Criteria for opening a LEGO store

[Vindicare]

I'm not wanting to open one, just curious what it takes to do so. Wondering if my local mall has what it takes.

[Mencot]

I'm not wanting to open one, just curious what it takes to do so. Wondering if my local mall has what it takes.

You mean a official Lego store now, yea what does it take?

A big target group place where to open the store, is the local mall how big, is it in a big city.

Think about my own situation(not meanig I would never try this) Finland here we don`t have any official Lego store right now and the only city big enough would be Helsinki i think where a Lego store would work, maybe Tampere but I don`t think so. Because the Lego prices are high here, taxes and stuff. And you can get Lego sets much cheaper from local stores and the net.

But back to Legocrazy81s post what does it take?

[Storel]

Possibly different to what was asked in this thread but some of the replies *might* be useful?

[The Blue Brick]

I happen to live in Connecticut, but my brother lives in Boston, Massachusetts. The thing that I don't understand is that there are three different stores all 30 minutes or so from his home, and now they're opening another one. In Connecticut, there are none. This is one thing I never understood, why put so many stores so close to each other, and then in another state, they don't put any. But anyways, I would really love for my local mall to open up a Lego store too. The mall is in a big city, so there would be a big target audience, but why not. The mall isn't that far from the Lego Factory either, which is in Enfield, Connecticut.

Edited March 3, 2012 by The Blue Brick

[L@go]

I happen to live in Connecticut, but my brother lives in Boston, Massachusetts. The thing that I don't understand is that there are three different stores all 30 minutes or so from his home, and now they're opening another one. In Connecticut, there are none. This is one thing I never understood, why put so many stores so close to each other, and then in another state, they don't put any.

Or, seeing as there's 64 (sixty-four) Lego stores in the US, and none in Norway (or in most other European countries, for that matter), why not branch out to some other countries? Lego stores only exist in five countries world-wide (US, Canada, UK, Germany, and Denmark), and US is the single most lucky one... :)

[purpleparadox]

Lego stores only exist in five countries world-wide (US, Canada, UK, Germany, and Denmark), and US is the single most lucky one... :)

And even in the four countries other than the US, there's hardly any LEGO stores! TWO in Canada!! Sixty-four in the US and Canada gets two?

Edited March 3, 2012 by purpleparadox

[Ricecracker]

This issue has been beaten to death. I don't see how getting pissed of will get you a LBR Store in your country...

And even in the four countries other than the US, there's hardly any LEGO stores! TWO in Canada!! Sixty-four in the US and Canada gets two?

There are three in Canada, with a fourth scheduled to open in the next few months...

[L@go]

This issue has been beaten to death. I don't see how getting pissed of will get you a LBR Store in your country...

Getting off-topic here, but I sincerely hope it isn't me you're calling 'pissed off'. My answer was polite and informative - a little digression, I admit, but I even included a smiley to show that I was not angry.

When somebody raises their voice to get another Lego store in the US, I just think it's fair to remind them how lucky they really are.

Edited March 4, 2012 by L@go

[Vindicare]

Getting off-topic here, but I sincerely hope it isn't me you're calling 'pissed off'. My answer was polite and informative - a little digression, I admit, but I even included a smiley to show that I was not angry.

When somebody raises their voice to get another Lego store in the US, I just think it's fair to remind them how lucky they really are.

Just because there's 64 stores in the US doesn't mean that they're convenient for everyone to get to. Where I live, the closest store is 2+ hours away. There's a pretty good sized mall just down the road from me and I was wondering if they'd ever consider it. That's what I was asking about.

[purpleparadox]

There are three in Canada, with a fourth scheduled to open in the next few months...

Really? Where are the three? And where will the fourth one be?

[Sir_Basil_Ashton]

Really? Where are the three? And where will the fourth one be?

