Troy Build-A-Bear Goes High Tech

As if creating your own stuffed animal wasn't already fun, Build-A-Bear Workshop made the experience even more exciting by adding several new interactive features to their store inside The Somerset Collection.  

The Troy store is only the fourth Build-A-Bear retailer to offer the new technology. 

The interactive retailer of customized stuffed animals unveiled its new technology and displays last weekend. The new experience includes: 

• An interactive storefront which allows guests to engage and play with the signage at the front of the store. 
• The Choose Me station where guests select their new friends. The displays were moved to kid height. 
• The Love Me kiosk allows shoppers to digitally customize their furry friends with traits like cuddly, brave, silly, smart, etc. to their red satin hearts. The traits are saved onto the heart - an electronic device - before stuffing. 
• The Hear Me station features an assortment of sounds, songs, and other clips- including the child's own voice - that are saved onto a soundchip and inserted to the animal. 
• At the Stuff Me area, shoppers may add SCENTiments to make their furry friends smell like bubble gum, strawberry, cotton candy, and other yummy scents. 
• Furry friends get a virutal bath at the Fluff Me station, where a kids splash in a cool, interactive (and water-free) digital bathtub. 
• At Dress Me, clothes are organized by theme and gender. And at Name Me, guests create a personalized one-of-a-kind birth certificate that includes a photo of their furry friend. Finally, the bear experience is wrapped up at the Take Me Home station, where new animals are packaged. 

"Technology has given us the chance to enhance the experience more than we ever could with just a regular store," said Amy Pakett, who helped Patch create a Detroit Tiger's bear.

Bears start at $15. Visit Build-A-Bear's website for more information.