The recent Build-A-Bear ‘Pay your age’ promotion held on July 12 across the country turned out to be too successful, which resulted in the company pulling the plug and dispensing coupons for $15 off to be used another day.
The ‘Pay your age’ day attracted large crowds to Southern Park Mall and others across the country. At Southern Park Mal, lines began forming outside at 9:00 am and by the time the mall opened, the wait for new comers was six hours.
Amid growing lines and confusion, the company made an executive decision to shut down its bear construction lines over safety concerns. This decision was posted to its website that afternoon.
Boardman resident Charles Lines counted himself lucky to only wait in line 30 minutes before the employees informed customers the line was being stopped and commenced to handing out coupons for $15 discounts on a stuffed animal.
Lines was quoted by WKBN saying:
"I'll just bring my kids back another day to pick out their bear and give us a little more time to search around and stuff."
A publicly traded company, Build-A-Bear’s stock was unaffected by the aborted promotion.
Offers like this one are often supported by poster or flyer printing, although in this case, the marketing seemed a work a little better than the company had expected.
