ST. LOUIS (June 21, 2007) — Build-A-Bear Workshop®, Where Best Friends Are Made®, is scheduled to opening a new location in Asheville, N.C. at Asheville Mall on Friday, July 27. Build-A-Bear Workshop is thrilled to be opening at Asheville Mall and to offer Guests a unique and exciting entertainment retail experience.

Build-A-Bear Workshop is based on the premise that nearly everyone, regardless of age, has a special fondness for stuffed animals. When Guests visit a Build-A-Bear Workshop store, they enter a lighthearted teddy-bear-themed environment consisting of eight bear-making stations. Guests choose from over 30 stuffed animals to make. They stuff their new friend, add a heart – a Build-A-Bear Workshop trademark - filled with wishes, and add personality with hundreds of outfits and accessories.

Founder and Chief Executive Bear, Maxine Clark, knows what families want in a shopping experience, and the store is her response to happy memories of shopping as a child. The Build-A-Bear Workshop innovative store concept takes children's interactive entertainment retailing to a new level, combining the process of making your own stuffed animal with an exciting atmosphere. “We've created a unique retail experience by putting the heart back into retailing and putting our Guests at the center of every aspect of our business,” said Clark.

As Guests enter a Build-A-Bear Workshop store they are introduced to a variety of stuffed animals including bears, dogs, cats, bunnies, monkeys and a series of Beary Limited™ edition Collectibear® animals. Build-A-Bear Workshop stuffed animals are very affordable, ranging in price from $10-$25.

Clark looks forward to opening in Asheville. She notes, “Our plan is always to open in the premier malls across the country, and we will continue this approach as we open at Asheville Mall. We have hundreds of Guests who have visited our stores and personally written to me requesting a Build-A-Bear Workshop® store in Asheville and we look forward to sharing teddy bear hugs with the children and families there,” said Clark.

Community Partners
In 2007, a major focus of the company is its continued commitment to causes that support children and animals. A number of stuffed animals available at Build-A-Bear Workshop provide Guests the opportunity to support these causes by having a portion of the proceeds of their purchase donated. In addition to the cause-related animals, Build-A-Bear Workshop launched the Huggable Heroes® program in 2004 as a way to recognize and honor young people that have impacted their own neighborhoods, schools and communities by giving of themselves to others. It is a program that empowers and inspires children to get involved as Build-A-Bear Workshop believes that young people can affect change.

About Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc.
Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. is the only global company that offers an interactive make-your-own stuffed animal retail-entertainment experience. Founded in St. Louis in 1997, the company currently operates more than 275 stores in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland. The addition of franchise stores in Europe, Asia and Australia make Build-A-Bear Workshop the leader in interactive retail. In November 2004, the company expanded the make-your-own concept from stuffed animals to dolls with the opening of its first friends 2B made® stores, where Guests can make their own doll friends. Build-A-Bear Workshop (NYSE: BBW) posted total revenue of $437 million in fiscal 2006. For more information, call 888.560.BEAR (2327) or visit the company's award-winning Web sites at www.buildabear.com and www.friends2bmade.com.

TRADEMARKS
We would like to thank you for your interest in covering our business. As you write your story, we would ask that you use our full Name: Build A Bear Workshop® and that when referencing the process of making stuffed animals you use the word “make” not “build”.

Build A Bear Workshop is our well-known trade name and our registered trademark of Build A Bear Retail Management, Inc.

Build A Bear Workshop® should only be used in capital letters to refer to our products and services and should not be used as a verb.

Contact:
Crystal Howard
314-423-8000, ext. 5402
314-601-1911 cell phone
crystalhw@buildabear.com

Michelle Longfellow
314-423-8000, ext. 5484
314.650.2511 cell phone
michellelo@buildabear.com