�Bear’ workshop joins NorthPark lineup

Font Size:

By Katie Vaughn | Tuesday, July 11, 2006 1:28 AM CDT | () comments

THE QUAD-CITY TIMES

NorthPark Mall is about to get some furry new tenants.

On Sept. 1, a Build-A-Bear workshop store will open in the Davenport mall. At the interactive store, customers create their own stuffed animals, personalizing them with sounds, clothing and other accessories at a series of bear-making stations. The toys range in price from $10 to $25.

According to company founder and “chief executive bear” Maxine Clark, the Davenport shop will offer local accessories, such as University of Iowa and Iowa State University T-shirts for the stuffed animals.

The new store will have 2,100 feet of sales floor space, according to spokesperson Katy Lachky, and will employ up to 25 part-time employees and four managers.

The company, which was founded in St. Louis in 1997, also has locations in Coralville and West Des Moines, Iowa, plus seven in Illinois. The Davenport store will be the first in the Quad-Cities. A similarly themed but unrelated business — Teddy, Set, Go! — has a store at SouthPark Mall in Moline.

Jenna Poyner, director of marketing at NorthPark, said she expects Build-A-Bear to be a welcome addition to the mall.

“It’s something that I think will be exciting in this market,” she said.

NorthPark is welcoming a handful of other new businesses this summer as well, Poyner added. Wetzel’s Pretzels opened earlier this month in the food court, while women’s clothing retailer New York & Company will open Wednesday in space formerly occupied by Victoria’s Secret, which moved into a new site at the mall in May. And Body Central, a California-based contemporary women’s clothing store, is set to open in the former Casual Corner space by Aug. 1.

Poyner declined to comment on the status of NorthPark and SouthPark malls, which Indianapolis-based owner Simon Property Group put up for sale a month ago. She said the group is still accepting offers on both malls.

Katie Vaughn can be contacted at (563) 383-2282 or kvaughn@qctimes.com.