Fairview Mall, Toronto, Ontario

Sherway Gardens, Toronto, Ontario

Chinook Centre, Calgary, Alberta

COMING SOON, Oak Ridge Mall, Vancouver, Bristish Columbia

[The Blue Brick]

Getting off-topic here, but I sincerely hope it isn't me you're calling 'pissed off'. My answer was polite and informative - a little digression, I admit, but I even included a smiley to show that I was not angry.

When somebody raises their voice to get another Lego store in the US, I just think it's fair to remind them how lucky they really are.

I am really lucky for living in the U.S. with 64 lego stores, but what I'm trying to say is why are they putting so many Lego stores so close to each other. I'm saying this because from all the malls surrounding the Boston area mostly all of them have stores, which include Burlington, SouthShore, Natick, and now the new one at Northshore mall. To me, there is no need for that many stores, but maybe spread them out amongst the 50 states. Also, the United States is one of the biggest countries, so many things are spread out.

[Sir_Basil_Ashton]

Just because there's 64 stores in the US doesn't mean that they're convenient for everyone to get to. Where I live, the closest store is 2+ hours away. There's a pretty good sized mall just down the road from me and I was wondering if they'd ever consider it. That's what I was asking about.

I think a lot of people outside the USA fail to realize just how big our country is. I have to travel approximately 2 hours to get to the closest LEGO store and I consider myself extremely fortunate.

[purpleparadox]

Fairview Mall, Toronto, Ontario

Sherway Gardens, Toronto, Ontario

Chinook Centre, Calgary, Alberta

COMING SOON, Oak Ridge Mall, Vancouver, Bristish Columbia

Dang...still none within a 4 hour drive

Oh well, maybe more new ones will start popping up.

[Aanchir]

There's more to determining where a store will go than just the population of customers in the area. The profitability of a store can be dependent on many factors. Here in the United States, some localities are simply considered better for business than others due to factors like tax rates, the number of employees with the right qualifications looking for work, what laws and incentives are in place to protect businesses (or entice them to start new stores), what competitors are in the immediate area, and of course whether or not there are vacant stores in malls and shopping centers that get a satisfactory amount of business.

Just being in an area with a lot of potential customers doesn't guarantee a store will be profitable. And this applies not only on a local level, but on an international one. Granted, I'm sure that there are plenty of locations worldwide where TLG could start very successful stores. But to gain confidence in the profitability of such a decision, TLG has to work from what they know, and as such it could be a long time before they are ready to put stores in those places.

[Tacker]

There are 7 in UK which isnt to bad

[Sir_Basil_Ashton]

There's more to determining where a store will go than just the population of customers in the area. The profitability of a store can be dependent on many factors. Here in the United States, some localities are simply considered better for business than others due to factors like tax rates, the number of employees with the right qualifications looking for work, what laws and incentives are in place to protect businesses (or entice them to start new stores), what competitors are in the immediate area, and of course whether or not there are vacant stores in malls and shopping centers that get a satisfactory amount of business.

Just being in an area with a lot of potential customers doesn't guarantee a store will be profitable. And this applies not only on a local level, but on an international one. Granted, I'm sure that there are plenty of locations worldwide where TLG could start very successful stores. But to gain confidence in the profitability of such a decision, TLG has to work from what they know, and as such it could be a long time before they are ready to put stores in those places.

Great analysis, I completely agree. There are many factors that LEGO must consider and they do have to work from what they know.

[Hrw-Amen]

There are 7 in UK which isnt to bad

That may be the case but the nearest to me is still three hours drive away. I did raise this with our local toy shop who sells LEGO and asked them about having a PAB wall (As they sell a lot of it.) but apparently they enquired already and were told they could not as they ae not an official LEGO store. So I am not even sure it is possible to set one up yourself as a franchise type thing?

[Angeli]

Just because there's 64 stores in the US doesn't mean that they're convenient for everyone to get to. Where I live, the closest store is 2+ hours away.

