but do you think

01:02:52you could possibly

01:02:53be more vague

01:02:55Oh, he's a bear

01:02:56and he's brown.

01:02:57Gee, I haven't seen

01:02:58one of those before.

01:03:03Have you seen

01:03:04this teddy bear?

01:03:05The whole nation

01:03:06is looking for it.

01:03:07If you have that teddy bear,

01:03:09please return it.

01:03:10That is precious.

01:03:11This isn't just

01:03:12your average teddy bear.

01:03:13Not to its owner,

01:03:1428-year-old Mara Soriano.

01:03:21My name is Mara Soriano

01:03:23and I'm a storyboard artist

01:03:24from Canada.

01:03:25Is that good?

01:03:27Perfect.

01:03:28Okay.

01:03:29What can I say about my mom?

01:03:30She was the most amazing person

01:03:32I've ever had the privilege

01:03:34to know.

01:03:35She was kind.

01:03:36She was generous.

01:03:38My mom was diagnosed

01:03:39with cancer in 2010

01:03:42and for 10 years

01:03:43she was in remission

01:03:44and it was really great.

01:03:45One Christmas,

01:03:46she gave me this Build-A-Bear.

01:03:48I've made Build-A-Bears before,

01:03:50so the thought of her

01:03:52picking out all of the things

01:03:54that made Mama Bear

01:03:55Mama Bear

01:03:56and recording this voice message

01:03:58for me at the store,

01:03:59it just makes me feel like

01:04:01there really is a part of her

01:04:03in that bear

01:04:04and that's why it's

01:04:05so important to me

01:04:06and it's probably

01:04:07my most prized possession.

01:04:10She passed away in June 2019,

01:04:15which was really tough.

01:04:18Sorry.

01:04:23I'm sorry.

01:04:27That bear is so her

01:04:29and I know that she put

01:04:31a lot of love in that

01:04:32and I just know it.

01:04:37My husband and I

01:04:38were moving apartments one day

01:04:40and while we were moving,

01:04:42we had put all of our stuff

01:04:44on a truck

01:04:45and I put Mama Bear

01:04:46in this backpack

01:04:47with all of my important things.

01:04:48I remember even going

01:04:50up to my friends

01:04:51with her little head

01:04:52poking out of the backpack

01:04:53and saying,

01:04:54look, she's got her own

01:04:55special spot,

01:04:56like she's in this

01:04:57special backpack.

01:04:58On our way to the

01:04:59new apartment,

01:05:00we got this phone call

01:05:01from one of our friends

01:05:02who was helping us move.

01:05:03He was biking over

01:05:04and he got hit by a truck,

01:05:06so I immediately

01:05:07dropped everything.

01:05:08I told my fiance

01:05:09to take care of everything

01:05:10while I go pick up our friend

01:05:11and take him to the hospital

01:05:13and it was my fault

01:05:14because I just put the bear

01:05:15down next to the U-Haul

01:05:17because I was in such a rush

01:05:18trying to get to my friend

01:05:19who was hit by a truck

01:05:20and he was okay.

01:05:23It was all good,

01:05:24just a couple bruises,

01:05:25but it wasn't until

01:05:26like a few hours later

01:05:28when we were unpacking

01:05:29that I realized

01:05:30that the backpack

01:05:31was never brought home,

01:05:32so I started freaking out.

01:05:34I went downstairs

01:05:35to the security

01:05:36and asked to go

01:05:37through the tapes

01:05:38and lo and behold,

01:05:39somebody had swiped the bear

01:05:41and I lost it.

01:05:44I was devastated.

01:05:45I immediately like

01:05:46stopped unpacking

01:05:47and just started running

01:05:48up and down the streets

01:05:49like asking people

01:05:50if they had seen someone

01:05:51with a backpack.

01:05:52I immediately started

01:05:53going through dumpsters

01:05:54because I was told

01:05:55that it's just a teddy bear

01:05:58so it's not valuable

01:05:59so they might have

01:06:00thrown it away or something

01:06:01and I couldn't find it anywhere

01:06:03so I didn't know what to do.

01:06:06That night I went on Reddit

01:06:08and somebody suggested

01:06:09that I reach out

01:06:10to local news sources

01:06:11which I did

01:06:12and thankfully

01:06:13CBC took pity on me

01:06:15and when Debra Goble

01:06:17called me for CBC

01:06:18she said,

01:06:19listen,

01:06:20I don't do this very often

01:06:21but I'll tweet about it

01:06:22along with my little blurb

01:06:23on the radio for you.

