If I wanted to just buy a bear off the shelf and do self-service then I would go to Kmart. But this is Build A Bear, where you pay a premium for a stuffed toy, because you are buying the experience and fun for your child.
Don't go to the Chermside store if that's what you expect. We were there last weekend and my son got a bear and outfit. Two staff on hand to serve two sets of customers should be fine, but when he had settled on the bear he wanted, I told him to approach one of them, thinking that she would take him through the process.
Instead she tells him to grab a bear and come over, then after going through the stuffing procedure, just tells us.... nothing. So I said what do we do now, and she points at the computers and says just go register your bear. Yep, great. You needed to tell us that.
Two staff for two kids buying bears and no one comes to see how we were going or make the experience more fun for the child. After the computer thing, we went to the counter with the Star Wars suit he'd selected and the staff member rings it up and that's that. No offers of being able to put the suit on, she just stuffed it into the box and handed it over. Add to that the displeasure of opening the box to find that the certificate was bent from her carelessly stuffing the toy in on top of it.
I went to the Surfers Paradise store a few years ago with my daughter and we walked out more than an hour later with a fully dressed bunny, having had a great time selecting and dressing the toy there. Just couldnt remember exactly what was involved in the whole Build a Bear experience so would really have appreciated being told what to do next.
But no, if you go to Chermside you get the bear and then you get out. Give this place a miss, unless staff training improves. read more