Who doesn’t love an adorable little collectible Starbucks Bearista Bear? I recently fell in love with the Via Bearista Bear, produced by Starbucks for Japan, and it inspired me to create a blog post. I wanted to provide some background information on the little bears, and realized that I knew very little. A quick Google search produced well-known blogger John Moore’s website, Brand Autopsy. John Moore, a marketing expert, spent many years working for Starbucks at the corporate headquarters in marketing, and thus is known to often write about Starbucks.
According to Mr. Moore’s website, the Bearista Bears were first introduced into the stores in 1997, when Starbucks saw sales of tumblers, mugs, and other coffee-related items slipping. The idea apparently came from a marketing executive who previously had worked for Disney. For eleven years, Starbucks sold Bearista Bears, until 2008, when Howard Schultz returned as CEO. At that time, he deemed them too far removed from the coffee heritage of Starbucks, and gave Bearista Bears the ax.
There is still a frequent cry from customers that they want their lovable collectible Bearista Bears to return to the stores. With the lovable plush Bearista Bears gone missing from the stores, customers on MyStarbucksIdea.com created threads like this one here:
Bring back the ‘real’ bearista bears
In 2009, Starbucks sold a little tiny bear, far less plush than the previous incarnations of the Bearista Bears. The scrawny, under-sized 2009 bear was dubbed the “recession bear”. I wish I had bought one to show off here! If anyone has an image they can share with me, I’d be most appreciative.
The Bearista Bear featured in the main photo, sitting atop the La Marzocco espresso machine, lives permanently at 1912 Pike Place. He was a gift to the store from the famous customer Noboru Sakamoto.
What are your thoughts on the Bearista Bears? Should they come back to the stores or should Starbucks simply avoid selling plush toys at a coffeehouse?
Edit:
Thank you to a reader for helping me out with a picture of the 2009 Starbucks “recession bear”:
I can’t wait for more Tribute! But I’m still holding out for some development of the Vivanno line. Hoping that...
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I just thought of this: why the heck didn’t they come out with a 40th anniversary BEARISTA BEAR????? would’ve been perfect….. little new logo apron etc.
@Denise R – I think it’s a great idea to have a 40th Anniversary barista bear. Actually, I’ve been thinking that it’s possible that the 1912 Pike Place store might get some special merchandise for the 40th, and that store has its own bearista bear. Maybe that store will have one?
@Melody: well, if you see one (the 40th bear) and we don’t have them…..I really have to get one!!! xxx
I wondered what happened to the bears, Im not finding good ones anymore. bought a collection the other day and have it listed. You can always rely on mastoyshop to have great collectibles. I think it is a wrong move to get rid of the bears.. as long as they keep them in limited numbers and the fluffy bear with quality clothing and design they will always sell out at the stores.
I have a collection id like to sale , can I list it here
I love my bears. I have been collecting since the beginning. I have over a hundred and i want more. Please make more bears. Or maybe make it to where i can order one directly from you. Hey, that’s a good idea. this way they wont be forgotten by collectors. thank you Melody.
Hi Melody!
First off, I was wondering if maybe you could vary your name a bit because it looks like you and I have the same first name. Maybe you could be Melody123 or something like that.
That sounds like a great collection you have. There used to be so many of them. One of my favorites is still my Via Bearista Bear.
Welcome to the blog. Please poke around!
~Melody
Melody good suggestion for new Melody because it took me a second to realize it was not you writing the post. BTW have not seen any bears in quite some time!
Still looking for someone to buy my bears
I LOVE the little Bearista bears and own 3 of them. I sure wish they were still available and I was hoping that Starbuck’s would be bringing one out this Christmas. In fact, I was going to drop in to a Starbuck’s today to see if there was a “new” bear for 2011.
How can we get Starbuck’s to bring them back???
@Judy M….: they did officially return the bearista bear…..NOT in prs and not nearly as lavishly outfitted as they were thru the yrs past…’90′s, into 2000′s. they came out with this little bare-bones “recession bear” (see pic above) in ’09, same bareness for Valentine’s day 2010 but then Christmas 2010 was much better……as I said, nothing like yrs past, but, a start. My understanding is there IS one for this Christmas..I am assuming it will be launched with all other Christmas stuff. (other than the red cups which were out here in Chicago in the end of OCTOBER!!!!:( In any case, you should see one for Christmas….
I am so sad they stopped making the bearista bears I have collected them since the came out in 1997 I have lots of them , I wish they would reconsider
I am so sad at the brilliant idea of some SB exec who is probably long gone now who chose to stop selling the beautiful Starbucks Christmas (and other occasion) bears. The cheesy substitutes offered randomly the past few years have just been pathetic. The quality, attention to detail, and imagination is gone. SO many people write, wanting the bears to come back. Why is Starbucks so against something that was so popular?????? What can be done to bring them back? I went into SB today and saw all the Christmas stuff and immediately got sad because there were no bears…again.
there are bears….but no where near what you (and I) have referred to of the bearista bears in prs) of rs past. they don’t listen.
Hello Melody, Melody123 here. Just wanted to say that the bears are back!!! I bought a winter cutie with a fur hat on its head. So cute. it was great to buy a new bear. I wanted to let the collectors know that there are new bears!!! Thank you, Melody123
Hey Melody123…so where did you get your Christmas bear? They aren’t anywhere I have been…yet, at least. I’d love to see a pic or a link to it if you know of one.
@Sharon @Melody123 @Denise R – There are bears and they have green puffy jacket, and a furry almost an aviator-like hat, and shoes. I picked it up and commented to a barista that it looks like an Eddie Bauer product. Eddie Bauer patented the goose-down jacket in the 1920s, and once in a while they’ve sold aviator hats. It doesn’t look “christmassy” at all. And Eddie Bauer has routinely sold plush dogs – They kind of go with outdoor themes. That’s all I can think of when I see the bear and dog – They look very EB.
I think it depends on whether or not the owner of the store orders the bears for their stores. I asked our local one here about the Halloween bears for this year (they had some last year), and they said they were not sure if the owner was going to order them or not. Well, this same store never got Halloween bears, but they did get the Christmas bears described above. I picked up 2 last week.
Hello everyone Melody123 here about the bears… I happened to find a store that orders bears. The one i got has a gray parka type around his head. I was told there was going to be a dog by another store manager. I think they will make a return. It will be a new collection.. so we get to start all over again!! yeah.. I really liked the pictures of your stamps. they’re very nice. You all enjoy your coffee today. =)
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