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Subject: 
Re: Lego product distribution
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.general, lugnet.dear-lego
Date: 
Thu, 24 Jun 1999 14:47:45 GMT
Viewed: 
263 times
  
In lugnet.general, Thomas Main writes:
I have noticed that hardly any specialty toy stores I have been to have
Lego on their shelves.  I always see Brio and Playmobil and sometimes
even LGB trains, but I very rarely see Lego.  When I ask the store owner
if they have Lego, the response is usually a polite no, but sometimes
the person seems to almost take offense that something so commonplace
and "mass market" would be in their store.

I am not sure where you live but in Massachusetts I have found a number of
great specialty toy stores that sell lego at or below retail no less.  They
include (there are others but I can't think of their names at the moment):

The Construction Site in Waltham MA:
http://www.constructiontoys.com/

Melrose Place for Toys in Melrose MA:


I have always wondered why Lego didn't pursue the small toy store and
get more of its product onto small toy store shelves.  The benefits
gained would be an impression of Lego as a quality toy - like
Playmobil.  Lego could encourage the small toy stores to carry product
that doesn't sell well in mass retail outlets - like the Train theme and
service packs (this would also allow the toy store to offer Lego that
wasn't so commonplace).

This is pure speculation on my part, but I think Lego doesn't do this
because it is too large of a company.  They distribute all their NA
product through a factory in Enfield, CT (as far as I know) and only
want to deal with large customers like Wal*Mart and Toys'R'Us.  What I
think they may need is a company that would handle small-scale
distribution for them.  This company would also be a big buyer and its
job would be to sell to the small, independent toy stores.  What do
ya'll think?

My only problem with this would be that if there were a "Middle Man" that it
would raise costs and force the smaller stores to sell over retail and be
priced out of the market but the larger mass merchants.

I personally don't think that small stores are discriminated by TLG although
they may not be marketed to as aggressively.  I think that if the stores chose
to carry Lego they would not have any problems doing so.  It may just be a
choice that has been made by the individual store owner and that is their
perogative.

Eric

By catering to both the discerning toy buyer as well as
the mass merchants, Lego may even be able to sell town sets other than
"town jr."

--
Thomas Main
main@appstate.edu
Webpage: http://members.xoom.com/brickenplate/index.html



Message is in Reply To:
  Lego product distribution
 
I have noticed that hardly any specialty toy stores I have been to have Lego on their shelves. I always see Brio and Playmobil and sometimes even LGB trains, but I very rarely see Lego. When I ask the store owner if they have Lego, the response is (...) (25 years ago, 24-Jun-99, to lugnet.general, lugnet.dear-lego)

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