The bear factory in the central town of Cardiff is a great delight to visit. The presentation of the shop is VERY child-friendly, and with fascination many customers visit the store for a once in a life time experience to create their own bear to their likings.
The staff at the shop are unbelieveably kind and offer you a step by step guidance whilst making your bear.
Firstly, you choose a cuddly toy of your choice, and all prices are clearly listed around their place. You can choose from a range of different bears to giraffes and elephants to tigers. Next, you get your bear stuffed y one of the staff according to how you want it. You can ask for a small amount o stuffing for a cuddly bear or a large amount of stuffing for a firmer bear. Then, you can have a choice as to whether you want to place a voicebox inside your bear. You can record your own voice to put in it, or select a pre-made sound effect. Next, you choose a coloured heart to place inside your beloved bear, and each one symbolises something different, and finally the back of the bear is carefully sewn up.
The next stage is the most thilling as you now get to choose your bear's clothing. The shop offers a ridiculously large range of clothes and shoes and you find yourself looking around continuously to choose which clothes to buy. The clothes are not very cheap though. I paid £14.99 for an outfit.
There are also accessories you can buy which range from fairy wings to school bags to glasses all specially designed to fit the cuddly toys.
As for the prices the actual bears range from around £12 to £20 depending on which one you choose. The clothes sets are around £12 and the single clothes are around £5 each. The shoes are also around £5. The accessories have a large range price depending on what they are . The cheapest accessory that I have bought from the bear factory was a little pair of glasses costing £2 in a sale.
The bear factory has actually had quite a few sales and clothes, shoes and accessories can then cost £3 or £4 . Overall, this shop is a unique opportunity to make the bear or your liking, and is especially loved by children.
By the way, I tried buying a newborn baby outfit in mothercare because it was cheaper than The Bear Factory and it did not fit, so don't bother trying that.
The Bear Factory do children's parties too. I am think it is around £15 per child to make a bear.
There is also a Bear Factory at Cribbs Causeway, Bristol.