Build-A-Bear expects some challenges in the UK market for this year. The reasons are Brexit and even EU data protection laws, the company says to the Financial Times.
Build-A-Bear expects that the problems will be “largely isolated in the UK”. Even so, this could translate to an overall drop for the non-US sales of Build-A-Bear.
“The shortfall in our year’s results are largely attributed to the persistent and significant revenue and profitability challenges in the UK,” said chief executive Sharon Price John.
Another problem is that there were “significantly fewer” family character-based films last year. This meant less themed bears and stuffed animals. Also, the demise of Toys R Us didn’t help.
Still, Build-A-Bear remains optimistic. The company says that the revenue drop will be modest and the overall trend of sales is going up. It also adds that it has sold more than 180 million stuffed animals since founded in 1997. So, there might be some problems, but it’s nothing that the bears can’t handle.
