Build-A-Bear Workshop at Castleton Square Mall is the same store with a whole new concept.
Visitors can still expect to stuff, dress and cuddle with their bear friend, but with new technology hitting the scene, they can get to know their fluffy companion on a personal level too.
For the last two years, Build-A-Bear Workshop has been creating the store design that merges the hands-on-bear-making experience with innovative technology that is central to how kids play today. The updated store allows guests of all ages to personalize the bear making process and offers a different experience each time they enter the store. Indianapolis has one of just six opening in 2013.
“Kids today have iPads and all kinds of technology. They are digital natives and we had to adapt,” said Maxine Clark, Build-A-Bear Workshop founder and chief executive bear. “We even spoke with kids about what they would like to see implemented in the store. They helped us come up with ways to personalize things.”
It’s so personal that kids can select different characteristics, scents and even choose sounds or music for their bear. Plus, a chip can be placed in the stuffing of the bear to find it if it happens to get lost. That same chip allows owners to take the bear home and play with it online at Bearville.com too. The birth certificate makes the experience even more memorable.
“There is a deeper connection. The bear’s attributes come to life,” Clark said.
Here is what visitors can expect at the new, interactive store.
An interactive storefront: It changes with the seasons, holidays or other special events. Using Microsoft’s Kinect technology and interactive touch elements, shoppers can engage and play with the signage at the front of the store.
The Choose Me station: Here shoppers are introduced to all the furry characters, from teddy bears and bunnies to monkeys and kittens.
The Love Me station: Creatures can be customized with special personality attributes displayed as emoticons on an interactive table. Using Samsung’s SUR40 with Microsoft PixelSense technology, unique traits can be added, like cuddly, brave, silly and smart, to their red satin hearts.
The Hear Me station: An interactive touch screen supplied by Canvys, features an assortment of high quality sounds that can be inserted into the stuffed animals. Shoppers can select and load popular hits from current music or sounds onto a chip plus record their own voice to a Build-A-Sound to personalize their new friend.
The Stuff Me station: Shoppers can now add SCENTiments to make their new furry friend smell yummy. An assortment of scents is available including bubble gum, strawberry, cotton candy and chocolate chip. The scents that are offered will change by season and holiday.
Before stitching a stuffed animal, a Bear Builder associate inserts a barcode, allowing it to be reunited with its owner if it’s ever lost and returned to a Build-A-Bear Workshop. The barcode also generates a unique code on the birth certificate so the creature can be brought to life online at Bearville.com.
The Fluff Me station: This lets builders interact with their furry friends at a “water rippling and splashing” digital bathtub that is enabled by Samsung’s SUR40 with Microsoft PixelSense technology. The tub 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 Dress Me station: This has been updated with “Match Me” technology that lets shoppers see what is new and to receive suggestions on related items that can be added to further personalize their stuffed animals.
The Name Me station: Here a viewfinder or “bear-o-scope” reveals the special attributes and personality that have been added to the animal throughout the process. A personalized one-of-a-kind birth certificate that now includes a photo of their new furry friend is made.
The Take Me Home station: Shoppers receive their customized birth certificate that is themed to their stuffed animal selection and each creature is then placed in a Cub Condo carrying case.
Build A Bear Workshop
Location:
Castleton Square Mall
6020 E. 82nd St. #909
Indianapolis, IN 46250
Phone: (317) 596-8888
