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”:
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I don’t have any problem with the Bearista Bears. I like them. I don’t get how selling Egg McMuffins and overpriced journals with lame inspirational crap scrawled in them is “in tune” with the “heritage of Starbucks,” but cute stuffed animals are not. Hell, isn’t Starbucks supposed to be the “third place?” Isn’t it supposed to be a home-away-from-home? And how many things are more inviting and more homey than cute stuffed animals? What better to make you think of Starbucks as a welcoming and inviting place than having a teddy bear at home to remind you of it?
They’re cute, they’re popular, and they’re portable, permanent advertisements for Starbucks. People buy them and like them. So why not have them?
Yes Yes! I want them back, the real ones. I was told there was a (single) new spring one this year, i did see a pic on E-bay, but couldn’t verify the foot tag. And, we never had them anywhere around here. According to MSI, it’s a plan in action…the return of the real ones. I had been getting them for yrs for my niece, who collects them. I do hope they return, fully dressed.
I always found them so cute
but refused to start collecting them as i have such limited space, and enough stuffed animals, but i always gushed over them when i saw them
Great article!
I love the Bearistas and I own a few of them too…also the VIA Bear from Japan, thanks so much to Nob (@Nobrice on Twitter).
They are totally cute!!
Unfortunately we do not have the city Bearistas anylonger here in Germany too…right now we only have one for the spring season.
Nice background information about its past by the way…
The bears are cute. To go off on a brief tangent, I remember on MSI people asking for mugs from each store. That also would be an interesting thing to revise. I know I got one from the Pike Place store and the store in Beijing.
i’m pretty sure i just saw a pile of bears recently…but i do not know which style they were, the older style or the skinnier bear. it was quite possibly the spring bear denise mentions above. i recall selling them myself many years back (circa 2000-2003).
and, as a side note, i have a mini-bearista on my fridge. it’s a little brown bear clad in a black and orange halloween outfit, with the word eek! in bright orange across the chest of his costume. he has magnets in his paws and shares space with a cat plush from some credit union.
i have a feeling i may be able to remember where i saw that springy bear recently. should i dm you the suspected location? it’s a quiet enough place there may be some left!
Thank you for the pic of a living bear in Starbucks Pike1912. He don’t have iPhone, he cannot do Skype call to me. He seems to be doing well.
Thank you Melody!
I have the 2009 Starbucks bear. That is “The symbol that Starbucks succeeded in recession”, it is not recession bear. I think so.
It is a mistake that Howard Schultz did cancellation of the sale of the bear. That is the folly that is equal to deleting a sofa seat from the store’s interior. But, as for the bears of the time when he did cancellation of sale, a design was ordinary. I like bears of a good design such as the MLB bear of Starbucks.
Melody, be careful about the collection of Starbucks bears. The collection does not have a goal. It will occupy all places of your house. Haha.
@Sebastian.
Flight cancellation by the volcano. Long time imprisonment to an airplane, and delivery trouble.
Your VIA bear experienced many dramas. He is Jack Bauer? lol
@Noboru @elly @purple1 –
Nob your comments here make me laugh out loud. You’re very good. Maybe something gets lost in translation but wait … all the better!
@elly1 – Yes please DM me the location!
@purple1 – I had a previous blog post about collecting City Mugs.
http://www.starbucksmelody.com/2010/01/23/collecting-starbucks-city-mugs-open-thread/
^ The thing about Starbucks is it seems like everyone can find something to collect there. I have an upcoming blog post about collecting Starbucks cards. I only recently thought that one could do an entire blog post about collecting the Starbucks paper bags.
But what I really love collecting is the Starbucks “flair”. I love this blog post on the little pins and buttons that are often found on green aprons:
http://www.starbucksmelody.com/2009/11/06/17-pieces-of-starbucks-flair/
And thanks to everyone for leaving so many comments here!
to NOB: I have 2 of those MLB Sbux bears….the Chicago Cubs, one from 2003 and one from 2004. They are 2 of the cutest, I think. (especially for a Cub’s fan!:)
@Melody,
I am serious. Because they occupy all places of the room. On desk, shelf, etc…
I must offer my bed to them if Starbucks releases bears again. I want to collect an rent from them.
@denise r.
Yes that cool! I like both. Stripe uniform version, and helmet version.
I must apologize to you. I like Seattle. So, I must support Seattle Mariners.
(I’m sorry to Cub’s fan :D)
This is a reason why they occupy my room…..
oops.
http://twitpic.com/1n4n9h
Melody: yes, but do you have a Mariner’s bearista bear, in full attire? 😉
I have never heard or seen these bears before. I really like the pictures of them and would really like to have one! I sure hope they bring them back!
@Nob
HaHa…he is Superbear! :p
Today Starbucks announced new “Destination” Bearistas for Germany for this summer-season…
@Nob – cuuute pic! Now I want to get one! Or two.
@Sebastian @Nob @LatteRose and Kelly:
@Sebastian, Nob DeniseR and LatteRose:
What’s this about “destination” bears? I want to hear more! I never did pick up the Mariner’s bear, Denise but I remember seeing it in the stores.
@Kelly – Hi Kelly. Welcome to this blog. There already is a very active Kelly on this site, so your posts might get confused with hers (possibly – the other Kelly uses a gravatar). Anyway, I hope that Starbucks brings back the bearista bears. Look for them in the stores. They were a well loved item for so long.
I will get some pics of the pairs of the bears in full attire, mr and mrs (I assumed they were married). Christmas and Valentines wer the best, I thought.
Melody: I actaully got the 1st Cub’s bear for my dad, in 2003, for Father’s day…thinking: no big deal, he didn’t need anything(my dad) and he might or might not like the bear. Turned out he loved it….had it sitting on the tv all summer, and we won the division that yr. So then I got him the one in ’04….not much luck for the team..but still, they sat out all thru the season. Now I have them,,,,,, a sweet reminder.
@Melody
The “destination” bear is comparable with the Mugs from around the world…the represent one country. Right now I only know those destination bears from some Europe and Arab countries…Poland and Germany got the new version of them right in this week.
Here iit is…
http://cgi.ebay.de/Starbucks-BEARISTA-DESTINATION-GERMANY-BEAR-BAR-2010-/110530473716?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19bc212ef4
It is like the Japan Bear in your post…didn’t see that at the first time…sorry!
From what I’ve read, the ‘destination’ bears seem to be only an international thing, which, ironically, the USA seems to be excluded from. ???
I have about 60 bears and I love them. It’s fun to collect them each season and each bear reminds me of where I was in my life when I got it. I know that we sold Philadelphia bears for a while, and there were some other cities that had them as well. I bought a bunch of Philly bears when they came out so I could give them as gifts…people loved them and I think I have an extra. 😉
Unfortunately, my husband doesn’t love them as much and he thinks they are silly. But he does tolerate them as long as I keep them to the “season” (eg xmas bears, valentines bears, golfer bear for fathers day). Now, when I buy a new bear, I keep it hidden for a few days and then it just suddenly appears…he doesn’t even notice! LOL What a good hubby I have.
The Starbucks Japan bear living in 1912PIKE is “2009 Destination Series”.
Melody’s Starbucks Japan bear is “2010 Destination Series”.
I am interested in 2010 Starbucks Germany bear Destination Series. Their shirt has Brandenburger Tor!
When I was a store manager a few years ago, we got a special edition Barista bear celebrating our conference in our swag bag (I believe he had a themed apron and baseball cap). Before I had even left the conference, there were some of these not-for-retail-sale bears up for sale on eBay for over $100.
Not exactly a good showing by Starbucks partners who should have known better.
oh, you forgot about the valentine “here’s the key to my heart…oh, yea, my hearts on my rear end (put less delicately in our store to much hilarious laughter). As cute as they are, I tend to think…they are not really a part of coffee culture.
@Denise, we had the spring ones.
Maybe I’m less than enthusiastic b/c then just tend to sit and collect dust in our store. Of course that was the “recession bear” that did that.
*they
@Chris W.
Is this the special edition bear?
http://twitpic.com/1nkpod
I negotiated many times, but my friend did not sell it to me. I need that….
Also, I remember that, the dragon bear which Starbucks China released was 600 dollars by ebay. It is terrible price…..
I remember a manager who told me she collected them all at the time….this was the manager at Starbucks #5708 (which had 7 managers in 3 years)
Wonder if she kept them all?
Kind of related…….I seem to remember my brother getting irked that the Arctic Tale stuffed animals (Neela – Walrus / Nanu – Polar Bear) were distributed so poorly….his boys wanted one each and his store never received any….
to CABarista: I think back when we had the ‘real’ bears (in prs, in dress) they generally sold very well. Especially the Christmas and Valentine ones…not so much the ‘golfer’ ONE’s……..the prs seem to go much faster. I do hope they bring them back as they were, prs. and dressed. (supposedly they are) That “spring” bear that I only saw on e-bay , 2010, was not up to par for the bearista bear return!
@denise r. – For the “Spring bear” do you mean the one that had like a pink flower petals around its face and a green and pink dress? I’m going to try and get a pic of it up too, to add to this post. I realize suddenly why I rarely buy these bears: All my favorite bearista bears are wearing green aprons, or are tied to Starbucks, but many of the bears are really disconnected from the coffee. I mean I LOVE the Via bear because it is about Starbucks Via, a Starbucks product and its got a great apron. If there were only some way that Starbucks could tie these bears back to espresso and coffee. For me, I don’t feel impassioned by seeing bears that may be produced by Starbucks but are about sports teams and not coffee. Just me. Sorry.
Melody: I’m not positive but I do believe that ‘spring’ single bear this yr was the one you just referred to. They never had them around here, so I only saw it on E-bay. nothing special.
The thing about the bears…..the old ones…was 1) they were really adorable and reasonably priced for ‘bear’ collectors. (ie: my niece) and 2) they did have the Sbux logo and year on the foot……anything like that with a year on it I think comes to have special meaning.
I personally would never have collected the bears for myself….except the 2 Cub’s bears that I inherited from my dad….. but they were great gifts for anyone’s ‘bear’ collection.
And, re: that Valentine recession bear of this yr., with the heart on the ass…..(or near it?) seriously???
@Nob Yep, that’s the one. I still have my Ogio duffel bag from that conference, but I gave away my bear to a friend who was a collector. She offered to pay me, but I refused, as I didn’t think it was ethical. I really loved seeing people go crazy over those bears, but then it got out of hand for a while when there was a new bear every 6 weeks.
They are extremely cute I must say! I’ve never seen one in the UK as of yet..
..would you have any information relating to other countries on Starbucks?
If that is possible, I want Starbucks to release “(STARBUCKS) RED bear”.
@Chris W.
Thank you for answer.
I understood that, why he did not give me that. lol
@Nob – I updated this blog post with a pic of the 2010 Spring Bearista Bear. But I just wanted to say that I love the idea of a (Red) Bearista Bear too – Complete with red apron please! That’s a good example of what I mean by I want the Bearista Bears to tie back to the core of the company. I can’t tell if the Spring 2010 Bearista Bear has anything to do with having a cup of coffee.
@Melody
I want Starbucks to release an RED bear in Starbucks of all countries.
Here is Starbucks coffee Japan’s 2010 Spring Bearista Bear
http://twitpic.com/1oswhw
So, there is two kinds.
Hi there, I have a bunch of older Starbucks bears that I’m looking to get rid of. Is this an appropriate place to ask the question: Does anyone want my bears?
we collect the bears as well and take them on holidays. with the bears in our photos they are lol reminders of where we have been. whether wine tasting in france or golfing in california or recently in germany on the mosel, we have great memories.
we also think the knit bear was a joke and having only destination bears is a waste as well as each bear is identical but for the place name. so why is it the bears are released in other countries and no longer in the usa?
i love these bears.
do you know a good place to buy them besides ebay?
@Abby – Welcome! You might try Craigslist too for the bears. Other than that I don’t know of an easy way to collect them. Come back and join in the comments again soon!
I have collected the bears since 1999 when I fell in love with them, I have about 40-50 bears. Unfortunatily I have to get rid of my bears and an looking into selling them. I moved and don’t have room for them in the new house and they have been boxed up for 2 years now. If anyone is intrested you can email me at tydyry@live.com
hi abby
i started my collection from a valentine gift ,then i started hunting them at garage sales.what a find when i see them in almost perfect condition…i think my fav is the halloween ones with easter dress up second and of course the cute xmas customes.bears[ i have one big 18”santa stbx bear i found at a charity shop] so dont give up try looking at ur local thrift shops too . they are never more then a few dollars but at garage sales i usual pay 50 or less for them!! yes in 2010 something u can buy for 50 cents!!
I’m obviously all for the Bearista Bears! I have my “Recession Bear” from 2009 Christmas, The Pike Place Bear that you sent me, my 2010 (and my favorite by far!) Christmas bear, and the 2009 Autumn Bearista bear. I love them! A great way to track my favorite seasons as a barista at Starbucks!
What happened to the Bearista City bears? Do we not sell those anymore? I really want a Vancouver bear :-(.
I also have two halloween bearista bears and Huxley (the holiday 2010 mouse). They are just adorable! The Christmas ones are very cute as well, and make for a great gift to a child.
Yes! please especially the pike-place bearista. I want to collect some still~~
Hi, Bearista fans,
I had been collecting these bears for awhile and stopped once I had kids. I have about 40 ish bears that I am looking to sell. A few of them are doubles. If anyone is interested in which ones I have, feel free to contact me.
Hi guys,
I’m new here and considered a fairy godmother of a growing number of Starbucks merchandise collector on Facebook. No twitter for me here in China. In any case, the Sakura 2011 Bearista Bear will be the 100th edition in the Bearista Bear Collection. It’s cute in a pink Japanese kimono top and skirt. It has Starbucks coffee with the year on one of the foot.
I saw one guy selling it for $48.88 on ebay. According to the barista, the bear will be released in China on 15 Feb 2011.
Here’s a photo of the bear: http://clompy.com/beijing/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/100th-bear.jpg
Cheers,
Claudine
Hi Claudine,
What a neat looking bear, and cool post! I also read your blog entry on your Beijing website. How cool!
Karl in Los Angeles
I am looking for the large Mr. Clause Bearista that was released in 2004 (#38). If anyone knows where I can find one, please let me know. Thank you.