Susan R.

"Do what you can with what you have, where you are. Believe you can and your halfway there. It is hard to fail, but it is worse never have tried to succeed!" Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt The conception of this business came to fruition in October of 1997, in St Louis, MO. Maxine Clark had a vision. She wanted to bring the personalization of a "furry friend" to kids. Her inspiration made a connection between a stuffed animal and that human connection that all children seek from a stuffed animal. The special relationship that she was able to share with the world made children feel more connected emotionally. Who remembers their favorite stuffed toy? My stuffed toy as a child was a Pooh bear that sung to me. I remember my mama winding it up and it sang to me as I drifted to sleep. After it stopped singing no one was their to wind it up. Now with Maxine's innovation you can hug your favorite stuffed animal and it will sing for you when your mama closes the door and leaves the room. The emotional connection that children have with stuffed animals is dramatic and impactful to their well being. When my children were growing up they had the average stuffed animal. My first born came along in the year 2000, and he was drawn to this store because of his love of stuffed animals. He was able to have the latest character and he kept it with his always. As a parent it was important to make sure the children played and used their imaginations. They played make believe and learned through the joys of play. Many build a bears over the decades made this possible, because of the dream of an inspiring individual. How do you build a company that's success and not compromise your values. You open a business that turns into a phenomenal success over night. How do you stay humble with all this attention. The innovator of Build a Bear uses "heart" to keep the companies motto in focus. What could be more important than your stuffed animal having it own heart! Each animal made it stuffed by an employee and sealed with love. They shake the heart and give it the breath of life before it is sowed up and ready to go home. The heart is what makes all of us the same and equal. Use your imagination and get lost today with your new furry friend that needs a hug from you.

Alma Z.

Our second time at this store, with our second baby celebrating 1 year birthday. Two years ago we picked classic teddy bear, this time around- got the birthday bear for $1 (you can get for the amount of your child's birthday) . It was end of the day. Around 6 pm. Lady who helped us was clearly very tired. Not great in customer service. But I also understand- that it's impossible to jump around and be super happy all the time. I didn't have much cash with me, but tipped her a little bit. I wish she was a bit more enthusiastic. But it's MY child who is having a birthday, not hers. I used to work in retail- so I get it. Nice store, always clean. I get amazed with all the add ons (not necessary in my opinion). But it's fun for kids. And it's a wonderful opportunity for a family for pay few dollars and get a memorable gift for a lifetime. Just tip the girls if you can.

Marie T.

We decided it was the right time for our kids to experience Build-A-Bear. They are old enough to remember this fun family outing and have their own personalities to choose what they want. The process is pretty simple: 1. You pick which one you want stuffed. 2. You get to push the pedal down while an employee stuffs. You also get to make a wish on a heart and it gets placed inside. 3. You go over to the "bath area" to brush and fluff everything out. 4. You pick what clothing and accessories you'd like for your new friend. 5. You go over to the computer to give your new friend a name and print out a "birth certificate." 6. Then the not so fun part, paying for it. My kids definitely enjoyed the whole process and being able to help with making their new cuddle friends. The employees were so nice and friendly. I must give them lots of credit for their patience lol. My daughter was most excited about picking the outfit and shoes. They love their new stuffies and it travels around our house quite often lol. Only negative I have is that it can get pretty costly with all the add-ons (clothing, accessories, voice box, scents etc.) We spent a little over $100 on two. So yeah, take that for what it's worth. But my kids are happy, and that's all that matters.

I had the pleasure of going to the Galleria BAB in celebration of my birthday yesterday and was greeted by the most awesome, host Tjuan and checked out by another pleasant and personable host, Frey. Each one of them made my experience at their BAB memorable. I am so happy that there are people like them working at a family friendly business such as BAB. The both of them were eager and willing to assist all customers, had a genuine enthusiasm with interacting with customers which they treated as guests and not just treating us as monetary customers. This experience greatly contributed to me having an awesome day for my birthday. Tjuan & Frey are incredibly awesome BAB hosts.

Steven W.

Oh my gosh, want to see a child's eyes light up? Take 'em to Build A Bear. Going through the steps of choosing just the right furry best friend to having it stuffed to dressing it is a fun time for everyone. I particularly liked the steps they go through when choosing a heart. The store was clean with wide aisles, allowing several customers to look over & pick out what they'd like. The staff were all very friendly & chatty with the children. It is a bit spendy, but we happened to walk in during a sale & the Mrs & I were quite pleased with the final price.

Brooke K.

Wow, what an awesome experience! Brought my to be seven year-old here to do a stuffy for her birthday, and the staff was absolutely amazing they made her day! They were so great with her, they were funny and outgoing every single staff member there was just incredible and made a magical experience for my daughter. They even sang a special birthday song for her at the end, so fun! Thank you so much for your kindness and energy. You are all awesome! We'll definitely be back.

Shannon P.

Specifically went to this location after my daughter seen a post from her Facebook Sanrio group. She was on the quest to find the limited, Cinnamoroll Plush by Sanrio. Luckily they were still in stock when we got there (they've been selling out everywhere). Employees were friendly & helpful. Store was organized & clean. We will definitely return to this location for future Sanrio releases.

Lauren C.