01:06:24So I was like,

01:06:25great, thank you.

01:06:26Anything and everything helps.

01:06:28And then the next day

01:06:29a friend,

01:06:30the friend who got hit

01:06:31by the truck texted me

01:06:32and said,

01:06:33hey,

01:06:34did you know

01:06:35somebody tweeted

01:06:36about your bear?

01:06:37And I was like,

01:06:38who?

01:06:39He's like,

01:06:40Ryan Reynolds.

01:06:41I did not believe him.

01:06:42I was like,

01:06:43this is a troll account,

01:06:44like it's somebody

01:06:45pretending to be Deadpool

01:06:46and lo and behold

01:06:47I go on Twitter

01:06:48and it was nuts.

01:06:49Like,

01:06:50it was Ryan Reynolds.

01:06:51He was offering

01:06:52a $5,000 reward

01:06:53to find my bear

01:06:54and it was

01:06:55a crazy whirlwind

01:06:56after that.

01:06:57Like,

01:06:58as soon as he did that

01:06:59everybody picked up

01:07:00on the news.

01:07:01Like,

01:07:02everybody wanted

01:07:03to talk to me.

01:07:04This teddy bear

01:07:05held a special meaning.

01:07:06I was absolutely devastated.

01:07:08All I really cared about

01:07:09was getting the bear back.

01:07:12This is the touching moment

01:07:13Mara's mom played her

01:07:14the recording

01:07:15for the first time.

01:07:16I guess the story

01:07:17really touched

01:07:18a lot of people.

01:07:19I was honestly super shocked

01:07:20with the amount of coverage

01:07:21that it was getting.

01:07:22So many different people

01:07:23and companies

01:07:24reached out

01:07:25to match

01:07:26Ryan Reynolds' reward.

01:07:27It was getting

01:07:28really crazy

01:07:29and I couldn't believe

01:07:30that people were doing that

01:07:31for me,

01:07:32for a teddy bear.

01:07:33And I honestly think

01:07:34my mom would have

01:07:35gotten a huge kick out of it.

01:07:36And thanks to all of,

01:07:37like,

01:07:38that news coverage,

01:07:39three days later

01:07:40we got the bear back.

01:07:41Which is,

01:07:42which never happens.

01:07:43That never happens.

01:07:44I couldn't believe it.

01:07:45When I got the bear back,

01:07:46it was,

01:07:47it was like getting

01:07:48my mom back again.

01:07:49It was like

01:07:50her telling me

01:07:51to calm down.

01:07:52Like,

01:07:53she has my back.

01:07:54Like,

01:07:55the world has my back.

01:07:56And I felt really

01:07:58unbelievably grateful

01:08:00that that happened.

01:08:01And it really felt like

01:08:02she was looking out for me.

01:08:06I will never let this bear

01:08:07out of my sight

01:08:08ever again.

01:08:10Hi, Atimara.

01:08:11I love you.

01:08:12Always remember that

01:08:14you make mommy so proud.

01:08:16No matter where you are,

01:08:18a part of me

01:08:19will always be with you forever.

01:08:21I love you to infinity and beyond.

01:08:25Yeah.

01:08:26Yeah.

01:08:27She was so cheery.

01:08:29I love you to infinity and beyond.

01:08:36I'm so glad you're here.

01:08:38I'm so glad she got her bear back. Do you think Ryan Reynolds really paid that reward? He really did

01:08:44Do you think Ryan Reynolds will put me in his next movie? He really won't

01:08:48That's fair

01:08:50right in the middle of the retail apocalypse where

01:08:55Scores of retailers went bankrupt

01:08:57Thousands of retail stores were closed thousands of retail stores were closed and things like Toys R Us went bankrupt

01:09:04And we were the largest

01:09:06Laststanding toy store in America, and this is where we then sort of embraced this idea of

01:09:16Nothing knocks the stuffing out of Build-A-Bear

01:09:18Build-A-Bear first appeared during the peak of shopping malls in the mid 90s

