<P> The company's slogan was "Where Best Friends Are Made" from 1997 to 2013 . It is now "The Most Fun You'll Ever Make". </P> <P> Build - A-Bear Workshop was founded by Maxine Clark in 1997, with its first store in the Saint Louis Galleria . By 2010, the store had sold over 50 million bears and had over 400 stores in operation worldwide in Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Kuwait, Mexico, Norway, Qatar, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom . The chain also originally had at least one store in Brazil and one in Oman, but both have since closed for reasons undisclosed . </P> <P> In 2006, the company acquired The Bear Factory from Hamleys and began operating in its flagship store in London . </P> <P> Build - A-Bear has also engaged in various charities, including the WWF Collecti - bear series which has given over $1 million (USD) to the World Wildlife Fund . As part of its tenth birthday celebration, the company built 11 playgrounds throughout the USA and Canada in partnership with KaBOOM! and announced that it had donated over $11 million to various child and family causes since 1994 . A Build - A-Bear Workshop video game was developed by The Game Factory and released for the Nintendo DS platform for Christmas 2009 . </P>

When did build a bear open in the uk