Build-A-Bear reviews

3.8

59% would recommend to a friend

(1,771 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 1,771 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
3.0
Dec 6, 2017

Store Manager

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Your team operates in a family-like environment. Making people happy.

Cons

Work life balance diminishing. Must answer for people walking in the door but not purchasing, every single time.

3.0
Sep 7, 2017

Associate Manager

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Great relationships with coworkers, like one big family -Fun work environment -Company focuses on having fun with customers while working "play with a purpose"

Cons

-Extreme focus on upselling, can come off as pushy -Company doesn't really care about your ideas or inputs, "you're there to execute decisions not think" - quote from district manager -Pay is extremely low and not realistic in today's economy - manager makes $1.30 more than minimum wage

3.0
Sep 5, 2017

change in culture

Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I mean...it's stuffed animals... I could think of WORSE things to sell.

Cons

Quite a few: when I first started at the company in 2009 the culture was based around the customer experience and their happiness. Once the new CEO took office, the culture quickly changed to a selling culture. If a single mom came in with her 3 kids, in the past we would be happy to get her kids the cheapest bears with tons of cool bows and we'd be happy with our sale. By the time I left, the assumption was that we'd upsell that struggling mother, and we'd be harassed by upper management to do so. The culture changed from a company trying to make the world happier to a company trying to squeeze the last penny out of families just trying to do something nice for their kids. On the plus: they pay WAY under what is considered the industry norms. They expect a LOT from their part time retail employees, but don't offer competitive salary, benefits or commission. They expect us to SELL like we work on commission, but don't receive an compensation for the extra push.

Viewing 160 - 162 of 1,771 Reviews

Glassdoor has 1,852 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.