This is a nice place -even though I think it's absurd that they could throw parties inside. I had heard that they offer to throw parties inside the store despite the lack of room inside. Otherwise I like the store well enough. Everything about it is cute....I did purchase a monkey during a previous relationship and dressed him up like batman....yes it was a bat monkey. They have a lot of cutsy fartsy things.....grant you it was a gift so I didn't quite partake in the joy creating this monkey as a child I am sure would have. I think it crazy that they sell so many outfits, gadgets, and other paraphernalia but I suppose it works. It's a nice enough place but perhaps I'm just not getting into the spirit of the place. :I read more

Was having trouble recording a sound from my phone until Natalie helped with a couple options. She was very kind and patient. She went out of her way to help me get exactly what I was trying to do. Can't thank her enough bcuz it was a special voice recording of a passed loved one and she didn't question anything she just wanted me to have a good experience. read more

The woman who helped me was super friendly and super helpful. She seemed very excited and happy to be there and made the experience very enjoyable. It was a Wednesday so not too crowded, only one other family inside when I got there. My new Toothless and I are very happy. Thank you :) read more

I used to go to build a bear when I was a child, so when I found out I was pregnant it only felt natural to get my baby their very own BAB! With the current state I really needed a pick me up as well, so I decided to purchase the spring green frog, and I have to say I fell in love! It took only 2 weeks to arrive, while I was to be expecting it to take at least 3-4 for it to arrive due to COVID and my location! I used to go to all my prenatal appointments alone, but I always bring my frog to accompany me (with the appropriate dress, of course) and it really makes the whole experience much easier to get through! I actually loved the frog so much, that I decided to order the Dr. Seuss bear when it came out as well! It's great quality as well as super soft and cuddly! It goes great with my nursery theme and I can't wait for my child to love and cherish both bears, and I know they'll each stand the test of time! Both bears have a really great quality about them, they have very sturdy stitching and the fur is super soft! And both bears arrived faster than expected! read more

Stopped by Build-A-Bear Workshop to get gifts for my nieces. This was my first time at a Build-A-Bear but thanks to Amber's great customer service I was able to buy my nieces Anna and Elsa bears that they absolutely love. Amber was super friendly, nice, and extremely helpful. My overall experience at the store was great due to the fantastic customer service. read more

Had my daughters 5th birthday party here. 1/2 of my daughters class attended and they had a blast. Everyone was smiling even the moms. It was super cute ... all the little preschoolers stomping around picking clothes and accessories for their new friends. Totally worth it. Customer service was excellent. Yes they offer 1/2 price $10 gift cards which come out to $5 when they ring you up but that's fine it's still a savings. I buy them because I know I'll be back. The kids love it and that's what matters. I even got a new friend for myself :). read more

Public Service Announcement- This is a deplorable company to do business with. Placed an order on 12/9/17 for 2 - $50. gift certificates to be sent to my grandchildren for Christmas. I attempted to track order on 12/16 with no success. On 12/18 I contacted company, oh we're sorry, that never shipped. Agreed to have them sent via e-mail but they could not comprehend the correct address. 5 phone calls, one of which was with a manager. Finally on the 23rd they say well to rectify this order all we can do is have you go to the closest store or simply cancel the order. I suggested that didn't help since it was two days before Christmas, sorry best we can do. They didn't care! Despite all my threats and pleas, the bottom line was; They didn't care. Finally they did refund the charges, however there was no notification that they had done so. I would suggest to anyone that they carefully consider their own needs before dealing with this company. I will never deal with them again. read more

Was there this afternoon around 1:30 pm. The cashier Maritza offered my daughters a backpack for their bears( did not tell us it was extra) next she charged us for a $10 gift card, she told us it was a reward that we will be able to use tomorrow. She basically just charged us for a bunch of stuff we were not told that was extra. Do not go here. She will rob you and not say anything. I will be contacting corporate. read more

