Building on the success of a pop-up store it opened last year at a ball park, retailer Build-A-Bear Workshop will open additional pop-ups this season in Cincinnati and Cleveland ballparks.
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| Fans can build Slider at Build-A-Bear’s Jacobs Field location |
Consumers at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati will be able to build the Cincinnati Reds mascot at the Make Your Own Gapper by Build-A-Bear Workshop pop-up. Consumers will do the same in Cleveland with the Indians mascot, Slider, at a Make Your Own Slider store at Jacobs Field. Both stores, set up in concourse areas, will be open during home games. The Major League Baseball season opens April 3.
Last year, the company opened Make Your Own Phanatic in Philadelphia’s Citizen Bank Park generating more than $840,000 in revenue and sales.
“The Make Your Own Phanatic store was very successful last year and we felt that having stores in other ballparks would be just as successful,” Build-A-Bear spokesperson Shawn Bertani said.
Bertani said the St. Louis-based retailer is talking with other MLB teams to put pop-ups in additional ballparks in 2006.
Consumers at all three ballparks will also be able to build exclusive home-team Ballpark Bears, not be available at traditional Build-A-Bear locations. The mascots and bears can be customized with accessories and clothing including officially licensed uniforms, plush game day snacks, team pennants and felt No. 1 hands. All stuffed animals go home with their own specialized birth certificate and team branded Cub Condo carrying case.
Build-A-Bear also has relationships with other sports and has participated with the NBA and the NFL in 2005. Its mobile store, Build-A-Bear Workshop On Tour, launched last month and was in Denver for the NBA All-Star Game and Jacksonville, FL for the Super Bowl.
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