“Good Employees, Bad Management.
I'm going to begin by saying that I have always followed my mother's advice, although she is in Heaven now. She told me as a child to always sleep on a decision. Yesterday, I brought my granddaughter to Build-a-Bear, and the experience did not meet my expectations. After waking up this morning still upset, I've decided to write a review. I will be naming each positive and negative encounter I had with each employee in the store.
When we walked in, we were greeted by Danica. She explained to us how we could go about building a bear and helped us pick out one my granddaughter liked. Danica also had to stop a child who was trying to leave the store without his parents multiple times, and while he was harassing other clientele. Once we had chosen an animal, we wanted to put the cotton in it, and she told us where to join the line. The line was longer than anyone would have patience for, and I asked Danica if she couldn't get another employee to help us on the machine. She explained that the manager might assign another associate to help us if they were still working (she did not know if they were off work yet or fetching an item from the back). I was appalled to learn that she was not the manager, as she had been the one handling all the customers and the problem child. She told us that the actual manager was Kaitlyn, who was standing behind the register not doing her work or helping in the store.
After waiting in a grueling line, Jessica helped us stuff our bear. She was very good at her job and got it done fast, but with good ethic. Like Danica, Jessica was very good to us and explained all of the options we had to put inside the bear. Although anyone in her position would feel a natural sense of stress, Jessica handled the pressure of the line well.
The last step was to pay for everything, which one would assume to be the simplest. However, the manager, Kaitlyn, was not paying attention to the customers waiting to check out or even facing us. We had to get her attention just to purchase our items. When I asked her about the line, she acted as if she had no control over it and told me she was not the manager, which I do not believe. We thanked Danica again and left.
To my annoyance, I forgot both my phone and my shopping bag. I returned to get them ,and Danica was eager to return them. She was kind and patient, offering to let the manager know to open the safe to retrieve my belongings. The manager acted as if being a good samaritan was a hassle and returned my phone with a lot of attitude.
Check who is in the store before making a minor mistake.”
“Cindy was amazing! I had three kids with me who were being wild. She stepped in and distracted them so I could have a second to look around which I really appreciated. The staff here really cares about kids!”
“I love these stores and wish we had them in Montana. Only thing that was incredibly frustrating was the amount of items that did not have a price on them. I would say 60% of the items in each store I went to, did not have prices on their items. The staff got frustrated when I asked about pricing, mostly because they didn't know either and had to look it up. Other than that, I love these stores!”
“This place is awesome!
They have a great selection of games and the staff are always super friendly and very knowledgeable. Andi even put in special order for something they didn't carry in stock and called me when it came in. Very glad I didn't have to buy it on Amazon
Definitely will be back!”
“I came to the store today and Oliver greeted me with a very warm hello and informed me about what the brand is and what they represent. From someone who has been in management, it is really good to see someone representing a brand so passionately and it was so natural so two thumbs up definitely great customer service will definitely be back to buy more stuff!”
“Matthew is the nicest guy in this store!
I am new to the whole lego addiction at 48 years old and he is so happy to help me and chat while I am eagerly shopping away!
Please hire more Matthew's!”