01:09:24140 new malls were being built every year

01:09:27by

01:09:282007 that number was zero

01:09:33Somewhere between

01:09:342012 and

01:09:362018

01:09:3819 some estimates are that

01:09:41mall traffic declined cumulatively by about 50%

01:09:46That is a massive decrease in foot traffic

01:09:50It's hard for retailers to understand what to do in that environment

01:09:55Particularly an experience based retailer like Build-A-Bear where families were going for fun and entertainment was no longer

01:10:03Predominantly the mall we started to think about

01:10:05Entirely new places that we could be places like Great Wolf Lodge or on a carnival cruise line or resorts and just

01:10:13Pulling apart the old model and it opened up entirely new venues for us to take Build-A-Bear

01:10:19They've been very successful and now we have a much more balanced portfolio with fewer of our locations located in malls

01:10:26Walmart is a different thing

01:10:28Walmart's the biggest retailer in the world and they have a lot of traffic people, you know

01:10:33You can do everything you can buy everything at Walmart including get your tires. This diversification has been

01:10:39Critical for us to becoming this thing that has staying power

01:10:43You never know where the next big idea and marketing will come from and in

01:10:492018 one of the biggest came from a meeting about birthdays at Build-A-Bear. Hey, you're doing great up there

01:10:56Is this your first starring role? Well, I mostly do theater

01:11:01The popular retailer Build-A-Bear is trying to make amends after it pulled the plug on a big sale due to overwhelming demand

01:11:09Pay your H day

01:11:12Well, the C's business had gotten kind of tough the mall apocalypse, right

01:11:17So I was sitting there and I was you know, thinking what can we do to get the business going?

01:11:22well

01:11:23we had a national teddy bear day and what you could do is you could come in a national teddy bear day and get a

01:11:27signature bear for five bucks and

01:11:30The lines were out the door. And so I was thinking what could how can we sell a bear for five dollars every day?

01:11:37So I went into Sharon and I said look the number one reason that people come to Build-A-Bear is for their birthday

01:11:43About a third of the sales for Build-A-Bear come from birthdays

01:11:47Millions of kids have celebrated their birthdays at Build-A-Bear

01:11:51So what if for every times a kid turned five

01:11:55they could come in and get a bear on their birthday for five bucks and she sat there and she's like

01:12:01It's a great idea except for one thing. You're gonna be the one to tell the four-year-old that they don't get it

01:12:07So we were like, okay

01:12:09Well, maybe we could just make it so it's available for anyone to pay their age

01:12:13Like and then it was like one dollar and so did a little bit of you know

01:12:17Kind of math and adding up and it's it made sense because the average was still gonna be five bucks

01:12:21So we came up with this idea for a birthday bear. And so then it was like, how do we introduce this?

01:12:26All right. Well get one chance to make a splash

01:12:30And so we played around with the idea of what if everyone could come in that one day and get it?

01:12:35And so why would someone want a birthday bear when it's not their birthday, right?

01:12:38You know because it says happy birthday on the park. So I'm in my office and Sharon calls me

01:12:44It needs to be all of them and you know, it would really break through and we

01:12:48Were managing our marketing dollars. This was pushed out on social media and that was practically it

01:12:54It was all fine. Look, I've gotten a little bit buzz. That was good. This deal is just so amazing

01:12:59I can hardly bear it

01:13:00Don't miss bill the Bears first ever and biggest deal ever pay your age day and then all of a sudden like the day before

01:13:08People are signing up for the bonus club and like record numbers in the middle of July with nothing else going on

01:13:14We put it out there not

01:13:18Really knowing that it would be as big as it did we drove that traffic to shopping centers around the world. I

01:13:27Was I was actually in bed about 2 in the morning, but my phone rang it's a call from the UK

01:13:34I'm like, hello, and he's like Chris there are lines all the way outside of the mall. I'm like

01:13:42Okay now in retail and especially in the field

01:13:44We you know, we're not afraid to embellish a little bit the fine line outside the mall

01:13:49He's like Chris literally the line is outside the mall. It's into the parking lot and

01:13:55I had to hear it a couple of times and then

01:14:00Did a little Google search to see that what they were saying was true

01:14:05Build a bear may have had its first clue when posts like this started hitting Twitter in England

01:14:10Moms are starting to turn this one read the end is nigh. We went this is really happening

01:14:22The saying goes if you build it

01:14:24They will come today here in Douglas feels more like if you let them build it at a really good price a whole lot of

01:14:29them will show up we started to see

01:14:32people lining up on the East Coast and

01:14:36Decided to push out some social media on

01:14:40Don't come to build there. I mean, that's not anything you ever think you're going to do per local authorities

01:14:46We cannot accept additional guests at our locations

01:14:49However, the event had already drawn crowds all around the country in Arizona, Washington, Florida, New York

01:14:56It's been a struggle it is I

01:14:59Of course, we were getting calls from media outlets all over the country

01:15:04It was almost like you can see as stores opened across the country, right?

