Build-A-Bear stores on Long Island, nationwide buck tariff headwinds, tap into nostalgia to draw adults

On a recent Friday date, Hofstra University students Stephen Winley and Jaidan Hill hit a Build-A-Bear Workshop in Garden City, where they assembled a new furry friend together for the first time. 

Hill, 19, of Freeport, first picked an unstuffed light brown bear from a wide selection of plush animals and then a small cloth heart to place inside the toy before an employee stuffed it with fluff. The couple spent a good 20 minutes creating a cuddly companion through an interactive workshop.

“It’s just a personal gift from me to her,” said Winley, 20, of Laurelton, Queens, as he beamed at his girlfriend of a few months.

With a personalized birth certificate in hand to authenticate their creation, christened Jackson Aaron Winley, the couple could understand the appeal of returning to the store. 

The experience of "just going in, making your own thing … it helps people want to come back and do it again,” Winley said.

Winley and Hill are among the St. Louis-based company's expanded customer base of millennials and older adults who are drawn by the lure of a hands-on toy-building experience and, for many, the nostalgia of visiting a company they’ve known since childhood, experts said.

The company’s appeal to adults is among the factors behind its record growth and profits in recent quarters, despite the rollout of widespread tariffs and climbing prices that have hurt profit margins of many other retailers, according to multiple news reports.

“Build-A-Bear has largely bucked the softness of the wider toys market,” said Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, a retail analysis firm based in Manhattan. “Part of this is because Build-A-Bear isn’t just in the business of selling toys, it is selling an experience. That adds value and makes consumers focus less on price.”

'In the right place at the right time'

Build-A-Bear, which has  more than 300 stores  nationwide — including three at malls on Long Island, in Garden City, Lake Grove and Huntington Station — has seen its stock price hit as much as $75 per share in September, a far cry from its $3 share price five years ago.

Company revenue hit $252.6 million during the first half of the fiscal year, up 11.5% from the same period last year, according to company financials.

"This unprecedented start to the year is largely a result of a long-term focus on monetizing Build-A-Bear's unique position in the marketplace, multigenerational appeal, and exceptional brand recognition to scale the business with innovative initiatives across three strategic pillars," said president and CEO Sharon Price John on the company's second quarter earnings call. 

Social media in particular, she said, has been key to setting new trends for "our teen and adult consumers, now often referred to as 'kidults.'"

Build-A-Bear's stock hit as much as $75 per share in September, a far cry from its $3 share price five years ago.

Source: Macrotrends

Prices for toys range from $16 to $48 for a “standard bear,” which comes with stuffing and a cloth heart, to $98 to $128 for large or giant plush critters, according to the company’s website. Add-ons like clothing and accessories range from $5 to $25.

The company, historically a mall staple, has made a “strategic” push in recent years to establish locations outside of malls, which have helped the company “be a retailer in the right place at the right time,” Saunders said in an email.

The company has cultivated an online bear-crafting experience, and looked for opportunities to establish locations in other high foot-traffic areas, such as through partnerships with hospitality vendors like Six Flags and Great Wolf Resorts, according to an industry report.

Plus, since the pandemic, Saunders said, there’s been a greater interest among consumers for hands-on, arts-and-craft-like activities.

It’s that experiential aspect that makes the retailer “a destination” compared with other toy shops, and not just for children, he added.

Build-A-Bear did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Grown-ups like stuffed animals, too

For many customers, the store represents an opportunity to revisit fond moments from childhood.

“Most often kids are the target market, but adults who are nostalgic for childhood experiences are also helping sales,” Saunders said. “Increased interest in collectibles, including stuffed toys, is playing a role in success.”

More than 90% of respondents to a September Build-A-Bear survey said they still own a favorite plushie from when they were kids, and nearly all said they believe teddy bears are for people of all ages — including grown-ups. According to an August investor presentation, around 40% of Build-A-Bear's sales are made to teens and adults.

In 2024, 52% of shoppers bought themselves toys or games, a trend that highlights more adults enjoying nostalgic pastimes, according to an analysis from Mintel, a global market intelligence and research agency.

There are a few reasons why adults may be flocking to Build-A-Bear, said James Zahn, senior editor at The Toy Insider, a toy and games vertical.

The first Build-A-Bear factory opened in St. Louis in 1997, which means the company has now been around long enough for its first generations of kids to have grown into adults, he said.

Around 40% of Build-A-Bear sales are made to teens and adults.

Source: Build-A-Bear

Build-A-Bear has also obtained licenses for popular franchises such as "Harry Potter" and "Doctor Who," he said, and even launched an adults-only website called, "The Bear Cave," an online experience where adults can order holiday and fandom-themed collectibles.

Adult toy collectors have always existed, Zahn said, with the phenomenon exploding in the years post-pandemic as more people indulge in "kidulting," or enjoying activities and toys from their childhoods, like Legos and plush.

Company efforts to market to an older audience, though, has been met with outrage from some online, the Wall Street Journal has reported, with some criticizing a recent campaign advertising stuffed animals with a more salacious tilt, like a teddy bear wearing a shirt that says “You Turn Me On." 

Like a trip down memory lane

For married couple Brittany, 27, and Jack Hart, 35, of Medford, a big part of the retailer’s allure is its nostalgia.

Brittany Hart, who was at the Garden City location recently in search of a Winnie The Pooh stuffed bear, said while she and her husband don’t have kids, they can easily spend hundreds of dollars buying toys for children in their extended family.

A couple of weeks ago, the couple spent between $300 and $400 on animals and clothing accessories for their nephews and nieces at a Build-A-Bear store in West Nyack’s Palisades Center.

“I think it’s more like a nostalgia thing but we do have nieces and nephews who also love Build-A-Bear, so we will rack up a bill,” said Brittany Hart, who started getting stuffed animals there as a child. While she said she has more than 30 Build-A-Bear animals, she insisted she's not a collector.

Her husband disagreed.

“Since we’ve been married, I bought her a ton of Build-A-Bears,” he said.

For a lot of adult collectors, Zahn said, visiting their local Build-A-Bear is like a trip back in time to their childhood.

"You might be buying things that you didn't have as a kid. You might be reacquiring something you did have as a kid, or you just want to really satisfy your fandom in new ways, and you've got the means to do it," he said.

“That's where this has really just clicked for Build-A-Bear,” Zahn added. “They've been doing the right things at the right time, and it almost feels like it's both calculated and organic at the same time because they're bucking the trends."