Dive Brief:
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Build-A-Bear Workshop Inc. said Tuesday that it has named J. Christopher Hurt to be its COO.
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Hurt was most recently SVP North America at American Eagle Outfitters Inc. where he was responsible for developing an outlet strategy and creating and implementing a plan to grow the division's overall volume and store count, according to his LinkedIn profile.
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At Build-A-Bear Workshop, Hurt will lead retail and operations teams and oversee business operations, including corporate strategy and structure for stores, and report to CEO Sharon Price John.
Dive Insight:
Build-A-Bear Workshop has stumbled of late, which its CEO attributes to falling mall traffic. Price and other top executives took pay cuts in 2014. That year was the company’s first profitable one since 2010, but there’s more to do.
Hurt doesn’t have much experience in the toy industry, and American Eagle has had its own mall-related problems. Unlike other retailers, Build-A-Bear’s business depends on in-store traffic — the whole point is for kids to make the toys there that they go home with — so Hurt’s store operations experience could come in handy.
