Pally Posted November 18, 2009 Posted November 18, 2009 Hi all, Any tips or suggestions for a good Lego shop in or near The Netherlands. Heared the official Lego shops in Germany are oké, but which one is the best to travel to? I life in the centre of The Netherlands. Also the availability of different sorts of Lego is important I think.
Ralph_S Posted November 18, 2009 Posted November 18, 2009 Having lived in the UK I can tell you that in The Netherlands we are comparatively spoiled for choice when it comes to where to buy LEGO. The toy stores may be owned by a relatively small group of companies, but there are lots of them and they tend to have a good selection. It help to shop around a bit, because there can be a considerable price difference from one chain to another. Unfortunately it's hard to pick one that is the cheapest all round. There is one exception. I live in the South, about 25 km away from Vaals. A toystore there (Schmets in The tentstraat) is part of the Top1Toys chain, but generally sells sets much more cheaply than you'll find them most everywhere else in The Netherlands. They're easily 25% cheaper. They are pretty popular though, so I reckon that this close to Sinterklaas and Christmas they might not have everything you might want. Giving them a call might be a good idea. You ought to be able to find their phone-number through google. Unfortunately it may be quite a drive from where you live. The LEGO shop in Cologne (Keulen) is pretty good and not too far away from the border with the Netherlands. I have recently found another way of buying LEGO comparatively cheaply. With the exchange rate of the Pound relative to the Euro being rather low buying in the UK can be attractive. www.amazon.co.uk sell LEGO for UK prices and ship to addresses in the Netherlands. Depending on the set the difference can be as much as 30% even when they are not on sale and despite shipping costs. I recently bough the Agents helicopter for £38 (and a few CDs) and paid about £6 for the shipping of the lot. That set is about €60 in The Netherlands. Cheers, Ralph
Pally Posted November 18, 2009 Author Posted November 18, 2009 Thanks, will keep it in mind. I'm more looking for shops who sell parts and/or exclusives.
Saint Posted November 18, 2009 Posted November 18, 2009 Legoshops are fine, the one in Oberhausen is quite nice... don't forget to check out the toyshop next door, if they have some special offers on lego, the Legoshop will reduce your price on the set aswell. The do have nice stack of pick a brick, but to drive 200 km just to check it... Nah don't think so. The next best this is LegoLand Germany... they do have a large Pick a brick, selling all for € 70 a kilo, so if you save up a lot of money, you can do some good shopping there. I've been there twice, and it's a very inpressive amount of loose lego. and be sure to check the dicount-tent, sometimes they sell loose Lego aswell, for a lot less ( something like the , sorry I only know the dutch word "schepbakken" )
fenrir Posted November 18, 2009 Posted November 18, 2009 Just order your parts and exclusive sets on te internet. That works just fine in the Netherlands. Fenrir
Pally Posted November 24, 2009 Author Posted November 24, 2009 Thx for the input, will visit Oberhausen soon I think. Will post some feedback when i've been there.
Captain Green Hair Posted November 24, 2009 Posted November 24, 2009 The next best this is LegoLand Germany... they do have a large Pick a brick, selling all for € 70 a kilo, so if you save up a lot of money, you can do some good shopping there.I've been there twice, and it's a very inpressive amount of loose lego. and be sure to check the dicount-tent, sometimes they sell loose Lego aswell, for a lot less ( something like the , sorry I only know the dutch word "schepbakken" ) Yeah i loved the PAB at Legoland Germany. I brought home so much stuff from the last event, that i was sitting on the tank of my motorcycle for 180 kilometres, but it was well worth the discomfort. The ''schepbakken'' were pretty useless that time though.. I'm also interested in checking out the PAB's in Cologne and Oberhausen, must visit them some day.
Duq Posted November 29, 2009 Posted November 29, 2009 In Delft is a shop called 'A-Tembo'. It's a computer shop whose owner likes Lego. They sell Lego at very little profit and are generally well below prices at Intertoys and Bart Smit, the two major chains. They also stock exclusives. http://www.a-tembo.nl/winkel/category/7/lego.html
TheAllSeeyingGuy Posted November 29, 2009 Posted November 29, 2009 Never been to an actual lego store, going there by train or car takes alot of time (not to mention going by train is pretty damn expensive). So i'll just wait till there comes one here. I did want to go to munchen to look for purple basic bricks, but they didn't sell them either (i called them), so i just tried searching for them on the web. The Netherlands deserves his own lego store !
DashIngG Posted November 29, 2009 Posted November 29, 2009 (edited) I totally agree. An official Lego store should be a requirement, not an option :) I went to Cologne a few weeks ago and the official Lego store there is so cool. Prices aren't anything special, but they have so much stuff. Personally I order my lego from a few cheap webshops, and scan for special offers at toy stores. Recently a toy store was closing in Amsterdam. Everything was marked 50% off. That put a big dent in my monthly budget Does anyone have good tips on how to get exclusive sets cheaper? Edited November 29, 2009 by DashIngG
Rick Posted November 29, 2009 Posted November 29, 2009 Does anyone have good tips on how to get exclusive sets cheaper? That seems impossible. All the Dutch 'cheap' webshops have them at equal or higher prices than S@H, if they have them at all. That suggests TLG is not selling them to retailers at prices much lower than S@H prices, if they sell them at lower prices at all.
