{"id":177290,"date":"2025-09-23T22:20:19","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T22:20:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/177290\/"},"modified":"2025-09-23T22:20:19","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T22:20:19","slug":"build-a-bear-continues-to-rack-up-market-gains-despite-tariffs-and-teetering-mall-traffic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/177290\/","title":{"rendered":"Build-A-Bear continues to rack up market gains, despite tariffs and teetering mall traffic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Tariffs<\/a> and years of teetering mall traffic have roiled much of the toy industry<\/a>. But Build-A-Bear investors are continuing to reap sizeable gains.<\/p>\n

Shares of Build-A-Bear Workshop are up more than 60% since the start of 2025, trading at just under $72 apiece as of Tuesday afternoon. That compares to just 13% for the S&P 500 since the start of the year, and marks dramatic growth from five years ago, when the St. Louis-based retailer’s stock sat under $3.<\/p>\n

The toy industry overall has been \u201creasonably soft\u201d in recent years, notes Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData \u2014 but certain categories, including craft-oriented products, have done very well following the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. And that’s key to Build-A-Bear’s core business model: welcoming consumers into their brick-and-mortar stores to make their own plush animals.<\/p>\n

That may also set Build-A-Bear apart from the malls its stores are often inside, many of which have struggled to see overall traffic rebound over the years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mall may not be a destination, but Build-A-Bear often is \u2014 because it\u2019s often a planned trip,” Saunders said. \u201cIt\u2019s a store within a mall that many consumers make a beeline for.\u201d<\/p>\n

Build-A-Bear is still not isn\u2019t entirely immune to macroeconomic pressures, but the company’s profit has soared to record after record in recent quarters. Last month, the retailer reported what it said were the best results for a second quarter and first half of a fiscal year in the history of the Build-A-Bear, which opened its first store in 1997. Company executives pointed to strong store performance and other expansion efforts.<\/p>\n

In the first half of its 2025 fiscal year, the company\u2019s revenues hit $252.6 million and its pre-tax income climbed to $34.9 million \u2014 up 11.5% and 31.5%, respectively, year-over-year.<\/p>\n

The company also raised its financial outlook for the full year, despite anticipated costs of President Donald Trump<\/a>‘s steep tariffs<\/a> on goods coming into the U.S. from around the world and other headwinds.<\/p>\n

\u201cTariffs<\/a> are a real cost that we are facing,\u201d Voin Todorovic, chief financial officer at Build-A-Bear, said in the company’s Aug. 28 earnings call \u2014 pointing to current U.S. import tax rates of 30% on China<\/a> and 20% on Vietnam<\/a>, where the retailer sources much of its products. Some of that has already trickled down to the cost of Build-A-Bear’s merchandise in North America, but Todorovic noted that such levies would impact the company “even more in the second half of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, he and other executives pointed to preparations Build-A-Bear had made to lessen the blow, including previous inventory increases. The company also maintained that consumer-facing price impacts would be limited.<\/p>\n

While the retailer offers some ready-made toys and toy clothing, “what Build-A-Bear generally buys is materials,\u201d Saunders noted. This can \u201chedge against tariffs much more effectively,” he explained, as they reduce labor costs and potentially allow for more flexibility on sourcing.<\/p>\n

Still, Saunders notes that everyone is going to be affected by tariffs and Build-A-Bear isn’t an exception. He adds that consumers will probably \u201ceat that extra cost because they’re paying for the entertainment value.”<\/p>\n

Barring any significant changes, Todorovic said in August’s earnings call that tariffs are anticipated to cost Build-A-Bear under $11 million for the 2025 fiscal year. But despite that and other costs, he noted that the company is still on track to approach or slightly beat last year’s earnings.<\/p>\n

The company’s latest guidance expects its pre-tax income to reach between $62 million to $70 million for the full 2025 fiscal year, compared to just over $67 million reported in 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Tariffs and years of teetering mall traffic have roiled much of the toy industry.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":177291,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[81931,28,83875,105453],"class_list":{"0":"post-177290","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-build-a-bear-workshop","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-neil-saunders","11":"tag-toy-industry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=177290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}