Updated Build-A-Bear Workshop now open in The Florida Mall featuring enhanced technology

A newly imagined Build-A-Bear Workshop store will be opening at The Florida Mall today, Oct. 25, 2013. The store is enhanced with innovative technology to provide a richer, more interactive experience for guests.

“At Build-A-Bear Workshop, we are continually innovating to provide breakthrough experiences and products for today’s generation of tech-savvy Guests,” said Maxine Clark, founder of Build-A-Bear Workshop. “We are thrilled to bring our newly imagined store to The Florida Mall and look forward to having fun and making memories with our guests.”

The first 100 guests at the event will get the chance to make bears for free that will then be donated to Mended Little Hearts of Orlando, which will help distribute the bears to children in need of a teddy bear hug.

Guests who visit the new store will see a noticeable change to the company’s trademarked stuffed animal-making experience including:

• An interactive storefront that is enabled by Microsoft’s Kinect technology and interactive touch elements. Guests can play games and view the latest product offerings as they enter the store.
• The Love Me station allows guests to customize their furry friends with special personality attributes displayed as emoticons on an interactive table. Guests add unique traits like brave, silly and smart to their red satin heart, which is added to their stuffed animal during the Stuff Me process.
• The Hear Me station features an assortment of high quality sounds that can be added to stuffed animals. Using an interactive touch screen, guests can select and load popular hits from current music, sounds, or their own voice onto a chip to further personalize their stuffed animal.
• The Fluff Me station features a digital bath tub with Microsoft PixelSense technology. The tub magically recognizes the items as they are placed on it and reacts with sensory effects such as virtual bubbles that appear when play soap is placed on the “water surface.”
• The Name Me station, where guests use a viewfinder or “Bear-O-Scope” to reveal the special attributes they added to their stuffed animal. At Name Me, guests also create a one-of-a-kind birth certificate that includes a photo of their new furry friend.

Through these interactive elements, guests can personalize the bear-making process and have a different experience each time they visit. The store includes a number of technology platforms that enable Build-A-Bear Workshop to continue to update the store experience. Similar to how one might download a new app to a mobile device, the company is able to update the stations inside the store with interactive experiences that are relevant to certain product launches and seasons.

“We are excited for Build-A-Bear Workshop to bring its newly designed store concept to The Florida Mall,” said Brian Hanson, general manager of The Florida Mall. “As a leader in the interactive retail space, Build-A-Bear Workshop is providing a special destination to The Florida Mall that we know our families will enjoy for years to come.”