PeterL Posted November 29, 2009 Posted November 29, 2009 Does anyone have good tips on how to get exclusive sets cheaper? Check my signature to see if you find the sets you are looking for, mail me if u find anything interesting.
TheAllSeeyingGuy Posted November 29, 2009 Posted November 29, 2009 That seems impossible. All the Dutch 'cheap' webshops have them at equal or higher prices than S@H, if they have them at all. That suggests TLG is not selling them to retailers at prices much lower than S@H prices, if they sell them at lower prices at all. For example: Lego S@H - US Taj Mahal: 299 $ Lego S@H - Netherlands Taj Mahal 319 Euro's Does that even make sense? If somebody from the US would buy the Taj Mahal from the dutch site he would pay 450 dollar for it.
Wout Posted November 30, 2009 Posted November 30, 2009 I'm very happy with Speelgoedwinkel.nl in Leusden (south-east of Amersfoort) It is a real shop where you can go in but it has also a webshop. The prizes are a bit higher than the A-Tembo, but much less than the Intertoys, Bart Smit and Blokker. www.speelgoedwinkel.nl
tomzev Posted November 30, 2009 Posted November 30, 2009 For example:Lego S@H - US Taj Mahal: 299 $ Lego S@H - Netherlands Taj Mahal 319 Euro's Does that even make sense? If somebody from the US would buy the Taj Mahal from the dutch site he would pay 450 dollar for it. Look at the Eifeltower in S&H US, it's priced at 150$ in S&H NL it's €250... it's ridicule! So I mailed with Lego, this is their reaction: (in Dutch) -------------------------------- Beste Tom B...., Wij stellen het op prijs dat u contact met ons heeft opgenomen. Het spijt me te horen dat u niet tevreden bent over de prijs van de LEGO® Eiffeltoren. We adviseren altijd per land een verkoopprijs voor elk stuk speelgoed en daarbij richten we ons op de plaatselijke markt. Daarom kunnen de prijzen van LEGO sets soms van land tot land verschillen. In Amerika is al het speelgoed goedkoper en zit er geen belasting in de prijs begrepen (deze betaalt men pas aan de kassa), dus als we LEGO sets aan LEGO fans willen verkopen in Amerika, dan moeten we ze concurrerend prijzen. En LEGO Shop at Home heeft elke veertien dagen nieuwe speciale aanbiedingen, dus ga naar www.LEGOshop.com en klik op 'Sales & Deals'. Daar vindt u de aanbiedingen! Neem gerust contact met ons op als u nog verdere vragen hebt. Wij zijn tijdens kantooruren te bereiken op 00 800 5346 5555. Als dit nummer niet werkt, probeer dan eerst 1655 in te toetsen voor het servicenummer. Het telefoonummer is gratis vanaf een vaste telefoon. Met vriendelijke groet, Simone R....... LEGO Direct --------------------------------------- So I looked at the dutch Sales & Deals page, and found a fantastic deal: Speed Regulator for 9v Trains €12. Great! I visit the Lego Store in Oberhausen regularly. I'm thinking of offering a service to dutch costumers, they can order a set with me and I buy it at the LEGO store in Oberhausen. Will you use this service? Or is it a bad idea? Tom
TheAllSeeyingGuy Posted December 6, 2009 Posted December 6, 2009 Didn't Toys R Us have a pick a brick in there stores a few years ago? I remember getting some trees there and i still have the pick a brick bag.
Rick Posted December 6, 2009 Posted December 6, 2009 Toys R Us doesn't exist anymore in The Netherlands. All their stores are not called ToysXL.
Saint Posted December 6, 2009 Posted December 6, 2009 Didn't Toys R Us have a pick a brick in there stores a few years ago? I remember getting some trees there and i still have the pick a brick bag. Yes, they did, lots of fun !! just to get as much into a bag for € 5 was very nice. I undertook some expeditions to local blokker and Toy shops. But I personaly think there's never giong to be a LegoShop in The Netherlands, not wit the monopoly position of the Blokker-Group. They own 3 chains, have a xx% interest in toysXL, so they pretty much got the marked cornerd. The smaller shops arn't of that greater value for them. On the other hand, a LEGOshop will attract much more people ( afol for pick-a-brick ) and will tend to get people out of the blokkers. bartsmids and toysXL. Most of my sets are more of a impulse buy, but I would like to save up a lot of money ( aka €1000 ) and take that shopping in a bigger pick a brick, like Germany, or better, LL-park Germany .
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