I love this place! I've been here a few times in my life and it's just so fun...even for people my age! They have nice selection of teddy bears and other animals you can get stuffed and they have a nice variety of different types of clothing/accessories you can put on your stuffed animal. Stuffed animals range from $10 and up and clothes prices are all over the place depending on what you get. If you want a list of prices, you can look online at their website. Sometimes they offer coupons for $10 off $30 or free shipping online...you just have to do your research. If you order it online, they can stuff it for you there or you can take it to a build a bear and get it stuffed yourself. For me personally, I like to take it to the store myself. I feel like that's the whole experience of build a bear. How it works: pick your stuffed animal, describe your animal on their computer system/place a heart inside to make it come "alive," get it stuffed and stitched up and the main part is done. Then you can give it a bath and go to the dressing area and put some clothes on it. read more

Accessories are of poor quality. The little armoire I purchased had drawer and shelves made of cardboard ! Really? Not thin cheap plastic, cardboard! how disposable and cheap can you get? Should have got the Melissa and Doug armoire for a few dollars more. read more

My niece had a birthday and off to Build A Bear we went. The niece went bonkers looking at all the stuffed animals. The look on her face when she realized she could build her own bear was priceless. There was plenty of selection and the heart that goes inside the bear is a sweet touch. Customer service was fantastic. I do recommend going during a weekday as I can imagine it would be very crowded and there might be a wait. read more

We came here for a birthday party on a Friday evening at 6pm. It seemed organized- there were 8 kids and 1 hostess (Ashley, who was great and very patient with a bunch of 2-3year olds!). The kids got to choose from a certain line of bears and certain outfits based on what the parents who hosted the party wanted to spend, and then got to stuff them & bathe them. After the kids' bears were clothed, they got their birth certificates and houses & a group photo was taken on the logo in the front of the store. There were quite a few regular customers walking around mumbling under their breaths "why are there SO MANY kids?!" Whenever I heard it, I told them we were at a birthday party. Received no comment from them! Now that we've been to a party here, it's good to know what to expect for the future! I'd like to keep it open as an option for a future party for our daughter. Not at this particular location, since we don't live nearby, but at another location closer to home. I cannot comment on the pricing, since the parents who hosted the party paid for everything. The basic bear we were able to choose from cost $10 each though... Not sure if the clothing was extra. Park by Macy's (Macy's Womens) on the bottom floor. Nearby stores include Sanrio & Cold Stone Ice Cream. read more

The kids always love going there as what child doesn't love a stuffed animal that they get to choose and "create" themselves. My only complaint is that the lines can get long and they don't want to open additional stuffing machines which can make for a long wait. read more

Vanessa and Janine helped us during our visit and they made my sons day! They called his bear by the name he gave it, they helped him pick out sone rollerscates and showed him a cool trick of how to have him roll along side my son while he walked. Vanessa and Janine are amazing example of customer care and service! read more

We went in this afternoon and Ryan helped us. He re-stuffed my son's special monkey stuffed animal and made it look brand new. He was so incredibly friendly and nice to us! It's so rare to get great customer service these days. Thank you Ryan for making my son's day! I can tell you take a lot of pride in your job and making it a special experience to come into Build-A-Bear! read more

Cute Store. This store is a child must have, like a trip to Disneyland, or seeing their grandparents. My niece and nephew love coming here to buy clothes for their stuffed animals. I personally went here and bought my nephew a Dachshund stuffed animal with a "Cars" shirt for his 4th birthday. He loved it! The only thing I have to say is for allergy sufferers, be careful of which toy you pick. Some stuffed animals shed as much as real life animals! read more

Horrible. came to do the pay your age bear for my son's 2nd birthday today and they claim they are out of that bear.. um, could you give him a back up?! They wouldn't. Never going back. read more

What a wonderful place to be a kid again!! I took my nephew there for his birthday and had so much fun watching him have fun! Everyone was so nice and went out of their way to treat him to a great day! Thanks for making it easy on me! I just need to be able to think up an excuse to be able to go there for myself! read more

