Justine Difilippo
by Justine Di Filippo
staff writer
There is a new way to give a gift with a personal touch this year.
A new store in the King of Prussia Mall is bringing more fun and interest in stuffed animals.
Build A Bear, located on the first floor of the Plaza, is always busy with customers carefully picking out stuffed animals for their loved ones.
The thing that makes this toy store more interesting than any other is that the customer gets to do the work themselves.
When first walking into the store there is a wall of stuffed animals. Each animal that the store carries is displayed on the wall. Underneath the display is a bucket where the customer picks out the body of the unstuffed animal.
There are a wide variety of animals to choose from including everything from horses to cows to bunnies and of course bears.
After the animal is picked out, it is taken to an employee who is sitting in front of what resembles a giant cotton candy machine but really it holds the stuffing.
As the employee is making sure the stuffing is going into the animal the precise way; the customer is pressing the foot pedal to activate the machine with the stuffing.Once the animal is stuffed just so perfectly, the customer is instructed to pick out a heart for the stuffed animal.
The customer then places the heart on their forehead, jumps up and down, spins around, then finally makes a wish and places the heart into the stuffed animal. The stuffed animal is then stitched up and given to the customer.
The next thing the customer needs to do is give the animal an air bath. The purpose of this air bath is to fluff up the matted down fur and also the filling inside of the stuffed animal.After bath time is over, the customer picks out an outfit for the stuffed animal.
The store has a wide variety of outfits to choose from and also have special outfits for each holiday.
The last and final thing to do before purchasing the stuffed animal is to make either a birth certificate or a story, whichever the customer prefers.
There is a hand full of computers for the customers to use where you get to pick out a name for your animal and personalize the stuffed animal. This store is priced in an affordable way for everything that comes with the animal.
The original price of the stuffed animals runs from $15 to $30. This price includes the stuffed animal, the stuffing, the heart, birth certificate or story.
Clothing for the stuffed animals run anywhere from $3 to $15. Accessories that are not included with the outfit run from $5 to $10. The bear that is featured in the photograph totaled $26 and the frog also photographed came to $30.
Visit Build A Bear in the King of Prussia mall for holiday gift