01:15:08Cuz East Coast opened first so the cause would come from the East Coast and then they'd come through like, oh, we opened in, Indiana

01:15:15Okay, oops. We've made it to Missouri

01:15:18The news kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger and the media kept, you know

01:15:23Hyping and hyping you have got to take a look at this breaking build-a-bear news

01:15:27Thousands of people across the country today got to the malls early

01:15:30They stood in line for hours all for stuffed animals

01:15:33It felt like the Black Friday's of old we're told there was just too much interest and they had to cancel the event

01:15:39because of safety concerns and this was a

01:15:43difficult scenario

01:15:45For the folks at the stores our line ended up going outside of the mall and it wrapped around the mall building

01:15:51It was very long of people waited for hours and then very upset when they couldn't get in

01:15:57But it was very intense. We actually ended up getting shut down because of it what went wrong

01:16:02Do you feel that you owe an apology to those people who stood in line? Absolutely

01:16:06I mean that that is not what we are about

01:16:08I guess the takeaway is don't promise what you can't deliver also in a day and age of

01:16:13iPhones and fancy video games the good old-fashioned teddy bear

01:16:18Still gets people out. Well, look, you know, it's funny

01:16:22businesses

01:16:23Come up with ideas that you look back in hindsight and you go what?

01:16:27Were they thinking the fact that you know little build-a-bear could virtually shut down all the malls in the United States

01:16:35There's no way we could have predicted that. I mean when was the last time there was chaos in the malls when like

01:16:43Backstreet Boys were performing

01:16:45But I tell you what everybody heard about build-a-bear at the end of that thing one way or the other

01:16:50People woke up to the fact that build-a-bear is around right to a certain extent people were like

01:16:56Oh, I remember doing that as a kid, but all of a sudden it was like what is going on?

01:17:01I think it was an important milestone that is part of why we're thriving today

01:17:08The birthday treat bear is our best-selling product and it has been since we launched that

01:17:15We're glad that the kids get to come in on their most special day and pay their age for their birthday treat bear

01:17:22But by the way, we do not saw on a furry friends that day, right?

01:17:25It was just a matter of the number of people that we could put through because it takes a lot of time to

01:17:31Stuff the animals so it wasn't an inventory thing. It was, you know, just that the physical demand

01:17:38you know

01:17:40We got to start making sandwiches. You know a lot of orders for sandwiches

01:17:47It is really extraordinary how often build-a-bear is just referenced constantly in pop culture

01:18:01This was my idea. Honestly, it's his exact second. I thought you were build-a-bear. Maybe I am

01:18:10build-a-bot workshop stuff-a-bear

01:18:15I don't think so. Hey Peter ready to go to build-a-bear Sheldon. If you don't like this stuff

01:18:21Let's just go next door and build her a bear. Yeah, I

01:18:24Told you before bears are terrifying as a pop culture icon and to ourselves

01:18:31we were able to

01:18:33Mash up our brand with other pop culture icons not just making a replica of the product

01:18:41But things that had never been made before

01:18:44Like it wasn't just us making a stuffed Darth Vader. It's us making a Darth Vader bear

01:18:52It's a frozen

01:18:54Bear Elsa's a bear

01:18:57It's not that common that these brands allow you to evolve

01:19:03Their own brand to be a part of yours, but that's the kind of brand build barriers

01:19:11Build-a-bear had survived the recession the decline of malls the retail apocalypse

01:19:16Brexit was on track to be more successful than ever before

01:19:20And then in 2020 a whole new challenge appeared

01:19:29When we first found out about this pending situation

01:19:38We as many didn't believe it would be as dramatic as it was I'll never forget I called Sharon

01:19:46I said Sharon we're gonna have to shut the stores down

01:19:49and

01:19:51Within a matter of weeks. We had furloughed 90% of the organization and

01:19:57We were having daily calls on

01:20:01What to do I could build a bear survive the pandemic knowing that everyone thought of us as a place to go

01:20:08In a store when all of our doors

01:20:11And all of our retail locations closed we had to quickly shift gears

01:20:16So we went from an indoor experience somewhere that you come to make a personalized teddy bear

01:20:23To an experience that's now

01:20:26online and we looked at it as it as it was as

01:20:31Our only viable revenue stream, but over the entire company it was this can-do attitude it was

01:20:39How do we make this happen? How can we do it safe and keep and keep the company going I?

