National Retail Federation Selects Build-A-Bear Workshop for 2001 Retailer Innovator of the Year Award.

Business Editors

ST. LOUIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 11, 2000

National Retail Federation (NRF) will honor Build-A-Bear Workshop(TM) with its Retail Innovator of the Year Award for 2001. This award is presented annually to an outstanding retailer for their singular, innovative approach to the retail trade.

The 2001 Retail Innovator Award will be presented on Monday, January 15, 2001 at a Retail Innovator luncheon held during the NRF 90th Annual Convention & EXPO at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City.

Build-A-Bear Workshop(TM) was founded by Chief Executive Bear Maxine Clark in 1997 based on the enduring love and friendship that connects consumers to all stuffed animals, especially teddy bears. Clark's idea combines experience with purchase through an exciting "bear-making interactive assembly line." Customers, or Guest Builders, go through the animal-making process at eight assembly line stations-Choose Me, Hear Me, Stuff Me, Stitch Me, Fluff Me, Name Me, Dress Me, and Take Me Home. So far, Clark's experience-focused concept is paying off, generating nearly $20 million in sales for 1999 and projecting 2000 sales to top $50 million.

"Build-A-Bear Workshop's inventive and frolicsome approach obviously has resonated with customers," said NRF President Tracy Mullin. "Retailers know a great concept when they see it, too, and we are delighted to recognize Build-A-Bear with the industry's highest honor."

"This is an incredible honor for Build-A-Bear Workshop to be included in such an exclusive group," says Maxine Clark, Chief Executive Bear of Build-A-Bear Workshop. "It is because of the many people who have made Build-A-Bear Workshop what it is today that we have been selected for this award, and to be recognized by our peers and other leaders of our industry is quite a distinction and we thank the National Retail Federation for this recognition."

NRF is the world's largest retail trade association and conducts programs and services in research, education, training, information technology, and government affairs to protect and advance the interests of the retail industry. NRF's membership includes the leading department, specialty, independent, discount, and mass merchandise stores in the United States and 50 nations around the world. NRF represents more than 100 state, national and international trade organizations, which have members in most lines of retailing. NRF also includes in its membership key suppliers of goods and services to the retail industry.

In 1999, Ernst & Young in the St. Louis Region named Clark "Entrepreneur of the Year" in the Emerging Business Category. Arthur Andersen also awarded the Workshop with the 1999 Global Best Practices Award(TM) for Exceeding Customer Expectations. Recently, Build-A-Bear Workshop was named the Fastest-Growing Private Company of 1999 by the St. Louis Business Journal, and received a 2000 EDDI award for Entertainment Development and Design Innovation in the category of Entertainment Retail under 5,000 square feet.

Build-A-Bear Workshop is an interactive, entertainment retailer that invites customers to create their own customized stuffed animals. Workshops are located in St. Louis, MO; Chicago, IL; Kansas City, KS; Houston, Arlington, and Dallas, TX; Myrtle Beach, SC; the metro Washington, D.C. area; Atlanta, GA; Miami, Palm Beach, and Orlando, FL; Scottsdale, AZ; Indianapolis, IN; San Francisco, CA; Columbus, OH; Birmingham, AL; Nashville, TN; Detroit, MI; Appleton, WI; Denver, CO; and Orange County, CA. Build-A-Bear Workshops will also be opening soon in Philadelphia, PA; Boston, MA; Las Vegas, NV; and Columbia, MD, with others to follow. By year-end the company will operate up to 40 Workshops in 23 states across the country. The premier store opened in the Saint Louis Galleria in October 1997. For more information, call (888) 560-BEAR or visit the Web site at www.buildabear.com.