Build-A-Bear has been around for a long time, but my recent visit was my first time making a bear. We brought our daughter as part of her birthday adventure day and it was magical. This location in The Galleria Mall was clean and organized. They had a large selection of bears and everything imaginable to dress and accessorize the bears. The employees here were very friendly and attentive to our daughter. They asked her questions and made the whole experience very interactive. Maybe I was the last person to find out about the birthday bear deal, but it's worth checking out. One particular birthday bear is priced at "pay your age" for your birthday. So the bear was $3 for my daughter and it's a full sized bear! It even has cute little birthday print feet. Of course we purchased $25 in accessories, but we would have done that anyways. The process to stuff the bear was really cute. My toddler loved stepping on the pedal to stuff the bear. There was a cute little process to make the bear her own. Then the bear received a birth certificate. We went in to buy a bear, but it ended up being a cute experience for our daughter too.

Aileena R.

Thanks to all you ladies today that made my very FIRST build a bear experience awesome!!! I will definitely be back! I already have a list of all the bears I want lol! Plus hubby and I will be having our first grand baby soon so you'll have another happy customer Thanks again!!!!

Colleen B.

Our Girl Scout troop gets to come here once a year and wow we have such a great time. Thank you for opening an hour early for us and accommodating us during a pandemic! Your staff is friendly and helpful and I like how they help us stay within our budget. These little bears are so darn cute! My granddaughter got the Vegas Golden Knights themed bear and since she recently recovered from an ankle injury she added crutches and a bandage to her bear! It is just too darn cute. Thank you Build-a-Bear!

Juliette N.

My mom and I have been coming to Build-A-Bear since I was 3 years old (about 15 years ago!) and we enjoy bringing my younger siblings to Build-A-Bear so we are frequent and loyal customers. Over a year ago I bought a Squirtle from the Pokémon collection at this location and I was promised that if I wanted to add any sort of updates to him I could bring him back and they would take care of it for me. Fast forward to a few weeks ago my mom and I were buying a couple bears as Christmas presents for my brother and sister so I asked if I could bring my Squirtle back to have his sound put in him. I was told by an employee at this same location that as long as I still had his original tag I could bring him back and get the factory sound. Today we came back to get the sound with the original tag as well as a couple of outfits for my brother and sisters bears. The sweet worker swipes Squirtle's tag on the sound machine and was about to sell the sound to me when the store manager Stephanie approaches and rudely stated that they will not sell me the sound even though I was quoted that they could. She then insist on selling me a recording of the sound which came out grainy, didn't even catch all of the Squirtle sounds and has a random child's voice in the background. The recording ended up costing me more money than the original sound and when Stephanie inserted it in Squirtle's hand she carelessly made it so it was poking out and looks tacky. Maybe that's just me being a perfectionist but I am very dissatisfied. This isn't the first run in I've had with Stephanie and her lack of empathy and custom service. She even had the nerve to point out a past experience I had with her which was inaccurate. She made me feel like I'm stupid and tried to make me out to be like I'm unreasonable. All I wanted was the factory sound for my Squirtle. I feel that there should be better training because Build-A-Bear prides themselves in great experiences. I work in customer service myself and 90% of the time I root for the employees because they're just doing their jobs. But in this instance I feel that Stephanie was the one being rude and disrespectful. Very unprofessional.

Walter H.

Birthday party for kids or even adults - this place is fun! Yeah, it's stuffed animals - but whether you're into fairies, unicorns, bear, dogs or cats, they have choices for you. They even have Star Wars themed choices. If you have a group - the organized party is actually a better deal than using coupons etc. The staff is super nice and take care of everything.

Terri E.

Never been here before even though I've heard about it many times from friends. Cool idea and interactive fun for the kids. We got to experience this for a kid's birthday party. The kids get to pick out the type of stuffed animal they want. So many options but my favorite was definitely the Star Wars series. I even tried to convince my daughter to get the Rey doll since she loves Rey and even dressed up as her for Halloween, but it was a no go. The "bears" ranged from bears, cats, dogs, horses, unicorns, Pokeman, Star Wars, My Little Pony, Shopkins, Paw Patrol, Disney princesses, superheroes and many more. Maybe about 30 options in all? The characters were priced between $28-35 per item. I noticed some had 2 for $35 or 2 for $45 special price tags on them. My kids chose a Shopkins bear and unicorn. Naturally. Ha. Once the kids chose their character. They sat in a group and our Build-A-Bear staff was very enthusiastic and patient with the kids. Unfortunately I did not get her name but she was so great with the kids. They labeled the kids names on their selections then headed over to the stuffing process. As our staff member was selecting kids to help assist her in stuffing the "bear", she kept her attention on the group and was having fun singing and conversing with them. Once the animals were stuffed, the kids got to go select an outfit and shoes for their animal. They dressed their animals and then were handed birth certificates for their bear. Cute since you can name the animal and add all the other important information seen on a birth certificate. They also received light drawstring backpack bags to put their animals in. At the end of the experience, our birthday host was probably paying $40-50 per kid. Incredibly generous birthday party but not inexpensive whatsoever. I suppose you are paying for the whole experience which is cool. I'll have to take our 3-year old so we can get him a Storm Trooper bear. I like the concept of this but not sure I would honestly pay $40-50 per bear for my kids. Never say never because it is a cute idea and they offer cute characters. My kids loved theirs. We do need that Storm Trooper!!