Clark: Bankers wrongly advised acquiring existing factories over starting Build-A-Bear
Maxine Clark · Build-A-Bear: Maxine Clark. A Former Shoe Executive Launches a Stuffed Animal Empire · Jun 15, 2026 · at 22:44
Maxine Clark, founder of Build-A-Bear Workshop, describes why she initially explored buying existing US stuffed animal factories before launching the company.
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“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 that”
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