The ‘pay your age’ day deal at Build-A-Bear did not go down well yesterday.
Police were called to a Build-A-Bear shop in Belfast to maintain order at the toy shop.
Chaos scenes unfolded when parents and children queued outside the shop in the hopes of buying a bear for a bargain.
The deal meant customers only had to pay the age of their child for a bear that is usually sold for three or four times that amount.
The police showed up after receiving reports of arguments over people jumping the queue outside the shop, and claims that people were physically confronting the staff.
A pregnant women who stood in the queue for three hours told the Irish Examiner that “it was mayhem”.
She said:
“I was annoyed for the staff as they seemed to be very vulnerable and out on a limb with no backup.”
“What appeared to be a perfect planned family day for us has ended in carnage.”
In the end, the shop had to close their doors prematurely.
**Urgent Alert:
Per local authorities, we cannot accept additional Guests at our locations due to crowd safety concerns. We have closed lines in our stores. We understand some Guests are disappointed and we will reach out directly as soon as possible. https://t.co/aSFfPCcfsG pic.twitter.com/WZJ53tOAEH— buildabear (@buildabear) July 12, 2018
A spokesperson for Build-A-Bear said:
“The safety of our guests and employees is our top priority. We are aware of the situation in Belfast and, in the interest of the safety of our employees and our guests, this store has been closed.”
Parents continued to arrive at the store with their children after it had shut. They were disappointed to be greeted with a sign on the window that apologised for any inconvenience caused.
The company have reached out to those who were disappointed yesterday.
They have distributed vouchers to people who were in the queue, and are also making vouchers available online for Build-A-Bear Bonus Club members. People can use these vouchers up until the end of August this year.
