Build a Bear, Worth your Time or Waste of Time?

July 12, 2018 will go down as one of the craziest days in retail history for 2018 until Black Friday comes around. However this event was unlike many had ever witnessed before since the Furby. When it was announced early in the week that there was going to be a one day pay your age at Build a Bear and you could choose any stuffie in the store it was highly appealing. The issue was going to be how early were people going to show up and how long would you have to wait in line with kids in toe and would they last the time in line. I only live about 15mins from the nearest store so I figured I would not need to get up to early but went into this with the plan that I would bring snacks and the Ipad for the kids and if attitudes from either them or myself got bad we would pull the plug because I wanted this to be a fun memory.

The morning starts like any other day with breakfast and getting dressed and we headed out to the mall. We arrived to the Kenwood Towne Centre Mall at 9:15am and the line was already wrapped around the section of the mall by the store and we were across from the store but on the other side (after talking to those in front of me it was noted that people started showing up at 8am which is when the Mall doors opened up for walkers). We settled in and the kids started asking what we were doing so I explained that we were there to get a special stuffie and that everyone else was here for the same things. I also told them that this would take some time and we would have to be patient. My kids who are 2.5 and 5 years old said ok and so I began the wondering if this would workout. We had a few moments at the beginning where the kids were getting used to the idea of standing and waiting to move a few feet at a time. About 30mins into standing there my son says he needs to go potty. I thought this could be interesting and as I turned to talk to the mom behind me she speaks up and with a smile says she will move my stroller up to hold my spot and we run off to do a quick potty break and pull up change for the kids and myself.

This simple act of kindness is what I was hoping would be the atmosphere. We as parents were here to do something special for our kids that many would find to be crazy. Some would even ask why would you put your kids through this but honestly if the parents were calm about the situation and were keeping things fun for the kids what is the big deal with being there. The rest of the time the conversations with the parents around us were great and we had just as much fun talking to each other as the kids had playing with each other.

As the minutes turned into half hours which turned into hours there was the thought of how we were going to keep these little ones happy because snacks were starting to disappear quickly, but out of no where to the rescue came this sweet little old lady from the food court down stairs. It was an employee of Chick-fil-A who came up with chicken nuggets in little boxes for the kids and the parents were so happy and the kids were super excited. It was an amazing blessing that a company would take the time during there busy lunch time to come up and feed the masses when they could have very well just stayed to their course. At this point we were in line for about 3 hours and we were seeing that we were about 3 or 4 store fronts from the promise land.

Then the most unusual thing happened a Build a Bear worker emerged from the crowd and started talking to those in line with an opportunity to take a $15 voucher and if you accepted you would have to leave the mall and could come back later to claim your bear. There were a few who took this gesture because their kids were just spent and they were at least getting something for their time but it was not enough for many. About 45 mins later the same worker comes back and offers that if you want to go in pick out an animal and come back later to stuff it you were welcome to skip the line and go right in. This was the offer that me and many of those around us were waiting for because we did not care about the stuffing experience. It was a much better idea to come back when there was not mass hysteria. So we said yes to the offer and walked past what seemed like a couple hundred people who look at us in disbelief and a little disgust but we had prevailed in our game plan. We went in the kids picked out their animals (Skye from Paw Patrol for my daughter and Eevee from Pokemon for my son) and we are out in 10mins. We took at picture of our victory before we left and headed home happy and excited. The kids had big smiles and excitement in their voices to be getting to come back later.

Through all this experience I was talking to my friends on social media about what was taking place and many of them were saying that it was crazy to put the kids through this. That this was just a waste and their time was worth more to them but everyone has there reasons for doing taking part in this event. For me it was a chance to do something a little crazy and see how the kids would react. They were in no harm and to often these days kids are being taught instant gratification. My kids learned that when you in a line for something it might not go the speed you think and that patience is the only thing to rely on. Plus we are a one income family so we saved $50 and they know that they get to go have the full filling experience of filling there stuffies, with the bonus being that Mama gets to come this time because we can go when she is off work. So slow your role when you want to quickly judge why parents were a part of the pandemonium of a cheap stuffed animal. For my family it was a good time with a great lesson on patience and I am thankful that the crowds at our location were calm compared to many around the country.