What's not to love? You get to make whatever bear (or other stuffed animal) you want from scratch. First you pick a bear without stuffing, then an employee stuffs it for you with a machine. You even get to put a little stuffed heart in your special bear! Then you can go over and pick out clothes and accessories for your little guy. They have all kinds of things from Star Wars outfits, to ice skates, and sunglasses. ....And then you go pay, which can be a little pricey depending on what you've made. Typically it'll end up being about 30-50 dollars. This place has a good energy and when we went there was a group of kids visiting and they were all having a great time. It's about as cute as can be. I guess my only quibbles would be maybe the price, and the fact that I wanted to make a pirate bear but they didn't have any pirate clothes. But it worked out in the end because there were plenty of other options. read more

I wish I worked here! Because I love kids, and you never see a sad face in this place. But I think it's so pricey. You end up spending over $40 for a bear, once you get all the clothes and accessories. But it's all so cute so how can you resist. I like all of the Giants stuff they have. It's so cute!!! read more

Build A Bear in Salinas Northridge Mall is very customer service oriented. Kudos to STEVEN who made it fun for us! It was our first time there and we enjoyed it! read more

We took our daughter to this place for her 4th birthday party. The experience was really sweet and special. We were very well taken care of, all the kids and parents had a great time. The store was very well organized and clean, and the staff were very helpful and friendly, and really went out of their way to make us feel welcome and appreciated. Our party helper, Amber (I think, I hope lol), was so nice and thoughtful, and she really made the experience seem charming and unique. I'm not sure how we are gonna be able to top this party :) read more

I was so pleased with my experience at this location especially Amber. She is awesome. She helped fix my daughter's stuffed cat that she has had since she was a few days old. Also helped us with our purchase. She went above and beyond to give my daughters most favorite stuffed cat new life. Thank you Amber. read more

four stars because once you're in the shop, you can't leave without spending AT LEAST $40.00! my daughter absolutely loves making a new "friend". she probably has like, 6 build-a-bear stuffed animals. it get's pretty crazy on the weekends! the staff is very helpful and nice! i love how they have the little cute houses for the animals to take home. note: the store does have a bathroom. (a major plus for all the parents with young children who can't run all the way to the food court to take their kids to the potty!) hey, when you gotta go, YOU GOTTA GO! read more

Irritated with this place! Bought a bunch of stuff for my kids and the cashier Nelly tells us "I'm giving you this $10 gift card" and swipes it in. Later realized they charged $5 and when we called they said it was a promotion. Lady blamed us saying that it should've said $5 on our pin pad, but the stupid cashier had flipped it around to swipe the gift card in. BOTTOMLINE is she should've been CLEAR with the promotion. And it's not about the $5 more so than the fact that she was too lazy or ditzy to even take the time to explain it properly. read more

Been here a few times to get a Build-A-Bear for my daughter and she love. Each time we walk past this shop, we have to walk fast and make sure our daughter did not stop. Staff is friendly as always, it can get busy on weekend but line move very fast at the counter. read more

Let me tell you i took my daughter here for the first time and she loved it ! Shes one and a half but man she was the happiest baby girl on earth. They are friendly and very alert with the customers needs. read more

