Build-A-Bear drops Friends 2B Made

FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Build-A-Bear Workshop Inc. is getting out of the make-your-own doll business.The Overland-based toy retailer this morning said it plans to shut down its nine Friends 2B Made stores and the associated product line.

The company expects to close the stores by the end of its fiscal third quarter but said the exact dates could change, dependent on the finalization of third-party agreements.

The company said the closures would cost about $2.8 million pre-tax, or 9 cents per share, in the third quarter, with additional pre-tax charges ranging from $1.9 million to $2.3 million, or 6 cents to 7 cents per share, in the fourth quarter and through next year’s third quarter.

Primarily, the charges are related to lease terminations.

The company said it still expects to earn 68 cents per share for 2008. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect 2008 profit of 57 cents per share.

Build-A-Bear said its goal was to offer jobs at nearby Build-A-Bear locations to employees of the Friends 2B Made stores that will be closed.

The stores are in the St. Louis Galleria, along with stores in New York; Boston; Pittsburgh; Minneapolis; Columbus, Ohio; Temecula, Calif.; Myrtle Beach, S.C.; and Ontario, Calif.