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Build-A-Bear Workshop Cuts Off Lines On Pay Your Age Day

DENVER (CBS4)-- Pay Your Age Day didn't go as expected for Build-A-Bear-Workshop. Massive lines all around the country have forced the retail company to close off lines. The company released the following statement on its website.

Huge Crowds At Build-A-Bear Workshops: Stores cut off lines on 'Pay Your Age Day' due to "crowds and safety concerns"

Huge Crowds At Build-A-Bear Workshops: Stores cut off lines on 'Pay Your Age Day' due to "crowds and safety concerns"

Posted by CBS Denver on Thursday, July 12, 2018

"Per local authorities, we cannot accept additional Guests at our locations due to crowds and safety concerns. We have closed lines in our U.S. and Canada stores. We understand some Guests are disappointed and we will reach out directly as soon as possible."

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On Thursday, guests who wanted to build a furry friend were told they would be asked how old they are at the register and then pay that amount. The offer was in-store only and only valid for one purchase.

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The company later issued the following statement:

Build-A-Bear Workshop's Pay Your Age Day event generated an overwhelming response, resulting in long lines, extensive waits and disappointed Guests. We feel it is important to share that, based on the information available to us before the day began, we could not have predicted this reaction to our Pay Your Age Day event. We understand that many Guests were turned away as, due to safety concerns created by the crowds, authorities in certain locations closed Build-A-Bear stores and, in other locations, we were forced to limit the line. Unfortunately, given these circumstances, we were unable to serve all of our Guests for the Pay Your Age Day event.

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In response, we distributed vouchers to Guests, who were present in lines, to be redeemed for a future purchase. We are now making vouchers available to our Build-A-Bear Bonus Club members in the U.S. and Canada who log into their account by midnight on July 15, 2018. Vouchers related to this event will be honored through August 31, 2018.

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It is our sincere desire for all of our Guests to enjoy the best Build-A-Bear experience possible. As such, our goal with the voucher extension is to enable us to better flow traffic to the stores over the next several weeks to avoid long lines and wait times as much as possible. Therefore, we strongly encourage Guests to consider delaying their trip to Build-A-Bear, and we appreciate everyone's understanding and patience in this matter.

Build-A-Bear Workshop takes seriously the privilege of providing our valued Guests with an opportunity to make a furry friend. It is with that spirit that we created our Pay Your Age Day event and the new, year-long Count Your Candles birthday program, where kids 14 and under can "pay their age" for our new Birthday Treat Bear during their birthday month.

Thank you for your passion and continued support.

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