01:20:45Just said to the team. I'm like look. I don't know what the path is, but I can tell you we have one

01:20:54We have mapped a path so this is possible and all we need is possible

01:21:02Between us so and Dory knows this that possible path

01:21:07Was about as narrow

01:21:09It was like

01:21:11This need to happen and this thing happened in this thing having that need to have that need to not happen in this day

01:21:15But there was one there was a path

01:21:17We were in a really interesting position. We had announced to our guests that we were going to be

01:21:26Offering grow goo sometimes known as baby Yoda build a bear workshop debuts

01:21:31It's long-awaited plush baby Yoda

01:21:33How hot is this toy right now when we knew what we were gonna get it?

01:21:37I was like this is gonna be big cuz it's the cutest little thing. This is the build-a-bear baby Yoda

01:21:44And there was a tremendous amount of anticipation for that

01:21:53Hitting the stores this spring

01:21:57We have all of this

01:21:59Inventory there, and we knew once we put grow goo live on our website that it would sell

01:22:07At an incredible velocity and so we had to prepare ourselves for that

01:22:13Well, our warehouse can only handle stuffing so many orders a day

01:22:18We hired back many of our bear builders who have been furloughed and we brought in stuffing machines

01:22:25to create what we called the nursery it was

01:22:29Truly an extraordinary moment. There he is. Yes. Oh my goodness

01:22:36Thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of these in many ways baby

01:22:41Yoda was such a pivotal part of getting through the pandemic we were able to

01:22:47Make a lot of people happy at a time when it mattered

01:22:52More than ever an important furry friend as we like to say for for build-a-bear

01:22:58During kovat there was the South Park special about kovat

01:23:01That's clearly, you know more appropriate for an older audience

01:23:07Butters for the last time you can't go to build a bear

01:23:10I think one of the things that was most extraordinary about that was that in the storyline

01:23:17Build-a-bear was the example of what returning to normal was

01:23:23Look

01:23:26And that's pretty amazing

01:23:28Now this is my favorite part

01:23:47Hello

01:23:59But what do you want me to put this thing I hold it Wow

01:24:08Very nice

01:24:13Thank you

01:24:19This isn't build-a-bear is it it is build-a-bear. I've never built one. How'd they build it?

01:24:25So they're always so flexible and cuddle cuddly and they're not hard to figure out

01:24:29You know like like a computer game or you know something that you have to put together

01:24:34they're already kind of put together and so you get just to look at them and hug them and love them and

01:24:38smile at them and

01:24:40cool

01:24:43This is great nobody I mean, it's just so delicious. How do you not love like a little

01:24:51Tough thing this is good. There's a good little cuddly guy right here. I feel like taking a nap now

01:25:10Sorry

01:25:13It's gonna do like a weird breakdance I

01:25:15I

01:25:17Like teddy bears, you know, it's isn't that funny you see babies and you go

01:25:20Oh, you see like little puppies and oh and then you get a little bear and it's oh

01:25:28There's always love for a bear I mean doesn't just everybody just squeezes up I think I need a tutu on him

01:25:35I mean, that's fun. He's he's a cutie pie

01:25:39oops

01:25:42Can't go without your boots

01:25:45There's always some sentiment to toys and things that you collect

01:25:48I just as an almost 50 year old man don't want us to cry about it about having a teddy bear

01:25:54I don't know just being able to have a connection like this and hug it and squeeze it and cry and like

01:25:59All of the emotions that you can go through with a teddy bear. It's the best thing that you could ever ask for

01:26:09I'll miss you

01:26:12Oh

01:26:19So

01:26:20How did build a bear managed to survive all these years?

