My girlfriend and I had such a wonderful experience at this Build-A-Bear thanks to Danny! From the moment we walked in, they were so warm and welcoming, instantly making us feel comfortable and excited. They had the perfect mix of friendliness and humor -- keeping us laughing while also being super helpful and patient showing us all of the quirky and fun features of the bears. They took the time to explain each step, pricing, and how we can add those special little touches that made it feel truly magical. Even thought we didn't get anything, It's clear they love what they do and genuinely care about making every guest's visit memorable. Thank you Danny for making our visit so fun. We'll definitely be back for Pochacco because of you! read more

Located to the left of the carousel, I knew this would be a great shop to cement a memory. This is my daughter's first time visiting Pier 39. Turning it into a day of firsts, including ferry ride, Humphrey Slocombe, seeing sea lions, walking the pier and riding the carousel (3 times), I always have her leave with a "memory" of her first experience. Walking into Build A Bear, this location is not as spacious as others but does offer a variety of selections. The stuffies included Hello Kitty and Halloween options along with various animals including bears. The clothing was more focused on "fairytale" selections and dresses, but there are other choices with limited options. The staff were not very helpful. The young female acted as I was inconveniencing her when asking for assistance. I could not figure out how to add the sound selected to an electronic heart. The stuffing station was cool. My daughter was directed to "power" the stuffing machine with her foot. She enjoyed that part. The young man at the station was friendly and patient with my daughter. My lil one picked out her accessories to style and decorate her kitty with. Following, we created a birth certificate and off we went to pay. At the pay station, with my daughter's creation in her hand, the cashier processed to carry on a conversation with one of her co-workers. I interrupted her and asked if she was paid to gossip or assist customers? She stopped and begin checking us out. I'm fine with conversation as long as I'm not waiting for you to finish while our transaction has not even begun. For $63 even, my daughter left with a punk rock kitty with flaming pink hair with a Minion voice heart in the foot, a rainbow dress and a microphone on her hand. The previously free box to carry out now comes with a charge, but it wasn't needed as my daughter wanted to carry her new friend. For the experience, I believe it was worth it otherwise it is an overpriced toy store lacking customer service and options - not worth its value. I personally would not recommend this location to visit; however, if you are in the area and it's a memory to create then go for it. read more

Eziyah was really friendly from the start, and for sure helped make the bear-building the fun that it was meant to be!

Heard through internet posts that Build a Bear had a "Harry Potter Collection" so I wanted increase my HUGE collection of Ravenclaw collectables. All things Ravenclaw. The staff was friendly and helpful when it came to assisting me with the accessories. They only had one pair of shiny shoes left on the selling floor and it was on the bear "model". She was able to give them to me. The store was well organized and clean, and the staff was able to help out everyone that came in. it did seem that things were low in stock though. Which was a bummer for me. read more

Build A Bear - Harry Potter! - Toy Stores Near Me - San Francisco, California

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The store is very clean and had good inventory. The lady stuffing the bears was very nice and made the experience wonderful for my six year old nephew. The biggest issue was how slowly the line moved. It took about 45 minutes even though there were only 3 families in line before us. When we left the line was out the door. read more

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the employee that helped us was super nice and the other one seemed nice as well overall a fun experience and a very cute purchase read more

As a Bear Builder, I was super excited to visit this location on my trip to San Francisco. After my visit, I was severely disappointed in my experience. The workers seemed extremely bored and uninterested in their work, and when I was checking out, I was met with coldness, the exact opposite I expect from a Build a Bear Workshop. It broke my heart to think about all the guests looking for a joyful experience only to be met with such unenthusiastic Bear Builders. The one at the door seemed out of it and the one stuffing bears was slouched in their chair, twiddling with a pen. This is not the kind of experience one should be getting from Build a Bear. I am super disappointed. UPDATE: upon reviewing my receipt, i noticed that the girl at the register seemingly purposefully only gave me a 10% employee discount, when i'm supposed to get 30%. she seemed extremely annoyed that i even asked to receive my employee discount, so i think she did it on purpose. her name was something like Charity or Harmony. i forget exactly, but how ridiculous. this store needs serious help. read more

My wife likes to build a bear in every city that we visit. I am old and grumpy and think that the prices for these stuffed animals and accessories is beyond ridiculous. Pat did such a great job and was so fun and entertaining that I actually thought the $93 that we spent on our little "Bart" was money well spent. read more

Build A Bear - Toy Stores Near Me - San Francisco, California

I've been a fan of Build A Bear since a little girl, have 5-8 myself. I use to work on the pier, so happy they decided to be part of the Pier family before I left. They have the Pokémon collection, and I'm a hugest fan of Jigglypuff, had to get myself one. The space is spacious and clean, have so many cute bear clothes, but they're kind of low on staff, so the wait was a bit longer, which I was totally fine with. Staff was really nice and patient. Definitely will be stopping by again read more