If this was my case, I would take 2.5h there and 2.5h trip back once per week, just to buy one 15$ cup of parts :)

And if there were a PaB store 40h from me, which had Plant Leaves 6 x 5 at some good price, I would gladly go. Did I say 40h? I meant 400 :)

Sometimes you do not know what you've got until you loose it :)

[Vindicare]

If this was my case, I would take 2.5h there and 2.5h trip back once per week, just to buy one 15$ cup of parts :)

And if there were a PaB store 40h from me, which had Plant Leaves 6 x 5 at some good price, I would gladly go. Did I say 40h? I meant 400 :)

Sometimes you do not know what you've got until you loose it :)

Alas...I have a piece that alludes me as well. I do like the plant piece you mentioned, but the one I'm after is the picket fence piece, 1x3 I believe it is...

[Ricecracker]

We have this thread for discussing PaB cups.

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

Or, seeing as there's 64 (sixty-four) Lego stores in the US, and none in Norway (or in most other European countries, for that matter), why not branch out to some other countries? Lego stores only exist in five countries world-wide (US, Canada, UK, Germany, and Denmark), and US is the single most lucky one... :)

None in Latin America.

[Graysmith]

What's truly bizarre to me is that LEGO are opening up stores all over the place in the U.S. as if they're Starbucks, but don't seem to give a crap about opening any stores in the major European cities. Is there really no market for any official LEGO stores to exist in cities like Paris (population 12 million + millions of tourists visiting each year)? I would never expect LEGO stores to pop up in malls all over the place here in Europe, but why not at least open some flagship stores in the most major cities? Is having FOUR stores in Massachusetts (a comparatively small state) really more profitable than having four stores in Paris, Milan, Amsterdam and Stockholm?

Edited May 20, 2012 by Graysmith

[Aanchir]

What's truly bizarre to me is that LEGO are opening up stores all over the place in the U.S. as if they're Starbucks, but don't seem to give a crap about opening any stores in the major European cities. Is there really no market for any official LEGO stores to exist in cities like Paris (population 12 million + millions of tourists visiting each year)? I would never expect LEGO stores to pop up in malls all over the place here in Europe, but why not at least open some flagship stores in the most major cities? Is having FOUR stores in Massachusetts (a comparatively small state) really more profitable than having four stores in Paris, Milan, Amsterdam and Stockholm?

Hard to say. Again, there are factors other than population density involved in whether a store location is optimal. Tax breaks and other incentives on the local law books are a factor, as is distribution cost (probably easier to place a store someplace that's already along a distribution route for other LEGO stores so Pick-A-Brick and other LEGO store items are less costly to keep in stock), the costs of land/retail space, the available locations (most LEGO stores I've encountered here in the U.S. are in indoor shopping malls), etc.

Also, sometimes where a store gets placed has to do with what TLG knows about the location. If TLG already has a store somewhere in Massachusetts, they'll be better-equipped to judge whether the state can handle another LEGO store than in some place where they don't have another location. Even small chain stores and restaurants tend to spread out in this way-- once they have one location, they'll have more insight into what parts of the surrounding area will offer the highest demand. In contrast, building a store someplace far away from anywhere you've done business before is a BIG risk. Even with LEGO, there's the possibility that people will just continue to buy products at toy retail chains they are more familiar with, and thus a LEGO brand store will have difficulty competing.

I'd love to see LEGO stores spread out more outside the United States. Not because I'd benefit from it directly, but because it would help TLG increase its global influence. However, I can understand why LEGO stores are slow to spread into areas they haven't been before.

[gedren_y]

All good points, and quite probably the closest to the mark. I do also think that TLG takes into consideration convention event arenas and secondary vendors.

I live in Florida; we are a big tourism state. We have a Lego Store in Downtown Disney and now Legoland Florida in Winter Haven. Visiting either of these places is not ecconomically feasible for me, though.

I live aprox. thirteen miles from Gainesville, which is a big college sports town with arenas big enough to hold conventions, but it also has three Walmarts, Sam's Club, Target, TRU, Books A Million, Barnes & Noble, and a host of other stores that carry TLG products. Given all this, I don't see a Lego Store opening within regular traveling distance from me anytime soon.

Edited May 21, 2012 by gedren_y