Disclosure: I was invited to the event and provided gift cards to test out the new features of the store. No other compensation was received.
I was invited to see the re-opening of Build A Bear Workshop at Roosevelt Field Mall, in Garden City NY. We had visit the store before it had closed down for renovations. We even had a birthday party there, and it was fun.
I can tell you now that Build A Bear Workshop just turned everything around with a whole new experience. My kids didn’t want to leave the store at all.
The animal set up has not change they left that alone, with easy to find selection. After you select your animal you go get a heart.
Now usually you would get the heart at the stuffing station. Now they have it where you can put your heart on the screen and add qualities to your bear.
Next station is sound: They have a digital display with all the sound recordings for you to choose from. You can even record your own message, then upload it and thats it.
Next is the stuffing station: Nothing here has really changed except, they have a digital keypad on the side that scans your animal. It tells the employee your childs name and age. That gives her hints at what fun things to do with the hearts.
You wash your new friend: This was my kids favorite station. They changed it from having brushes to a virtual bath. It looks like water and you can even put the duckies and sail boat in the water, push down the pedal and air comes out to help clean.
When it is time to move on you pull the drain up and watch the water go down.
Next station is dressing: Nothing has really changed with this. You pick out the clothes and dress your friend. The clothing was a lot more organized now and everything was easy to find.
The last station is naming your new friend. This station has gotten a whole new makeover. You scan your animal and they show up on the screen, from there you can name your animal. You can even tap a this little icon and put it oner your bear and see what is inside your bear.
My favorite part, if you are a Stuff for Stuff member you can scan your card and it puts all your information in the computer. So you don’t have to put in your address, phone # etc.
The Birth certificates are newly designed too. You can now chose from different backgrounds and a picture of the bear/animal you make will appear on the certificate.
I loved this experience and my kids have been begging me to go back just so they can play in the store. I talked to the store Manager and found out they even have a hospital there. If your animal gets ripped or falls apart, sound stops working. You can bring it in to the hospital and they will fix it. There is so much to do.
Usually when we do in to make bears we only get a bear and outfit as it can get a little costly. This time we went all out with sounds and outfits we wanted to experience everything. Bears start at $10, it’s really a experience the whole family will enjoy. The whole staff is amazing, with big smiles on there faces. The store manager was great, and explained the whole process, and any questions I had.
Join Roosevelt Field for their grand opening celebeartion this weekend:
July 12 at 10 AM ribbon cutting ceremony
July 13-14 get free perks and the first 100 people will get to make a bear for free to donate to charity.
