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Expect to see bears on Clifton Hill
Posted By JENNIFER PELLEGRINI
A new attraction is coming to Niagara Falls that children from the local area and beyond will be beary excited about. Build-a-Bear Workshop, the St. Louis-based company that gives little ones - and not-so-little-ones - the chance to pick and create the fuzzy friend of the dreams, is set to open at Victoria Avenue and Clifton Hill March 28.
“We’re beary thrilled,” Paul Bundonis, Build-a-Bear’s chief workshop bear, said from his office in Missouri, using Build-a-Bear speak that includes “beary,” “paws-itively,” cele-bear-ation and “op-bear-tunities.”
The new Niagara Falls store will be one of 20 the company plans to open in 2008 - and one of two opening in Canada this month.
A store was set to open in Midtown Plaza in Saskatoon March 14 and another one will open in the New Sudbury Centre this summer.
But the Niagara Falls shop will break with the tradition of opening a Build-a-Bear store inside a shopping mall and will join ranks with ones in Myrtle Beach, New York City, Las Vegas and Anaheim that are located on the street or in outdoor venues in tourist-heavy areas.
“When we get into a market like Niagara Falls, it’s good to be out on the street,” said Bundonis. “While we’re classed as retail, we’re really an attraction.”
Local businesses are also excited to have the teddy bears come to town.
“It’s good to have a quality operation such as Build-a-Bear come to the market,” said Harry Oakes, chairman of the Clifton Hill Business Improvement Area. “They’ll do a good job. It’s always good to have a quality operation come to the area.”
The first Build-a-Bear store opened in the St. Louis Galleria in October 1997. Today, there are more than 295 stores around the world - most of them in the U.S., but also in Canada, throughout Great Britain and western and northern Europe, Russia, Asia and South Africa.
The company bills the concept as a “retail entertainment experience,” where people choose from more than 30 fuzzy friends (ranging from licensed Shrek to wild animals in support of the World Wildlife Fund to kitties, puppies, chicks and - of course - teddy bears), then bring them them to life by stuffing them and following a ritual led by staff known as “bear stuffers.”
Many Niagara parents whose children are fans of the concept travel to Buffalo’s Walden Galleria or Limeridge Mall in Hamilton to add to their kids’ Build-a-Bear collection.
But it’s tough to get kids across the border or to Hamilton to take part in birthday parties, which are a big part of Build-a-Bear’s business.
Bundonis expects that will be a significant portion of the Niagara Falls store’s business - particularly in the off-season.
The Niagara Falls store will have a distinctly Niagara look to it, with a display of bears looking over the falls. There may also be Niagara-specific merchandise available for sale.
The March 28 opening will include a special treat for 25 St. Thomas More students, who will build special bears for the pediatric departments at Niagara Health System hospitals in Niagara Falls, Welland and St. Catharines.
As well, the first 200 children in the store March 29 will also have a chance to make a free bear to be donated to that cause.
jpellegrini@nfreview.com
Article ID# 947281
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