Build-A-Bear Workshop

"Today is my sons birthday and his bestfriend and first cousins was a week ago. We have never been to B-A-B so once a friend told me about the birthday experience we wanted to give it a try. The only reason I’m providing this review with three stars is because the young lady ( possibly a teen) who stuffed the bears for us and walked us through the process was nice to work with. Upon entering and asking about the birthday bear the woman who I believe was a manager ( she is older lady with a shaved head on the side) was rude, the price is on the tag, no that’s not the birthday bear, I would ask a question she was short, appeared annoyed n rude. Upon going to the register she begin asking us questions about their birthdays almost as if I was lying to save $11. My son ended up wanting clothes accessories and another bear so we spent around $90 so idk what her issue was. We said several times it was our first time and she was like oh you want birth certificates it’s over there. I was oh ok I’ll figure it out. I don’t like leaving reviews like this but when you work in a store like this and your an adult and the acting manager you need to conduct yourself as such no matter how your day may be going. Just because I appear young doesn’t mean I am. Just because we have two toddlers that are three doesn’t mean we are lying. She is dismissive rude, blunt and unkind. As a first time visitor if I return I’ll be sure to not purchase if she is working."

"I drove 30 minutes to get here because the official website and google said it was here and open. When we arrived it was closed and said they said they were relocated 2 minutes away. We went and that location too was closed. Someone needs to update the website with the proper information."

"It was my son’s first time to B-A-B store and it was a horrible experience . The asian lady was unkind and blunt the whole time! I can see that she doesn’t really enjoy her job stuffing all the animals, but come on! It was right before Christmas time! It was such a waste of money and she really ruined our mood. I would rather go to a Target store to get a stuffed animal."

"This store is terrible! Saturday night they are supposed to close at 8. Got there at 750 and tjey refused to open the store. It is Christmas and we were there on time! Mgmt needs to review because this is ridicoulous!!!!!!"

"NEVER go to the National Harbor location of Build-A-Bear if you’re a Pokémon fan and buy their plushies. My grandma got me a Pikachu plush around New Year's Eve 2022 at this location. Note that this is my first Build-A-Bear. Reason, why I mentioned it is because I never knew that you can add Pikachu's cry onto the plush! There was this wooden voice selection shelf-thingy where you can place the voice into this voice box onto your Build-A-Bear plush. Unfortunately, this location don't have Pikachu's cry, until I later found out that you can select voices on the tablet. When I came to Build-A-Bear in Arundel Mills back in the 8th of June, before I got myself a Growlithe plush I ask an employee about putting Growlithe's cry onto the plush, and they said it's possible! They just scan the plushes barcode and found Growlithe's cry and place it on the voice box. I NEVER KNEW THIS UNTIL LATER! I thought this was an online thing, until I realized you could get it in store. I came back to the same build a bear at this location, thinking that the computers were not only to print certificates, but also had custom voice boxes, but the digital screens was just computers to print birth certificates. I KNEW they don’t have the Pikachu’s cry to begin with, HECK any other Pokémon cry. They use old school wooden shelf to keep the basic voices. I had to Uber and take public transit (Yes I had no car) to get to Arundel Mills mall to get these voice boxes, including Pikachu’s voice box. MD commuter trains are a pain in the butt to get around DC/Baltimore. I wasted 7 hours of me getting a ride to Arundel Mills mall and missed 2 trains because of me bringing a bike without bungee cords and no disabled tickets on ticket booths at Union Station due to the new rule changes. I have not been on MARC train for 5 years, going over there was so last minute for the fact that I wasn’t prepared for the rule changes before hopping on the train. If they had the voices, I would’ve been gone off with my day, riding my bike from the national harbor to Alexandria having fun with my Pikachu and Growlithe plushies, catching the metro home, go drop off a chromebook to my nearest library, and head home before 1 or 2 pm because of the 100 degree weather. I came over there when the store was open. All I did over there was print a birth certificate for my Pikachu since I didn’t have a chance to print one when Grandma got this for me and I added sweet scent for both my Growlithe and Pikachu plush. Never go to this build a bear if you’re planning on getting a Pokémon plush with or without a Pokémon cry. You’re more than welcome to go to the Arundel Mills location to get those. Build-A-Bear should also bring back the PG Plaza location that would’ve been more convenient since I live near there. But they had to close down which is disappointing."