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Build-A-Bear Workshop

also referred to as: build-a-bear

17 statements across 1 episodes · 4 bullish · 1 bearish · 2 people on the record · first statement Jun 15, 2026 by Maxine Clark · said 42 times in 4 episodes since 2022 · across every show →

Mentions by year

brought up most by Guy Raz (33), Maxine Clark (5), Ben Bailey (4)

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0010120220222023202420252026episodesmentions per episode
2026 35 mentions in 2 episodes 18 per episode
2024 4 mentions in 1 episode
2022 3 mentions in 1 episode

every mention, scene by scene, with the transcript →

Everything said about Build-A-Bear Workshop, oldest first

Jun 15, 2026 neutral
Disclosure
Clark: Offered to Buy Basic Brown Bear Before Launching Build-A-Bear
“And honestly, I did go there as a customer, because it was an open tour that you could, you know, and I called them after the tour and said, I'd be open to talk to you about buying your business, and they wanted an unbelievable amount of money for their little…”
Maxine Clark Jun 15, 2026 ▶ 39:41 Build-A-Bear: Maxine Clark. A Former Shoe Executive Launches a Stuffed Animal Empire
Jun 15, 2026 neutral
Disclosure
Clark: Build-A-Bear was launched with $1.5 million of self-funding
“I decided I could invest about a million and a half dollars, and if that, if it went bust. You know, that was it. I didn't have any investors at that moment in time, and I didn't owe anybody anything.”
Maxine Clark Jun 15, 2026 ▶ 28:25 Build-A-Bear: Maxine Clark. A Former Shoe Executive Launches a Stuffed Animal Empire
Jun 15, 2026
Insight
Clark: Brand-building commitment is hard to teach founders straight out of college
“Commitment to the time it takes to build a brand and to build success is something that's hard to teach if that, if it's their first job out of college, you know, instead of having the experience that you can't really pass on to them.”
Maxine Clark Jun 15, 2026 ▶ 1:00:02 Build-A-Bear: Maxine Clark. A Former Shoe Executive Launches a Stuffed Animal Empire
Jun 15, 2026 neutral
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Clark: Teddy bears made up only about 20% of Build-A-Bear's product line
“Teddy bears were not our whole product line. Only a few of our, maybe 20% were bears.”
Maxine Clark Jun 15, 2026 ▶ 26:10 Build-A-Bear: Maxine Clark. A Former Shoe Executive Launches a Stuffed Animal Empire
Jun 15, 2026 positive
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Clark: Build-A-Bear performed much better near children's stores than luxury anchors
“If we were near a limited to store or children's place, we did way better than if we were near Nordstrom.”
Maxine Clark Jun 15, 2026 ▶ 44:32 Build-A-Bear: Maxine Clark. A Former Shoe Executive Launches a Stuffed Animal Empire
Jun 15, 2026
Disclosure
Maxine Clark: Founded Build-A-Bear at 48, planned max 15-year tenure
“I started the business when I was 48 years old. I wanted to stay till I was maybe 15 years at the maximum.”
Maxine Clark Jun 15, 2026 ▶ 51:57 Build-A-Bear: Maxine Clark. A Former Shoe Executive Launches a Stuffed Animal Empire
Jun 15, 2026
Insight
Clark: Protecting intellectual property requires having the capital to defend it
“It's not so much that you protect it, it's that you make sure that you can afford to protect it.”
Maxine Clark Jun 15, 2026 ▶ 36:14 Build-A-Bear: Maxine Clark. A Former Shoe Executive Launches a Stuffed Animal Empire
Jun 15, 2026 neutral
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Clark: Build-A-Bear's customer demographic is at least 60-40 girls to boys
“But in the end, about, it's at least sixty-forty now, girls and boys.”
Maxine Clark Jun 15, 2026 ▶ 29:49 Build-A-Bear: Maxine Clark. A Former Shoe Executive Launches a Stuffed Animal Empire
Jun 15, 2026 positive
Insight
Clark: Factory tours inspired the idea for interactive mall workshops
“I knew if people were going on tours of a factory that made stuffed animals, imagine if it was in their hometown, what they might do. Could we miniaturize it, make it feasible to be in a mall with the right some equipment, you know, like our stuffing machine, …”
Maxine Clark Jun 15, 2026 ▶ 23:42 Build-A-Bear: Maxine Clark. A Former Shoe Executive Launches a Stuffed Animal Empire
Jun 15, 2026 negative
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Clark: Bankers wrongly advised acquiring existing factories over starting Build-A-Bear
“A lot of the bankers were telling me that if I bought something, it would be easier than, you know, inventing it from scratch, that you could use it as collateral. That it would be maybe a better, a faster way to get where I wanted to go. They were wrong about…”
Maxine Clark Jun 15, 2026 ▶ 22:44 Build-A-Bear: Maxine Clark. A Former Shoe Executive Launches a Stuffed Animal Empire
Jun 15, 2026 bullish
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Build-A-Bear matched its full first-year sales projection in its first quarter
“We did as much business in the first quarter, October to December, as I thought we were going to do the whole year, the whole first year we were in business.”
Maxine Clark Jun 15, 2026 ▶ 33:09 Build-A-Bear: Maxine Clark. A Former Shoe Executive Launches a Stuffed Animal Empire
Jun 15, 2026
Disclosure
Maxine Clark: Created an advisory board of children for Build-A-Bear
“I really built a board of advisors that were children.”
Maxine Clark Jun 15, 2026 ▶ 21:55 Build-A-Bear: Maxine Clark. A Former Shoe Executive Launches a Stuffed Animal Empire
Jun 15, 2026
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Clark: Build-A-Bear secured mall lease exclusivity against copycats
“And then also, when we did leases with landlords, we signed exclusive agreements to be the only make-your-own-stuffed-animal store.”
Maxine Clark Jun 15, 2026 ▶ 36:19 Build-A-Bear: Maxine Clark. A Former Shoe Executive Launches a Stuffed Animal Empire
Jun 15, 2026
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Build-A-Bear's barcode ID system returned 10,000 lost bears to children
“And we did bring back about 10,000. Prior to COVID, I think it was around 10,000 bears that we had found over the years and brought back to kids.”
Maxine Clark Jun 15, 2026 ▶ 31:50 Build-A-Bear: Maxine Clark. A Former Shoe Executive Launches a Stuffed Animal Empire
Jun 15, 2026
Disclosure
Clark: Took no money out of Build-A-Bear during 2004 IPO
“And I didn't take any money out of the company at that particular point, but our investors wanted out.”
Maxine Clark Jun 15, 2026 ▶ 47:28 Build-A-Bear: Maxine Clark. A Former Shoe Executive Launches a Stuffed Animal Empire
Jun 15, 2026
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Clark: Mall landlords became Build-A-Bear's largest expansion investors
“The St. Louis Galleria didn't give us any tenant allowance, but every store after that gave us something to build our store. They wanted us to come, and they wanted to be the first one in their market, so in Chicago we had, the next two stores were in Chicago,…”
Maxine Clark Jun 15, 2026 ▶ 42:02 Build-A-Bear: Maxine Clark. A Former Shoe Executive Launches a Stuffed Animal Empire
Jun 15, 2026 positive
Assertion Supported
Raz: Build-A-Bear generates well over $500 million in annual revenue
“Today, Build-A-Bear does well over five hundred million dollars in revenue, all kinds of interesting collaborations.”
Guy Raz Jun 15, 2026 ▶ 56:35 Build-A-Bear: Maxine Clark. A Former Shoe Executive Launches a Stuffed Animal Empire
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