Summary
Overview
Maxine Clark, former president of Payless Shoes, shares how a simple shopping trip with her neighbor's kids inspired her to create Build-A-Bear Workshop in 1997. Despite skepticism about leaving a prestigious Fortune 500 career for a stuffed animal concept, she built an experiential retail phenomenon that now generates over half a billion dollars in annual sales. The episode explores her retail career at May Department Stores, the inspiration behind Build-A-Bear, navigating the 2008 financial crisis, and successfully transitioning leadership to ensure the brand's longevity.
From Eleanor Roosevelt's Secretary to Retail Executive
Maxine grew up in 1950s Florida with a mother who worked as Eleanor Roosevelt's secretary and stenographer. Her mother's experience with Roosevelt shaped her commitment to social justice, including taking young Maxine to march in Selma, Alabama. These formative experiences instilled in Maxine the belief that she could be anything, even though her mother felt limited by her own era. This foundation of advocacy and possibility would later influence how Maxine approached business and customer experience.
- Maxine's mother worked for Eleanor Roosevelt, traveling to see conditions in asylums, hospitals, and orphanages across America
- Eleanor Roosevelt told staff to 'do something that's going to change the lives of the children and the families' they encountered
- Maxine's mother ran a school for children with Down syndrome after leaving Roosevelt's employment
- At age 16, Maxine marched with her mother in Selma, Alabama during the civil rights movement
" When you're going home to settle wherever you're going to be, do something that's going to change the lives of the children and the families that we saw on our travels. And so that's exactly what my mother did. "
" I had no idea the impact that that would have on my life or on America's life. No idea whatsoever. and that I was so appreciative of my mother exposing me to such incredible opportunity. "
Breaking Into Retail Through Boldness and Luck
Fresh out of college with plans for law school, Maxine bluffed her way into an interview at Hecht's department store by claiming she had a 2 o'clock appointment. During an impromptu coffee meeting, the company president happened to sit down and was so impressed he instructed HR to hire her immediately at $150 more per month than standard. This combination of audacity and serendipity launched her 25-year retail career, where she quickly distinguished herself by being unintimidated by executives and genuinely focused on understanding customers.
- Maxine lied about having an interview appointment to get her foot in the door at Hecht's
- Company president Alan Blustein joined the informal coffee meeting and immediately decided to hire her
- She was hired at $150 more per month than the previous trainee without a formal interview
- Maxine succeeded partly because she wasn't intimidated by executives, treating them as equals rather than superiors
" I walked back down there and I told them I had an interview at 2 o'clock, whatever time it was. I did not have an interview at 2 o'clock, but they would see if somebody would meet with me. "
" I didn't think I wasn't intimidated. And part of that was also my upbringing. Because while my father and mother were not unusually successful people, they had friends that were successful. And that I was around those people. And so I saw what success looks like in it. "
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