Pay-Your-Age Build-A-Bear Promotion At Menlo Park Mall Shut Down

EDISON, NJ — If you haven't already visited the Build-a-Bear at the Menlo Park Mall to "pay your age," it's too late.

Build-A-Bear Workshop, inundated with hours-long lines stretching out of the store, is no longer accepting additional guests at its U.S. stores Thursday due to what it called "crowd and safety concerns." The toy company was offering quite the deal: Any "Make-Your-Own" furry friend available in the store could be bought for the price of a kid's age, as long as the child was in the store.Stores nationwide were overwhelmed, and the decision to end the promotion early drew anger locally. The national announcement that the promotion was ending early was posted on the store's page.

"**Urgent Alert: Lines Closed for Pay Your Age Day Event Per local authorities, we cannot accept additional Guests at our locations due to crowds and safety concerns," the alert reads. "We have closed lines in our U.S. and Canada stores. We understand some Guests are disappointed and we will reach out directly as soon as possible."

Lines for the Edison store were so long that they wrapped around the parking deck, leaving scores of children disappointed. One shopper told Patch that employees expected the store to run out of bears, and were handing out $15 off coupons, good until Aug. 4, instead.

"[My daughter] is 2, so trying to explain what was happening was a bit tricky," Jessica Rodriguez-Aquino told Patch. She said the mall was so packed other stores were also reaching capacity.

"My husband then tried to take her [our daughter] to the Disney store to smooth things over with her, but they weren't letting anyone in due to the fact that they were filled to capacity!" she said.

Other shoppers echoed the Rodriguez-Aquino family's experiences.

"I was just inside Menlo Park Mall, Edison but was quickly pushed outside the door to the parking lot and waited an 1 1/2 hrs. for a coupon for a future purchase. Every entrance to the mall was wrapped around the mall. It would've been 5 hours wait time," one Menlo Park shopper shared on Facebook.

The promotion was part of a nationwide celebration of the company's launch of the Build-A-Bear "Count Your Candles" birthday experience. But the promotion seemingly worked too well. Photos posted on social media showed lines stretching out the door at stores across the country. Some said they had been waiting in lines for hours, prompting Build-A-Bear to take action.

Social media users complained that the so-called "Pay your age" promotion was poorly executed. Some said that if it's held again in the future, changes would have to be made, including possibly implementing a lottery system, designating pickup times or passing out numbers.

First image via Jessica Rodriguez-Aquino, used with permission. All other images submitted by Lora Bowman