Build-A-Bear — Local services in Farmington

We took our two year old to get a bear and while I know sometimes machines don't work how you want. it definitely made the experience different than I had hoped for. There were two separate groups in front of us when the stuffing machine started to have issues. The employee said he would need to go get his boss. we waited for about 10 minutes for his boss to even come out. She proceeded to attempt to get it going again. it seemed like an issue she'd ran into before because she seemed to know what to do. I wonder if maybe they could've had the machine fixed before this happened again? She was stressed out with what was going on which I totally understand as a business owner but she wasn't being super patient with her employee who was just trying to do what she asked but was physically too short to hold the machine door where she wanted her to. She kinda snapped at her for not holding it correctly. which I didn't appreciate. it made the environment feel tense. Meanwhile due to the machine malfunction it was spitting out fluff into the air like crazy. it was getting in our mouths, On our clothes, and In our hair. Several groups left at this point. including one of which who was in front of us. We still ended up waiting for a very long time. We were determined because we had driven from far away to get our daughter a bear. It is an extremely hard thing for a two year old to wait that long. 😩 The employee did amazing and made it so special for her when it was her turn even though he needed to hurry through the line. However I felt very stressed wanting to just get out of the way at this point. Waiting to check out was a whole ordeal too! There was only ONE person in front of us in line and it took 20 minutes for them to be checked out! There definitely needed to be two employees working the tills. However one had to help hold the door to the machine closed so that was out of the question. Overall I understand problems happen and everyone was doing the best they could to get things going smoothly again, but it was definitely not the greatest experience I've had at a...

Our journey at Build a Bear in Farmington station began with 2 groups being a head of us. This turned into a 30 minute wait time. My kids are young and very excited. The stores leave the doors wide open just taunting the kids to run in to see what toys they like. My kids did pretty dang amazing just standing there knowing soon they could go in. My 3 year old didn't venture more than a foot from our group dot that was on the sidewalk, and Heather, the employee, snapped at her to get back. My daughter was over 6 feet from anyone else (social distancing like a champ per state and county guidelines), and we are on the SIDEWALK outside the store!!! Freedom 101: people can be wherever they want on a sidewalk.

We get more robotic instructions before being allowed in. (not to touch anything, and stay 6' apart as if we can't read all the posted signs)

Continue down to stuffing the kids bears. Heather who barked at my 3 year old on the sidewalk, helps sew up the stuff animal. She then goes to toss it in the bin for my child to grab. Completely misses and throws our new Bear on the ground. 🧐 She wouldn't pick it up, didn't make my daughter a new one. Talk about double standards as she barked at my daughter for moving 1 foot on the sidewalk outside. Are we enforcing healthy standards or not?!

I was irritated to say the least. But let it all go.

Till 3 days after we had purchased the 3 bears, my sons sound stops working.

I go in to get this replaced and Heather (the same rude lady from Thursday) has the nerve to charge me $7 for a new noise chip, as if it's my fault the sound stopped working. This store is run horribly, with poor decisions.

If they truly cared about the customers safety they wouldn't be throwing bears and still selling ones they drop on the ground!! Such a double standard. I will not...

The manager Mel was rude very unfriendly and racist. Everyone was standing in line to get there bear stuffed and they had their strollers right there. They are white. I stood in the same place not white and was asked to move my stroller that I couldn’t stand there. I moved no problem. My mom helped my kids get theirs bears stuffed I didn’t get to watch. And my youngest still in the stroller didn’t get to see her bear stuffed. Then we went and picked out outfits and I asked nicely if they had anymore spider man outfits nobody answered me. Then while checking out I didn’t know what the bears names as my mom had helped the kids and the manager acted so put out that I had to tell her my kids names it’s all on the same piece of paper. Then for all the bears she continued to get more upset that I didn’t know the bears name, if I wasn’t told my stroller was a problem non of that would’ve been a problem. but non of the white peoples strollers where a problem. And nobody else was made feel uncomfortable. She was mean and didn’t make the experience fun at all. Then when she asked if I wanted bags for extra money I said no thank you boxes are fine it put her out like I was keeping money from her pay check. It was really busy we were there forever and it was a over all horrible experience. My mother, kids, and I were all treated very bad and we all felt very unwelcome. This isn’t ok it’s a place for children and family. I called corporate and they were like we called the store she sounded really nice and professional like I am lying about how she made me feel. This is crazy no people skills at all. I won’t be going to Farmington station build...