Why the party’s over at Party City, but
Build-A-Bear Workshop is Thriving
Rita McGrath
Introduction
We’ve been talking about the retail apocalypse for quite some time now. And the sector sure has had its problems – from rapacious Private Equity investors who burdened their properties with debt, to customers wanting one-stop-shops, to the pandemic, to just being kind of irrelevant, retailers have struggled. But there are lessons to be learned from the success stories. I am proud to say my friend and Columbia MBA grad Sharon Price John, CEO of Build-A-Bear workshop, is one of the amazing rare ones!
Rita McGrath | Thought Sparks
The party’s over….they burst your pretty balloon
While that is an actual line from a popular song, it kind of sums up the sad fate of Party City, whose management team has now decided that staggering through a third chapter after its second bankruptcy is probably just not a good idea. 700 stores are going to be shut down, and its employees will receive no severances and no extension of health care benefits.
Rita McGrath | Thought Sparks
Rita McGrath | Thought Sparks
Literary Review
The contrast with Build A Bear Workshop couldn't be more striking.
When Sharon Price John took the helm in 2013, the company was struggling with similar challenges – a mall-based retail model under pressure and changing consumer preferences.
Price John understood what I call "transient advantage" – the need to continuously reconfigure assets and capabilities to create new sources of value.
She also recognized that Build-A-Bear was a brand, not the actual workshop.
Rita McGrath | Thought Sparks
,
and lessons
or themselves. While Party
er its debt load and outdated ear achieved record profits in ly climbing stock price. To me, e what I did there?) illustration has deeply human core values at can also deliver results for sufficient time.
Rita McGrath | Thought Sparks
https://thoughtsparks.substack.com/
