Build-A-Bear reviews

3.8

59% would recommend to a friend

(1,770 total reviews)

Sharon John

60% approve of CEO

51% positive business outlook

Build-A-Bear has an employee rating of 3.8 out of 5 stars, based on 1,770 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Build-A-Bear employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Retail & Wholesale industry (3.5 stars).

Reviews by job title

2K reviews
1.0
Jul 14, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Discounts Stuffing bears The environment is upbeat

Cons

A lot of things. I got stuck with an inexperienced manager who's literally fresh out of high school. She gossiped about employees behind their backs constantly, openly, in front of customers even. And had enough nerve to set up a staff meeting to mainly talk about gossiping, when she does it more than anyone in the damn store. After her lectures at the meeting, she still continued to gossip. There was even a time when the store was packed and busy, she spent an HOUR talking to friends, ON THE SALES FLOOR. She constantly picks favorites and is judgemental. If she doesn't like you, you can tell! If she's speaking to one of her favorites, she's all bubbly and talks to them like a best friend, then she switches to you and her disposition and tonality will do a 180. It's obvious she doesn't like you. I often see her giving certain employees "dagger stares" It doesn't matter you have a strong work ethic, she judge you personally and treat you a lot differently than her faves if she doesn't like your personality or whatever triggers her. That being said, think you can move up? Even if you have management experience? Yeh right, she is likely to hire someone off the street than someone who already has BABW experience, great work ethic and management experience. She will try to force leads to step down. She just wants this place to be like her inner circle at high school/college. If you're introverted, a wall flower, or just plain quirky, she will not like you. She sucks the fun out of this job.

1.0
Jul 1, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Customers and kids are actually really sweet and nice

Cons

More rules than a catholic church and they want full control of your life even if your part time. Another job leads to termination even if you only work 20 hours a week

1.0
Apr 7, 2019

Horrible

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Nothing positive to say about this company

Cons

Ridiculous scripts we have to follow when interacting with “guests,” management system was very ineffective and favoritism seems to be the main drive in this company. I felt I was dehumanised and bullied while working for this company. They refused to give me hours on a weekly basis because I was “too old” to work and my availability was “not good enough” (even though I had very flexible availability). Manager was very unprofessional and rude. She literally forced me to quit so she didn’t have to bother explaining why I don’t have any shifts every week.

Viewing 130 - 132 of 1,770 Reviews

Glassdoor has 1,851 Build-A-Bear reviews submitted anonymously by Build-A-Bear employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Build-A-Bear is right for you.