Build-A-Bear Workshop becomes Santa’s Workshop for the holidays
Retailer kicks off season with campaign to benefit Toys for Tots
-- Kids Today, 11/2/2009 1:28:00 PM
ST. LOUIS – Build-A-Bear Workshop stores across the world were transformed Sunday into Santa’s
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Workshop just for the holidays. From Los Angeles to New York, Montreal to Miami, new Santa’s Workshop signs now cover the popular retailer’s brand name marquee for the entire holiday season.
The new holiday look heralds a fun, new and interactive experience for guests, who can mingle with magical elves and become honorary elves themselves while making personalized gifts for friends and family. It also signals the beginning of the season of giving and giving back. With the help of its guests, Build-A-Bear Workshop will donate 100,000 stuffed animals and toys to Toys for Tots through a two-month campaign.
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| Under an arrangement with Build-A-Bear Workshop’s founder and chief executive bear Maxine Clark, Santa and his elves are magically transforming each Build-A-Bear Workshop across the world into Santa's Workshops for the holidays. This was all supposed to happen under cover, but a surveillance camera captured Santa red-suited, red-faced and red-handed at the Saint Louis Galleria mall as he hung out his shingle early on the morning of Nov. 1. |
On Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 7 and 8, stores in the United States will serve as Toys for Tots donation drop-off locations. Guests are encouraged to bring in a new, unwrapped toy or make a furry friend to donate to a child in need this holiday season.
On Saturday, Nov. 21, Build-A-Bear Workshop will host screening parties of its original holiday classic, Holly and Hal Moose: An Uplifting Christmas Adventure. The film premieres Tuesday, Nov. 24, at 7 p.m. EST/6 p.m. CDT on ABC Family, marking the first time in the retailer’s 12-year history that its plush animals are brought to life on television. Guests will get to see the movie for free in a private screening when they donate a new, unwrapped gift to Toys for Tots.
On Dec. 2-6, a virtual giving quest will be featured at buildabearville.com. Each time a Build-A-Bearville citizen finishes the online quest, Build-A-Bear Workshop will donate a “real world” toy to Toys for Tots.
“We are pleased and proud that Santa chose Build-A-Bear Workshop to help him bring even more joy to the holiday season,” said Maxine Clark, founder and chief executive bear of Build-A-Bear Workshop.
Patented T-ink technology is being used to magically bring elves to life at Santa’s Workshop. From Nov. 1 to Dec. 25, while quantities last, each guest will receive an Honorary Elf Access Card with conductive ink that when touched to one of the cardboard elves in the store makes it light up and talk. Guests can interact with the elves around the store to unlock secret messages, reveal their elf names and get free virtual gifts to use at buildabearville.com.
Build-A-Bear Workshop is the first retailer to feature this technology in its visual merchandising. Guests will be able to experience even more elaborate T-ink innovations throughout the stores next year.
Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. offers an interactive make-your-own stuffed animal retail-entertainment experience. Founded in 1997, the company and its franchisees currently operate more than 400 Build-A-Bear Workshop stores worldwide, including company-owned stores in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland and France, and franchise stores in Europe, Asia, Australia and Africa.
In 2007, the interactive experience was enhanced – all the way to CyBEAR space – with the launch of buildabearville.com, the company’s virtual world stuffed with fun.
The company was named to the 2009 FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For list. Build-A-Bear Workshop posted total revenue of $468 million in fiscal 2008.
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