Hey guys,

I'll be in the US the next two weeks and I'm planning to buy some cheap Lego there (of course). As many of you here live in the US, can you give me some tips concerning stores where one can buy Lego (especially Star Wars)? I know Wal Mart and Toys R Us, but I guess that there are more options - any supermarket chains I should be looking for?

Answers would be appreciated!

Oh, and I hope this is the right section of the forum, wasn't sure where to put this.

EDIT: I'm going to California, San Francisco area, forgot to mention that.

Edited April 13, 201113 yr by Supersonic

It matters where you are going; there are regional supermarket chains for example, and perhaps you're headed to an area with a LEGO store nearby.

The other popular large national retailer that sells LEGO is Target.

Hey guys,

I'll be in the US the next two weeks and I'm planning to buy some cheap Lego there (of course). As many of you here live in the US, can you give me some tips concerning stores where one can buy Lego (especially Star Wars)? I know Wal Mart and Toys R Us, but I guess that there are more options - any supermarket chains I should be looking for?

Answers would be appreciated!

Oh, and I hope this is the right section of the forum, wasn't sure where to put this.

EDIT: I'm going to California, San Francisco area, forgot to mention that.

You may want to avoid the supermarkets as they will generally mark things way way WAY up from normal US retail prices. What you may want to look for are some of the discount chain stores. Ross, Marshall's, 5 Below, Big Lots, TJ Maxx, all of which will carry older, discontinued sets for a discounted price. As the other poster said, Target is a great place to find sets for cheap. I might also suggest you check out Craigslist while your in the states, you can sometimes find complete sets on there :D

Hope you enjoy your time stateside!

If you're going to the San Francisco area, you have the option of two LEGO Brand Stores, the San Mateo one and the one in Santa Clara. Those I assume will have the normal stuff.

Out of US stores, Wal-Mart can generally be counted on to have almost everything at MSRP (or below, if it's on rollback). But many buyers even in the US are opposed to shopping at Wal-Mart because some people perceive it as a threat to smaller, local businesses.

Toys 'R' Us tends to get sets earliest and have some of the best selection of sets, including "extended-line" LEGO products like the holiday ornaments (though that particular item probably won't be showing up at this time of year). However, Toys 'R' Us almost always has the sets priced considerably above MSRP.

Independent toy stores are harder to identify by name-- most hotels will contain phone books, though, so if you look under "toys" you can find some names and addresses (or use Google Maps to identify those nearby). From my experience, independent toy stores have a lot of advantages and disadvantages. As an advantage, they may have extended-line products as well as a good selection of main-line products. Also, the workers are friendly-- at a recent trip to a toy store in Keene, New Hampshire, I asked about Collectible Minifigures Series 4 and when it would be arriving, and learned that they in fact already had them and were just hiding them behind the counter in hopes that more people would buy the Series 3 minifigures they had left. On a previous visit, one even offered to identify figs for me by their dot codes (even though I chose the feel method, which these days is more reliable). As for pricing, the latest sets may be at or above MSRP, but independent toy stores may be more likely to have slightly older sets and offer them at reduced prices. This toy store I'm mentioning, for instance, has a couple copies of the Agents set Aerial Defense Unit marked down by around $20. Problems with independent toy stores, of course, also include that their selections of sets may vary.

And lastly, there are discount chains like Big Lots, Five Below, and the others Black Llama mentioned above. Those will almost always have sets below MSRP, and may have an unusual selection of sets. However, they can rarely be counted on to have a considerable variety of sets, if they have LEGO sets at all. It may be worth checking if you happen to be passing by one of these stores, but you shouldn't go out of your way to visit them if they're not between you and a more reliable or important destination.

Target and WalMart both have reasonably good amounts of LEGO. Meijer's doesn't have a lot, but they put stuff on clearance a lot and reduce the price by about 20%. LEGO Stores of course have a good selection. Walgreen's stores might have LEGO, I know they used to have a few small sets there, but I haven't been to one for years. The sets they had were usually small and easily found at other stores though, so you would be better off going to another store. Hope this helps a bit.

Thanks everyone, you're really helping a lot

I'll try to visit some of those discount chain stores - I'd love to find some older sets. Checking Wal-Marts and Targets seems to be a good idea too...I'll bear that in mind.

Again, thank you guys, you're great!

Enjoy your time here! We've got beautiful weather right now!

Just to remind you that nowadays it is very unlikely you would get batman or old harry potter in discount chain stores. (they used to have them!)

some book stores (Borders and BN) have LEGO too. but a little over priced (Borders used to have 33% + coupon every week. but seems it is gone :(

Thanks everyone, you're really helping a lot

I'll try to visit some of those discount chain stores - I'd love to find some older sets. Checking Wal-Marts and Targets seems to be a good idea too...I'll bear that in mind.

Again, thank you guys, you're great!

Edited April 14, 201113 yr by happymark

EDIT: I'm going to California, San Francisco area, forgot to mention that.

If you're going to the San Francisco area, you have the option of two LEGO Brand Stores, the San Mateo one and the one in Santa Clara. Those I assume will have the normal stuff.

I live in San Jose, which is ~45 minutes down the peninsula from San Francisco. Where you will be and how far you will be willing to travel will determine which stores you can go to. But like Brickdoctor said, you can't go wrong with the Lego stores in San Mateo and Santa Clara. I've only been to the Santa Clara one, which is in a large mall called Valley Fair. If you go there, you can check out other stores if you want to do other shopping.

Other than the Lego brand stores, the other places I shop are Toys R Us, Target, and Walmart. TRU has the best selection and has the most frequent/elaborate sales. But Target and Walmart have their normal prices set cheaper (at MSRP), whereas TRU has above-MSRP normal prices.

Beyond that, I wouldn't bother with other stores for Lego sets. The only other stores I know of that have Lego don't have enough of a selection (or sales) to make it worth going to them. But I'll list them just in case:

Borders - A bookstore chain in the process of going bankrupt. Has sets at above MSRP. Has collectible minifigures for $1 more than TRU.

Barnes & Noble - Another bookstore chain with some sets. I preordered POTC sets from them online. Not sure what in store prices are like.

Hobbytown - Above MSRP, small selection

Marshall's - Some brickmaster books and surplus sets in the back corner.

EDIT: If you go to Walmart, please please do not judge Americans by the clientele that you encounter there. I always leave Walmart in a bad mood and feeling anger and sadness at society. Always. You know what, just don't go to Walmart, lol.

Edited April 14, 201113 yr by Zeya

Not sure about Valley Fair, but if you go to the San Mateo one (Hillsdale Mall), there's a B&N across the street.

EDIT: If you go to Walmart, please please do not judge Americans by the clientele that you encounter there.

:laugh:

I'm visiting the San Francisco bay area in June again this year. If you are visiting relatives or friends in California another option might be to order sets from Amazon US for delivery to a US address and collect the sets when you travel over. Amazon don't charge sales tax and frequently offer free delivery. Prices are usually reasonable too. My Maersk train has arrived and is awaiting my collection later this year. Shipping times will be tight if you're travelling there later this month but not impossible.

PS: I've been to that Lego Santa Clara store several times and its got the usual fantastic selection of sets.

Edited April 14, 201113 yr by Dfenz

This toy store I'm mentioning, for instance, has a couple copies of the Agents set Aerial Defense Unit marked down by around $20. Problems with independent toy stores, of course, also include that their selections of sets may vary.

You wouldn't happen to be able to give me the name and location of that store so that I might give them a call and pick up an Aerial Defense Unit would you?