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Subject: 
Re: 10170 TTX Intermodal Double-Stack Car Preview
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.market.theory
Date: 
Tue, 3 May 2005 18:19:14 GMT
Viewed: 
9394 times
  
In lugnet.market.theory, Mike Walsh wrote:

"John Riley" <Rohnjiley@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:IFxAqJ.18y9@lugnet.com...

[ ... snipped ... ]


And incidently, marketing Lego trains has never been a strong point of TLG.
Even in the 80's, the only reason I discovered Lego trains is my parents took me
to an independent toy/hobby store and they had 7720 on the shelf. Otherwise, we
hadn't known about Lego trains, and I had been playing with Lego for 5 years.
And good luck finding Lego at independent stores now.


[ ... snipped ... ]

While I don't disagree with what you have written, I will note that there is
some hope in this area.  There is a Model Train store[1] in Cary, NC which
started stocking most of the LEGO Train offering just before last Christmas.
What a pleasant surprise is was to be able to walk into a store and purchase
a set of points as an impulse purchase.  So it is possible for these
retailers to carry these products.  I don't believe it is widely known
though.  This retailer really likes the LEGO Train line because he doesn't
have to compete with TRU and Target, he has something they don't want to
carry.  I wish he were the norm as opposed to the exception though.

Mike

[1] Tom's Train Station in Cary, NC:  http://www.tomstrainstation.com

That's rather interesting.  Perhaps the Lego liason for independent stores
should be pushing those lines which aren't carried at the big boxes, like
Mindstorms and trains.  My impression is that the independents are forced into
carrying certain lines in any contract with Lego, and those lines aren't liked
by the independents (Bionicle, Star Wars, HP, Alpha Team, etc).  That's a
practice needed to deal with the big boxes.  But it hurts the smaller sellers,
who can't compete with the big box retailers on price, and thus those lines just
sit on the shelves at the independents.  If the independents could choose which
lines they want to better coincide with their stores' core markets, they could
be more likely to want to enter into contracts with Lego (for example, a toy
store that focuses on educational products might want Mindstorms and Technic,
while a toy store that focuses on model trains would want Lego trains).

And yes, I too wish he was the norm.  Alas, I suspect they're a dying breed.

John



Message has 1 Reply:
  Re: 10170 TTX Intermodal Double-Stack Car Preview
 
(...) Lines? I'd heard that restriction had been lifted, at least partially, but that maybe there was still a restriction on assortment within a line. I would love it if even the LEGO brand retail stores would be allowed to order what sells... more (...) (19 years ago, 3-May-05, to lugnet.market.theory)

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: 10170 TTX Intermodal Double-Stack Car Preview
 
"John Riley" <Rohnjiley@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:IFxAqJ.18y9@lugnet.com... [ ... snipped ... ] (...) TLG. (...) took me (...) Otherwise, we (...) years. (...) [ ... snipped ... ] While I don't disagree with what you have written, I will (...) (19 years ago, 3-May-05, to lugnet.market.theory)

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