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Build-A-Bear offers vouchers to those who waited in line for hours at Pay Your Age sale

Build-A-Bear backlash is spreading across the country and in the Carolinas.

CONCORD, N.C. – Build-A-Bear backlash is spreading across the country and here in the Carolinas.

Long lines wrapped around buildings, inside malls; all for discounted bears. On Thursday, Build-A-Bear sold teddy bears and other animals at the price of a child’s age.

However, the special backfired and customers were turned away without getting what they came for.

Later in the day, Build-A-Bear announced on Twitter they closed lines because of safety concerns. Now, NBC Charlotte is getting a firsthand look at the impact at Concord Mills.

One mother at the Concord Mills location said she had been waiting in line for more than four hours and she still had not gotten through the door. However, the biggest concern on Thursday was for safety.

The tremendous lines were seen from Columbia, South Carolina to Houston, Texas. Build-A-Bear was selling the beloved teddy bears for the price of a child’s age.

At the Concord Mills location, NBC Charlotte saw police and mall security at the front of the store.

“It’s insane we got here at 8:15 this morning and it’s now 12:30 and we’re not in the door yet,” one mother said.

Later on in the day, Build-A-Bear tweeted all lines are being closed due to safety concerns.

“They said there were so many people the fire marshal had to shut the place down for safety reasons,” a customer told NBC Charlotte.

Build-A-Bear went on to say they understand some guests are disappointed and the company plans to reach out directly as soon as possible.

“I don’t think it was well thought through, I don’t think they had the materials they needed for the amount of people that showed up,” one customer said. “They just gave us a voucher, so next time we go it’s $15 off, so it’s still worth it.”

RELATED: Charlotte area malls overwhelmed by Build-A-Bear 'Pay Your Age' lines

Build-A-Bear released the following statement to NBC Charlotte:

Build-A-Bear Workshop’s Pay Your Age Day event generated an overwhelming response, resulting in long lines, extensive waits and disappointed Guests. We feel it is important to share that, based on the information available to us before the day began, we could not have predicted this reaction to our Pay Your Age Day event. We understand that many Guests were turned away as, due to safety concerns created by the crowds, authorities in certain locations closed Build-A-Bear stores and, in other locations, we were forced to limit the line. Unfortunately, given these circumstances, we were unable to serve all of our Guests for the Pay Your Age Day event.

In response, we distributed vouchers to Guests, who were present in lines, to be redeemed for a future purchase. We are now making vouchers available to our Build-A-Bear Bonus Club members in the U.S. and Canada who log into their account by midnight on July 15, 2018. Vouchers related to this event will be honored through August 31, 2018.

It is our sincere desire for all of our Guests to enjoy the best Build-A-Bear experience possible. As such, our goal with the voucher extension is to enable us to better flow traffic to the stores over the next several weeks to avoid long lines and wait times as much as possible. Therefore, we strongly encourage Guests to consider delaying their trip to Build-A-Bear, and we appreciate everyone’s understanding and patience in this matter.

Build-A-Bear Workshop takes seriously the privilege of providing our valued Guests with an opportunity to make a furry friend. It is with that spirit that we created our Pay Your Age Day event and the new, year-long Count Your Candles birthday program, where kids 14 and under can “pay their age” for our new Birthday Treat Bear during their birthday month. Thank you for your passion and continued support.

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