01:26:24Maybe it's because build a bear

01:26:27Was never really just a toy store after all you have this relationship

01:26:32Not just with the store itself, but with the people but especially with the feeling of what this here's the thing

01:26:38It's like when you go shopping in a store. You're buying a

01:26:42Thing when you're going to build a bear you're having an experience. I

01:26:48Think the reason that build a bear resonates for so many people is because they were they weren't making a bear

01:26:55They're actually making memories. It was somebody's birthday somebody's anniversary. I mean there were so many things

01:27:00It wasn't really about the bear and I think that's the part that we became part of family memories

01:27:05So people can still be telling their stories. So you can't sell that you can't manufacture that

01:27:10I think that in my time of build a bear

01:27:13The one thing I would be most proud of is the fact that build a bear is going to live for another generation

01:27:20Because at the end of the day the need for that

01:27:24Teddy bear that teddy bear hug that connection is as important

01:27:29maybe more important than ever as we become more and more digital and

01:27:34I'm really proud of that. I'm proud that this company and these teddy bears are still gonna be there

01:27:40You know, we have the saying once a bear always a bear

01:27:44and we have a lot of bears out there in the human form and

01:27:48We made a lot of best friends. Not only furry but also human best friends, which is probably the

01:27:55most significant part of my life

01:27:58I'm meeting Maxie

01:28:00It seems like just yesterday I was standing at the ribbon-cutting at the st. Louis Galleria boy have we grown

01:28:07You know, you forget all the little changes that you've made

01:28:09You just remember the day that you stood in line and all these customers came pouring in the door

01:28:15Sorry, it is an emotional experience to see that 25 years and 200 plus million

01:28:22Children have made bears in our company and have a memory. That's like that

01:28:27That's a gift that you can't really imagine, you know

01:28:30I don't know what life would be without Build-A-Bear and I hope they don't know what life would be without Build-A-Bear and that

01:28:35Build-A-Bear will be here, you know for a long time

01:28:37And I try to encourage as many entrepreneurs as I possibly can to build their dream, too

01:28:42Because I didn't dream this it evolved

01:28:45So you don't never know what's possible until you give it a try and so Build-A-Bear is about giving it a try whether it's

01:28:51A stuffed animal or a business. There's a million ways to to be thankful right now about building a company

01:28:58That's come to this point in its life and has so much further to go

01:29:10You guys are back

01:29:11You know when I was a kid

01:29:13I always used to tell jokes to my teddy bears and it would be a dream come true if I could

01:29:17Tell some jokes for you guys

01:29:19Yeah

01:29:24All right, okay bears

01:29:29So, what do you bears what do you bears think the employee discount is at the dollar store

01:29:36You ever think about that you think it might just be just take it

01:29:44No

01:29:46Pete do the bear jokes

01:29:50People it's not a fair stereotype people say bears love honey, huh? Oh, look at those bears. They love honey

01:29:56Doesn't everybody love honey

01:29:59Right. I mean who do you get honey? And they're like, oh, no. Thanks. What it what do you think? I'm a bear

01:30:06I'm a maple syrup guy. Get out of here. Yeah, I mean this guy knows what I'm talking about

01:30:15I

01:30:17Feel like bears are better than human beings bears should rule the world. I'm not just saying that to panda to you

01:30:23But did you know that a bear has enough strength in its jaw to bite through a bowling ball? I looked it up

01:30:30That's true. Cut to me cutting my tooth on a very stale pistachio

01:30:39Grizzly bears any grizzlies

01:30:42Roar if you're if you're grizzly

01:30:45Grizzly bears can actually run 40 miles per hour. That's as fast as a greyhound. We race greyhounds. Why aren't we racing grizzly bears?

01:30:53Probably because a greyhound won't hop the fence and maul a woman for a Cracker Jacks

01:31:02Who are you talking to

01:31:11Hey

01:31:18Pete did you forget something?

01:31:28Marty

01:31:30I

01:31:39Love you, Pete. You're my best friend

01:31:57Build a bear at the build a bear workshop

01:32:00Where there's a bear for everyone here a bear there a bear everywhere a bear bear

01:32:08You're gonna have some fun

01:32:11Choose me stuff me stitch me up

01:32:15Fluff me dress me fill me with love

01:32:19You'll never be alone

01:32:21When you take me home

01:32:26There's a bear at the build-a-bear workshop

01:32:30Just waiting for you

01:32:33Big bear little bear. There's a funny bunny there all kinds of friends for you to choose

01:32:59You

01:33:19My bear is special I brought it to life I chose it I stuffed it and now I'm taking it home

01:33:26Best friends are forever. So I promise right now to make my bear my number one. Bye everybody. Goodbye

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