Well that’s probably uncomfortable. Last week an displeased British mom left a long open letter to Build-A-Bear because of the store experience for her.
And this is where the uncomfortable part comes. Sarah Rawsthorne probably didn’t expect her post to become viral and be featured in news worldwide. And that’s not really “comfortable” for Build-A-Bear either.
Sarah wrote the letter in a funny, almost joking way. For a moment it’s difficult to say whether she is actually serious or not.
“Dear Build a Bear Workshop. Today is a day of change, today I make a stand. A stand not just for me but for all the other long suffering parents, who like me have endured your stores for years on end. I shall explain myself, bear with me. Did you see what I did there?”, she wrote.
It turns out she has an actual issue with the company, though. “It was fun for the first few years, but my daughter is 9 now and I can confirm that there are more shoes for bears in my house than there are for humans. The bears have a better wardrobe than myself, and no, their bum never gets too big for their outfits, the smug little bears!”, she writes.
“So what is my point? Ok here it is. When I walk in to a BAB store it’s pure hell to me but pure heaven to my daughter…Yet it is me, the parent, the long suffering parent who is standing there in a £2 primark top spending £8 on a BAB top for a bear that’s costing me the best part of £20 who needs shoes, another tenner there, and a passport and god only knows what else my daughter will insist on the bear needing that day, who is paying for this? Me!”
It seems like Build-A-Bear’s marketing campaign and portfolio of toys and accessories is a little too successful. In the end Sarah admits defeat, but has a request for the company: ““Please don’t get me wrong, take my money, I work hard to make my child happy. But please, please, please can you give us an area of the store we can sit and stare at a plain white wall, perhaps even offer us a refreshment, conversation that isn’t about a great new smell to shove in the bears bum.”
Here’s the full text:
And while we laugh, it’s for sure that neither Sarah, nor Build-A-Bear see it as so funny. Especially since she posted the letter on the company’s Facebook page. And it hasn’t actually responded yet.
