Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. and subsidiaries operates as a specialty retailer of plush animals and related products. The company offers merchandise, including various styles of animals to be stuffed, as well as offers clothing, shoes, and accessories for the stuffed animals. As of December 30, 2006, it operated 271 retail stores in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland, as well as operated 34 franchised stores internationally. The company was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri.