Build a Bear is a fun and light hearted company that has been voted one of the top 100 companies to work at by Forbes magazine for 2010. Build a Bear offers on line discounts and printable coupons and their main goal is to bring the cherished teddy bear to life.

Build a Bear was started when their founder and owner, Maxine Clark was out shopping with a 10 year old friend who was wanting to purchase a teddy bear. Maxine and her friend Katie were both surprised to find that they couldn't find the exact plush animal that they were looking for. Katie said to Maxine that making a stuff animal was so easy that maybe they could make one themselves.

Maxine Clark loved the idea and decided to take Katie's build one bear idea and turn it into a full fledge company. The first Build a Bear store was opened in 1997 at the Saint Louis Galleria mall in Saint Louis, Missouri. The Build a Bear company has since grown into a large International company. Now there are over 400 stores world wide and over 70 million furry friends living around the world.

Along with the Build-a-Bear stores, Maxine Clark is also proud of her a Build-a-Bearville virtual world where kids can safely play and use their imaginations. All of this started out of a 10 year olds imagination to build a teddy bear.

There on line web site at www.buildabear.com has the complete line of plush animals, the company's history and all of their sales and promotions are also available. You can locate stores and see the history of this fun and imaginative company. Today there are more than 400 Build-A-Bear stores worldwide including company owned stores in the United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and France. The Build-A-Bear company also boasts franchise stores in Europe, Asia, Australia, and Africa.

The Build-A-Bear shopping experience is a fun and learning and enchanting experience for children and adults alike. You decide what animal you'd like. Stuff it with a stuffinf machine, dress it from a wide variety of clothing, add shoes or boots and you can also include talking chips that record your voice or are pre-programed and are put inside the animal. You can then take it home inside a cute cardboard shaped house.