Build A Bear - Toy Stores Near Me - San Francisco, California

Why so rude? My kids and I were in SF having a nice day out, we stopped by this location, the woman was on the phone when we got there and they had a chair in the entrance stating no more than 6 amount of people in the store at once. There were 3 people in the store so based on the sign we should be able to go in.....guess not because when we tried to enter the woman who worked there RUDELY said stop with this face ok....... then briskly came up to us with a clipboard asking our name, she told us that we weren't on some list and the wait was 2 hrs like we were telepathic and should KNOW there was some list. WOW! Then rudely said do want me to put you on the list? At this point, not even if you paid me would I get on said list. If you are looking for any level of basic customer service do NOT come to this location, btw did I mention this all happened in front of my 7 and 9 yo? And she works with children! That's laughable. If Build a Bear is interested i was there Monday 9-7-2020 around 1pm. read more

We've been to build-a-bear multiple times in multiple locations across the U.S. We've never had a bad experience with anything we've purchased in the years. Today, we walked in with 2 build a bears and we asked if we can try a specific shirt on one of the bears because we overstuffed one and she needs to make sure the clothes fit for that particular BAB. The straight up said NO. You can't. We can't touch any outside stuffies. And it threw me off! Because we've brought BAB's we've had for years and needed a new heartbeat, scent and sound button. The lady kept on an on about how it doesn't matter that it's a BAB, we can't do that. She was rude and loud. read more

Build A Bear - Build-A-Bear - Toy Stores Near Me - San Francisco, California

I was here this weekend and one of the girls I was with bought an outfit and lost in our walking around. I came back to buy a replacement to find none on the shelf. Alejandro and Alaya checked the stock room to find a replacement. they came thru and were so kind while we waited. they even helped us with a few more purchases. they were amazing read more

This place actually gets 4 stars but parking cost was ridiculous (2 stars) so averaged out to 3 total. I brought my kid to Pier 39 to watch street performers and sea lions. I completely forgot the Build-A-Bear workshop was there but when we walked past I had to go in. Bears and other stuffed animal options were actually very reasonable priced between $16-$40 depending on size and what you chose. My son picked a relatively large baby lion which cost $25. From my experience, that's about how much something of that same size runs if you're getting a good quality stuffed animal with soft fur. They let your kid get involved with the process by letting them step on the pedal for the filling machine as they stuff the bear or in our case the lion. My son got to pick a small heart (either in checkered red or all red) then was told to give it a kiss before putting it into the stuffing so the lion could be sealed up. I could tell he enjoyed partaking in this process. So where they get you and how you'll end up really racking up the dollars is with the various accessories sold for the stuffed animals. I'd say about 2/3 of the accessories in the store is geared toward little girls so there was slim pickin's for us to accessorize unless we were into Marvel superhero's, Star Wars or something sports themed like NASCAR or football. Lucky for me, the only thing that I thought would resonate with my son were the little red rain boots for $6.50 so that took care of our lion accessories. Grateful we didn't break the bank! There are a bunch of sounds that are an add in for $5 that you can choose from too or customize with your own voice. We picked out the 5 in 1 kitty sounds which was placed into the front paw with the BAB logo before the lion was stuffed. It is in the front so easily accessible for little ones which was a big plus. We have a stuffed bird at home that makes noise but my son can never press the button so it only goes off when he accidentally steps on it. The BAB people really thought it through to make their product toddler friendly which was a big plus. The ladies who were working the store that day were super friendly and helpful. They will try to up-sell you on things like a passport for you stuffed animal or a special BAB logo backpack to carry it so just be mindful that none of those things are free when they offer it to you. My biggest gripe--the $33 cost for parking in a structure by Pier 41. WTF?!!! Especially as a local it really pissed me off that BAB did not validate parking even though I spent $50 buying my kid a stuffed lion which likely cost them $7 total to make. I was told that all the restaurants validate as if I was a stupid tourist who would overpay for subpar food in San Francisco. We ended up popping by Krispy Kreme for a donut on our way back to the car and luckily they validated so we only paid $24 for parking *eye roll* which was still obscene. I know BAB let's kiddos pay their age for a stuffed animal in their birthday month so I may be back later this year when my son turns 2. I'll probably ride the ferry in for $9 rather than drive and pay for parking knowing that these guys do not validate. read more

The website says it opens at 10, which is not true. I arrived and waited with my 3 year old for almost 19 minutes, when we were met with an employee who told us it opened at 11. When I said the website said 10, she told us she tried to change it, but it's at 11. There was no one else there, and she closed the door on my 3 year old who was in tears. The website needs to be changed, and I won't fault the employee, but to turn us away even though it was empty and I highly doubt will be bustling with activity in January was rude. We will not be coming back. read more

We all know this is a money making machine and yes, the kids love it, so we went there and yes, I expected to be extorted by all the add-ons. What I didn't expect is being deceived during check-out being "entitled to five $10 gift cards" I can use any day after today, only to discover I have been charged $5 per card! Returning he cards, but left with a bad taste. Nice job Rachelle. read more

Ladies were super nice when I came in , I came in like half an hour before close and they didn't mind. I got myself a monkey with a little night suite and Santa cap cutest little thing ever I do definitely recommend having clearer signs as to show where to name your cuddler because I wouldn't have known where to go and would've walked out without knowing , apart from that great store defiantly recommend and not overpriced ! read more

