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Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. is an American retailer headquartered in Overland, Missouri, that sells teddy bears and other stuffed animals. Customers go through an interactive process in which the stuffed animal of their choice is assembled and customized during their visit to the store. Build-A-Bear Workshop is the largest chain that operates in this style. The company has been acclaimed for the quality of its working environment, especially as a workplace for teenagers. The company's slogan is "Where Best Friends Are Made". ==History== Build-A-Bear Workshop was founded by Maxine Clark in 1997, with its first store in the Saint Louis Galleria. By 2007, the store had sold over 50 million bears and had over 400 stores in operation worldwide in Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Kuwait, Mexico, Norway, Oman, Qatar, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. The chain also originally had at least one store in Brazil, but it has since closed for reasons unknown. In 2006, the company acquired The Bear Factory from Hamleys and began operating in its flagship store in London. Build-A-Bear has also engaged in various charities, including the WWF Collecti-bear series which has given over $1 million (USD) to the World Wildlife Fund.〔(Build-A-Bear Workshop Donates $1 Million for World Wildlife Fund ), 7 March 2006〕 As part of its tenth birthday celebration, the company built 11 playgrounds throughout the USA and Canada in partnership with KaBOOM! and announced that it had donated over $11 million to various child and family causes since 1994. The store also hosts an event called "Stuffed For Hugs Weekend" in May, in which guests at Build-a-Bear are given the opportunity to stuff a pre-selected animal for charity. There is a similar weekend that occurs in late October known as "The Spirit of Giving" in which guests can make stuffed ghosts. A Build-A-Bear Workshop video game was developed by The Game Factory and released for the Nintendo DS platform for Christmas 2007. Build-A-Bear has also created several tie-in stuffed animals for various promotional events, including a toy The Cat in the Hat, a toy Shrek, a toy Cody Maverick penguin from ''Surf's Up'', a toy Mumble from ''Happy Feet'', a toy E.B. from ''Hop'', both Alvin and Brittany from the ''Alvin and the Chipmunks'' film series, a ''Jonas'' dog, a ''Shake It Up'' bear and a ''Wizards of Waverly Place'' bear. Build-A-Bear workshop has also released several lines of miniature toys included in Happy Meals at McDonald's restaurants, running first in May 2006〔(Build-A-Bear Workshop(R) Featured in McDonald's(R) Happy Meal(R) and Mighty Kids Meals; ''Summer of Happy Meal Fun'' Series Includes First-Ever Plush Collection with Removable Clothing ), 10 May 2006〕 followed by a second promotion in August 2007, a third in October 2009, a fourth one in February 2012 and fifth in November 2013. In November 2015, they came back to McDonald's. These were only available in McDonald's in the United States. Build a Bear also created stuffed animals based on characters from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic In 2010, in honor of the Sanrio company's 50th anniversary, Build-A-Bear released limited edition Sanrio characters, including Hello Kitty, Chococat, My Melody, and Keroppi. This even included the release of mini keychains of the four characters along with Deery Lou.〔(Hello Kitty and Sanrio Friends Celebrate Sanrio's 50th Anniversary at Build-A-Bear Workshop )〕 In 2010, Build-A-Bear also started selling Zhu Zhu Pets, a line of electronic hamsters by Cepia LLC. Also in 2010 Build-A-Bear introduced some smaller bears in boxes and already stuffed bears called smallfrys. A variety of smallfrys were available ranging from normal bears and rabbits to blue tigers and purple giraffes. Just like the normal 30–40 cm bears they had clothes and accessories but not as big a variety as the larger bears. Starting in 2011, Build-A-Bear added Victoria Justice as their new spokesperson. In the mid-year, she began appearing in all Build-A-Bear Workshop commercials. Build-A-Bear also released a feature film available on iPad through MoPix in December 2011.〔(Build-A-Bear Workshop )〕 It has been recently announced in February 2015 that in the Fall of the same year, Lalaloopsy will be coming to Build-A-Bear. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Build-A-Bear Workshop」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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