UNBEARLIEVABLE
QUEUES STOPPED FOR SAFETY REASONS AS FAMILIES RUSH FOR TEDDY OFFER
was forced to stop families queuing for its first-ever Pay Your Age Day amid safety concerns over growing crowds.
The retailer, who launched the one-day event giving little ones the chance to pay the same as their age for a stuffed teddy, said the response was ‘overwhelming and unprecedented.’
Hundreds of people had already formed queues outside the stores in the intu Trafford Centre, Manchester Arndale and The Rock in Bury before the doors even opened yesterday.
Within a few hours parents were warned the wait time was around four hours, staff were offering alternative money off vouchers to come back another day and by the afternoon queues were closed off altogether amid fears of overcrowding.
One shopper told us the queue at Manchester Arndale was getting increasingly agitated.
He said: “It was absolutely menBear tal in the Arndale. The line outside Build-A-Bear was huge.
“The mums were kicking off, just shouting and moaning about how long the line was.”
Pregnant Rebecca Robinson queued for hours to get inside the Arndale branch with daughter Sophia.
She said: “We have finally got in after four hours of waiting. I’ve not seen any bust-ups but people have been trying to push in.
“Mostly it’s us mums getting annoyed at staff for not controlling things.”
Natalie Cross and husband Anthony queued at The Rock in Bury with son Frankie.
She said: “We queued for just over two hours to get in then a bit longer for the stuffing machine, but they were offering ready stuffed ones if you didn’t want to wait longer.
“We didn’t see any rows, it all seemed quite calm. I did expect there to be queues, but it was definitely much busier than I thought.”
A spokeswoman for Build-ABUILD-A-BEAR said they had no choice but to stop people queuing. She said: “The response to our Pay Your Age Day event at all of our UK locations has been overwhelming and unprecedented in our 21-year history, and the safety of our guests and associates is our top priority.
“The crowds have greatly exceeded our expectations and, per local authorities, queues are at capacity and we cannot accept additional guests due to extreme crowds and safety concerns.
“We understand our guests are disappointed, and we are working to address the situation.
“We will reach out directly to our valued guests as soon as possible.”
Bosses were predicting big sales after the announcement of the offer earlier this week caused a social media frenzy.
The offer means that instead of paying the usual £25 or so for a character, a three-year-old for example would pay £3, with the minimum £1 charge for under ones.