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Never underestimate the appeal of a teddy bear at a bargain price.
Hundreds of children and their parents waited in lines for hours across the United States for Thursday’s Build-A-Bear Workshop promotion — the first to offer “furry friends” at a sizable “pay your age” discount — but the turnout was unbearable for some stores. Many families were sent back home with vouchers and urged to come back another day.
“This is something that they wanted to do that we never really thought we had the money to do,” said Morgan Hill resident Allye Mullins, who brought her daughters, ages 3 and 5. “Now we can afford it, but it’s kind of crazy.”
Mullins and her daughters waited in line at Oakridge Mall in San Jose for over three-and-a-half hours to build stuffed companions with purple and rainbow hearts.
By early afternoon, Build-A-Bear started making amends. Employees handed out $15 vouchers to customers waiting in line that would be valid from Friday to Aug. 14 and extended that promotion online to members of its bonus club.
The company also issued a quick apology for misjudging the response.
“We feel it is important to share that, based on the information available to us before the day began, we could not have predicted this reaction to our Pay Your Age Day event,” the statement said.
Photos posted early Thursday on social media showed crowds at East Coast malls. As stores on the West Coast were just opening, the company sent an alert asking customers to stay home.
Bargain-hunting families queue for NINE HOURS outside Build A Bear
https://t.co/6zqohB7Kkp— The Sun (@TheSun) July 12, 2018
“The response to our Pay Your Age Day event has been overwhelming and unprecedented in our 21-year history, and the safety of our Guests and associates is our top priority,” the statement read. “The crowds have greatly exceeded our expectations and, per local authorities, U.S. stores cannot accept any additional Guests for this event and are limiting lines due to extreme crowds and safety concerns.”
It continued: “We understand our affected Guests may be disappointed, and we are working to address the situation. We will reach out directly to our valued Guests as soon as possible.”
But at Oakridge, customers were still allowed to queue up. By 11 a.m. the crowd stretched from the Build-A-Bear store to the Hot Dog on Stick stand, about three-quarters the mall length away. Two hours later, 440 people with 50 strollers were still waiting in line. Some kids sat on the ground playing with tablets or eating snacks.
San Jose resident Consuelo Carrillo, 35, brought her 8- and 9-year-old children at 10 a.m., when the store was just opening. She said she woke her kids early and took time away from her home business so they could add to their collection of three bears. As a club member, she received an email about the deal on Monday.
“Build-A-Bear should have prepared a little bit more, especially if they were going to advertise on social media so heavily the way that they did,” Carrillo said. “I just think it’s disappointing hearing this morning that East Coast stores were closing kind of early; maybe West Coast stores went and got their backstock and put them in their stores. And it looked like they didn’t prepare for that either.”
Carrillo braved the crowds for a chance to save big, noting that “$39 a bear is a lot. And that’s just for the bear.”
The promotion offered any customer who signed up in advance the opportunity to select any “furry friend” in the collection and pay their age in dollars. (Outfits, accessories, music and scents were not included.)
The savings would depend on the age of the customer and the retail price of the stuffed animal. For example, a 4-year-old would pay $4; most of the bears cost $20 to $30 without accessories. The most anyone would pay is $29.
The manager of the Oakridge store, Tianna Avilis, said people started lining up at 5:30 a.m. “We knew it was going to be an insane day but definitely more people have showed up than we ever expected, obviously. … I mean it’s amazing, an amazing thing to see. It was not expected for it to be this wild.”
Having spent $50 on their 2-year-old son’s first Build-A-Bear, Morgan Hill resident Brandon Jack, 28, arrived at 7:45 a.m. at Oakridge with his wife and son. The teachers for San Jose Unified were on summer vacation and their son usually wakes up early in the morning anyway.
By 11 a.m., their son was antsy but the line had brought them to within sight of the store.
“He doesn’t understand the concept of having to wait,” Jack said of his son. “So he just wants to go in there and get his stuffed animal.”
By handing out vouchers, Build-A-Bear hopes to “better flow traffic to the stores over the next several weeks to avoid long lines and wait times as much as possible,” the company said.
“We appreciate everyone’s understanding and patience in this matter.”
Although the vouchers given out in person are valid through Aug. 14, Bonus Club members who log into their account by midnight July 15 will receive a voucher that will be honored through Aug. 31. For details, check the company’s website, www.buildabear.com.