I just left the store with my eight year old daughter on tears thanks to this rude lady. I got an email about today January 19-21 is National Hug Day and BAB is offering a bear for $5.50. We got in and couldn't find the bear so I asked this lady about it and show her the email about the National Hug Day bear, her response was "fist of all you're not going to pay that price for that bear" on a very rude way. I told her that I didn't asked her about that specific bear for the price and that she was being rude by telling us that. Then she said that they don't have that bear and I asked her why not and she keep giving us attitude. We left the store very upset and with my daughter on tears. I will try to call the store manager, because this isn't the fist time we have a bad experience in this BAB location. read more

I went in with my boyfriend to make a bear on June 13th and most of the employees were nice and helpful but there was one girl in particular that ruined my experience. After we were done filling our bear we went to the cash register to pay and were ignored even though they weren't helping anyone. We asked again and they finally stopped talking to help us. Then the heavier short African American girl at the register started mocking me and repeated something I said to the person next to her on the register and they both started laughing. While we were paying she was standing there giving me weird looks the whole time and talking under her breath to her coworker. At that point I was pretty visibly upset by the whole interaction and no longer wanted the bunny but it was already filled so my boyfriend just paid so we could leave the store. After we left my boyfriend asked me why the she was being so rude to me specifically and asked if I knew her or something (I don't), we were both pretty confused and put off by this interaction. I was so excited to make a bear with my boyfriend during his visit since we are long distances but this employee pretty much ruined the whole experience for us. You would expect the people working here to have a better attitude especially when most of the people coming in are kids. I don't know how your employees are trained but the experience was pretty disappointing overall. read more

Im not sure how this location came to so many bad reviews =[ Maybe i just got lucky with my visit. All the staff i encountered were really quite nice, so i cant complain there. They also did greet me, in a happy genuine manner. The bear I got , i chose without any special options....just the bear, with the heart inside (as per usual), and the stuffing. I just wanted something simple as a keepsake of that particular trip to the bay, but i didnt want another "SF" gift, i have a million of those already. Karen helped me out with the process, but already knew i didnt want anything special. Even though she knew i didnt want anything more than the bear, she did ask here and there if id like to upgrade the heart to the heartbeat one or the recording...and did ask another time if id like to add anything else to the bear, while i was at checkout. She was really polite about it, So i didnt mind the upsell. That is part of her job, so i understand. I might come back for another bear, maybe on my next trip during the same time read more

Build A Bear - my simple bear i chose - Toy Stores Near Me - San Francisco, California

This was the worst experience for my partner and son. My partner called earlier to check to see what time this Build A Bear workshop closed since majority are closed due to covid. He called early in the day at 1:30 pm and their was a sales associate (who is apparently the manager as well) rushed him off the phone saying they close at 5:30. We came all the way from the East bay so our son could get a bear in time for this birthday party. Of course when we arrived there was a line and The staff shut us down telling us we were not on the waitlist and denied us entry. Obviously we weren't aware that we even needed reservations nor that there was a waitlist since earlier when we called. Fast forward my partner finally convinced them to let us in once they did as a prior family who was on this "waitlist" did not show up. Fast forward and our son records a happy birthday greeting and it was really noisy cause the sales associates did not want to be quiet while we recorded and LIZ the sales associate barely did her job and didn't even test the recording before stuffing it into the bear ...we had to redo the recording--you get the point!! WORST EXPERIENCE EVER. STAFF IS RUDE. LAZY TERRIBLE customer service. BEWARE!!! 40 mins are terrible service that just led to frustration. Terrible. Worst build a bear experience ever. read more

I've never made a build-a-Bear and since I'm from SoCal and ran into this one I figured, why not! Me and my best friend both made a Yoshi and a Bowser and our helper Chelsea was great! She was really sweet and nice and kept conversation with us. Usually from other spots I've walked into the employees make it more fun for kids than the adults but she still made it enjoyable and special for us. Thank you Chelsea for being a highlight to our SF trip! read more

The lady that worked on October 1st was horrible. She was rude and extremely short with her answers. She told us to come back in 20 minutes after 20 minutes she said "it has not been 40 minutes so we should go away. She said 20 not 40 first of all. She gave several dirty t looks and rolled her eyes. The guy that worked there knew nothing and kept referring to her. Also he was just sitting the whole time. Terrible experience!! read more

Last Saturday afternoon, my boyfriend came all the way out from the east bay to celebrate his birthday. We have been looking forward to going to BAB for at least a month now and once we got to the Pier, we went directly there. We saw no line at the door of BAB, but as we walked up some lady with a clipboard stood outside and told us that we needed a reservation and that they were already booked for the rest of the day. On the website and everywhere I looked, I did not see one mention of this! This is not cool at all. It was a huge let down and I do not intend on returning anytime soon. read more

I'm excited they opened a new build a bear down by the pier. The opening staff are great and attentive! Selection is a bit smaller than other stores but they've got most of the key items down. read more