jacosa

Snuggling up to a New Position in Build a Bear Workshops

The company has marketing and merchandising problems. There appear to be 3 distinct "kids" markets: very young (around 3-7), boys (say 6-11) and girls (maybe 7-13). The name appeals to boys, the store concept tilts to girls and the "mom appeal" is more toward very young. This gets sorted out at each location, but it has a lot to do with the reason second year sales tend to trail first year and third to be lower yet (and this annoys stock analysts). The company appears to be recognizing the problems, but not being real nimble in their response. Until it's clear that they can get a growing share of toy dollars, a buy-out doesn't look likely; even stock price gains are tricky (although I agreee that the present stock price is illogically low).