Company Profile
Since its beginning in 1997, Build-A-Bear has evolved to become a beloved multi-generational brand focused on its mission to “add a little more heart to life” where guests of all ages make their own “furry friends” in celebration and commemoration of life moments. Guests create their own stuffed animals by participating in the stuffing, dressing, accessorizing, and naming of their own teddy bears and other plush toys based on the Company’s own intellectual property and in conjunction with a variety of best-in-class licenses. The hands-on and interactive nature of our more than 500 company-owned, partner-operated and franchise experience locations around the world, combined with Build-A-Bear’s pop-culture appeal, often fosters a lasting and emotional brand connection with consumers, and has enabled the Company to expand beyond its retail stores to include e-commerce sales on www.buildabear.com and non-plush branded consumer categories via out-bound licensing agreements with leading manufacturers, as well as the creation of engaging content via Build-A-Bear Entertainment (a subsidiary of Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc.). Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. (NYSE: BBW) posted consolidated total revenues of $486.1 million for fiscal 2023. For more information, visit the Investor Relations section of buildabear.com.
As of February 3, 2024, the Company had 525 global locations through a combination of its corporately-managed, partner-operated, and international-franchise models. This reflects 359 corporately-managed locations, including 320 stores in the United States (“U.S.”) and Canada and 39 stores in the United Kingdom (“U.K.”) and Ireland, 92 partner-operated locations operated through our "third-party retail" model in which we sell our products on a wholesale basis to other companies that then, in turn, execute our retail experience, and 74 franchised stores operating internationally, all under the Build-A-Bear Workshop brand. In addition to these stores, we sell products on our company-owned e-commerce sites and third-party marketplace sites, our franchisees sell products through sites that they manage as well as other third-party marketplace sites and other parties sell products on their sites under wholesale agreements. For the 2023 fiscal year, the Company had a net new unit growth of 37 experience locations, comprised of nine corporately managed locations, 22 partner-operated locations, and six international franchise locations.