Absolutely love this store! Workers are always welcoming, helpful and super friendly. My daughter has a blast whenever we come in. I feel this location is bigger and has a better selection than the Oakridge store, I could be wrong but that's just my opinion. As for their most recent event, Pay Your Age Day, I applaud these workers! That line was insane but the way they dealt with it was great. They constantly had a worker go up and down the line every so often to keep us updated on how merchandise was looking and approximate wait times. I personally got to the mall at 9:15 and the line was already almost wrapped around the building. I still stood in it even with the knowledge that I may or may not get in. The line was cut off not too far behind me and I was still given a heads up I may still walk away with nothing but I chose to stay and stick it out because my daughter wanted to. I was given the choice to stay and wait it out or walk away with a $15 off voucher for a future purchase. I do agree with people that it's pretty crappy that they couldn't create a voucher that still allows parents who came out to their stores that day to get a voucher honoring the rates for the event, but I get it business is business. And I do understand why some people got upset with getting turned away when the line was cut off but let's think about it, if you waited in line for 6+ hours and then got turned away because they ran out of stock or the store was closing wouldn't you be more upset? Even the place I was in in-line I knew it was not guaranteed that I would get bears for my kids that day but my daughter wanted to stay and stick it out with the understanding that we may not get something that day and we waited for just over 6 hours. Luckily she got the bear she wanted which was the fairy bear for $4 and I was able to get my 5 month old a Toothless for just $1. All in all this place did a great job with the madness of this particular day and they do a great job every other day too. read more

The bear was perfect, very cute and soft, the sweater i got to go with the bear was a little big around the ears, but fit perfectly with the bear. no complaints here. great quality. read more

We received a gift card for my daughter's birthday to Build-A-Bear. I have never been inside of one before, but my daughter has shown interest. I arrived near opening time at this location. No one greeted us at all, which is always a bad sign, especially when there are 3 people not doing anything at all. Being our first time I was left to kind of just stand there at first not know where to start. My daughter started the process of picking out a stuffed animal, but the selection seemed like it was lacking. It struck me 15 minutes later that no one had said a single word to us. I saw the stuffing machine and so we waited in line to have the animal my daughter chose to be stuffed. We finally got to the front and the guy operating was nice, if not quiet. I told the worker that I had no idea what to do, that this was our first time here. He seemed like he didn't want to be there, I don't blame him really, but I had to start prompting him so he could prompt us by asking "What are these hearts??? What about the things that make noise????" He filled up the stuffed animal and I asked "What next?" He said "There's clothes." I had a gift card so I figured "Why not?" and I got a cape.....a $13 cape....for my daughter's stuffed animal. Then I went to wait at the register, no one showed for about 10 minutes, so I asked someone "I got the animal, clothes, what next?" They told me I could make a birth certificate and so I did. Then waited in line again to find out that my $50 gift card didn't even cover this carnival prize looking stuffed unicorn. What a racket they have got going there, crappy customer service, ridiculously priced stuffed animal for a joke of an experience. Maybe other stores care more or make it more of an experience, but I'll never know because I will be warning people against this retail trap of a place. read more

I have to disagree with a previous yelper that called one of the BABW employees (Cassie) a wreched woman because she was not allowed to use an expired coupon. The last two times I was in there I personally witnessed cheap parents trying to argue (or bully would probably be more appropriate) their way around an expired coupon. Really??? Over 5 bucks? While the rest of us in line just want to pay and get the hell out before our kids find something else that their bears can't live without. The staff has always been amazing with my kids even on the busiest of Saturdays when the place is a zoo. One monkey, one dog, one Elmo, four bears and countless outfits and accessories later I have always been completely satisfied. Store is always clean, employees are friendly and attentive. The prices are a bit high but since it's not the staff that sets the prices you can't hold that against them. read more

We went there at noon on Saturday, didn't seem too busy, picked a bear and got in line to get it stuffed. After 1/2 hour the line had hardly moved at all. The employee doing the stuffing took FOREVER to get the bears stuffed. I understand they want to make it special for the kids by telling a big story, rubbing the heart, etc., but enough is enough. The story goes like this: The bears are fairly priced, but to get out of there takes an enormous amount of time, and they try to upsell you every step of the way. And every upsell comes with a cute story that makes you seem like a Grinch for turning it down. If you go, be prepared to spend at least an hour and maybe much more, and bring $100 for the bear. It will cost you all of that before you can leave. Your kid will love it though. read more

