Stuffed teddy bear retailer Build-A-Bear’s was forced to shut a promotion down early after an overwhelming response.
On Thursday, Build-A-Bear implemented a “Pay Your Age Day” event: customers could purchase one of their stuffed animals and only pay their age. The fee for adults was capped as well, at $29. Regular price for one of the popular toys is between $20 and $35.
But by mid-morning the company said it had to shut down the promotion down, citing “crowds and safety concerns.” At 11 A.M. EST the company announced it would no longer allow customers to enter locations.
“Build-A-Bear Workshop’s Pay Your Age Day event generated an overwhelming response, resulting in long lines, extensive waits and disappointed Guests,” a statement released by the company read. “We feel it is important to share that, based on the information available to us before the day began, we could not have predicted this reaction to our Pay Your Age Day event.”
In lieu of the promotion the company announced that all Build-A-Bear Bonus Club members – even those who didn’t wait in line at stores – would receive a voucher for $15 off at any store location.
“Our goal with the voucher extension is to enable us to better flow traffic to the stores over the next several weeks to avoid long lines and wait times as much as possible. Therefore, we strongly encourage Guests to consider delaying their trip to Build-A-Bear, and we appreciate everyone’s understanding and patience in this matter,” the statement continued.
Customers need to download the voucher from Build-A-Bear’s website before midnight on July 15, and the voucher will be valid until the end of August.
Photo by Dushan Hanuska via Flickr