Still love coming here with my daughter. The only thing that was not so pleasant this last weekend was that we had to wait about an hour in line to get Fluttershy MLP stuffed. Maybe it would be helpful if they added an additional station (like after the animal is stuffed, to go to another station and sew up the back just to keep things moving... Just a suggestion. read more

Such a fun and unique store. The employees make you "warm up" your teddy by giving it a heart beat and kissing the little heart. You can also put sound in your teddy and dress it up however you want. You get to name it, and groom it, and make the stuffed animal any way you want. The items can really burn a hole in your wallet but anything for our precious children, right? read more

Terrible customer service. I went in intending to make a birthday party reservation for my daughter. Since it was going to be for a large group (20 kids), I had questions to make sure it would work. Instead of helping us understand how it would be organized, how they would make space for 20 kids and their parents, what would be a good time for parents to find easy parking, etc., the manager (I am not sure she was the manager, but was behaving like one) was super rude. Her attitude was bad, with a take it or leave it attitude. Not getting answers to my questions, I decided to take my business elsewhere. Avoid like the plague! Wish I could give them zero stars. read more

Having been to a couple of these build a bear stores, I found this one to be the most stressful to navigate. This particular store does have upgraded interactive stations that use touch screens to get the kids even more involved. Examples: there is an interactive touch screen that the child can use to give their bear's heart characteristics i.e.: kindness, athletic ability etc), the other one is a new and improved washing tub for post stuffing, which is also full of touch screen fun. 2 stars for the stressed out staff and the lack of help. read more

We came in here around 3:30 on a Sunday, it wasn't too crowded and got my baby's bear stuffed within 5 minutes of waiting in line. The staff was very friendly and helpful. We had a great experience "building a bear" read more

Took my daughter here for the first time yesterday for their Pay your age event. This event turned out to be one of their craziest event they didn't expect. The staff here was awesome!!!!! They went up and down the line to keep us updated. They came and offer coupons to whomever that didn't make it to the line or didn't want to wait in the line any longer. Because it was my daughters first time I wanted her to have the whole Build A Bear experience and was afraid that she wouldn't get this experience because of the craziness that the staff would just rush everyone out. However that was not the case. Once we got in everything went so nice and smooth. We were able to do the whole shebang. The 5-6 hours wait was worth it after seeing my daughters priceless smile. News and online article was stating that this event was a nightmare. But come on, this was a great event! This allowed for parents who are unable to buy these stuffed animal normally to allow their kids for this first time experience. If your bringing kids under 5 (which everyone in line Had babies and toddlers) this is an awesome deal!! So of course it'll be crazy if not crazier than Black Friday! Thank you Build A Bear!! And mostly Thank you to the staff!!!! You guys rock! read more

According to Caroline Cruz, this is the place to have a birthday party. Happy Birthday, Caroline. Hope Build-A-Bear supports your daddy.

I drove 30 minutes away with my 3 children, ages 1, 4, & 8 for the Pay Your Age day in August and started to wait in an insanely long line when they started giving away vouchers because they ran out of stock and security was shutting down the lines for crowd control. I returned and used the vouchers; however, I still had to pay $45, which is almost 3.5 times more than I would have paid if actually paying the ages of my children. I had never been to Build-A-Bear before, but had always thought about taking the kids over the years and thought Pay Your Age day was the perfect opportunity. I am very disappointed. My kids were excited for something that they didn't get to experience after the lines were shut down. It was a decent experience when we returned; however, definitely not worth the regular prices. I would have done it again for the discounted price that the vouchers provided, but after realizing that the vouchers did not actually give you the Pay Your Age pricing that the day promised, I will never spend money there again. The vouchers should have allowed us to pay our kids' ages, which was the reason for showing up that day. If they turn you away, they should still have held up their end/ their Pay Your Age promotion. Rather, the vouchers only covered $15 off, which cost me 3 times more than I would have spent. I feel it is bad business. If you make a mistake or a bad decision, then you should try to make it right, and I do not feel that Build A Bear sufficiently did that. read more