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mostlytechnic

Lego "Brick Friday" Exclusive VIP Access Event!

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Like last year, there's a super special event at Lego retail stores in the US for the top spending VIP members. Got my invite today... For me, it's 9-10am Sat Nov 17 (ie the hour before the store normally opens on the Saturday before Thanksgiving). Has tickets for myself and 1 guest. The fine print on the back of the invite: "One free limited edition Holiday set per person with $99 purchase [i assume that's the same set others will get for spending $99 on Black Friday]. One transaction per person, with a spending limit of $5000 before discounts are applied [Wow, who's gonna drop 5 grand in one day? I'd sure love to though!] The event is open to individual consumers only who are purchasing products for personal use. Attendees may not purchase more than 5 of any single LEGO set or product and Holiday exclusives are limited to one per person."

So it sounds like it's just like last year's event - you get the normal Lego scratch-off Black Friday discount at the checkout, the free holiday set with $99 purchase, and limit 5 of any particular set. Last year we also got one of the free holiday pick-a-brick boxes (that you get right now for spending $75) that we could fill right then. So basically it's just a chance to get the Black friday discount without the crowds.

Don't know how many are invited - last year it was I think 25 per store. I know last year I was #1 for my store (yep, I spend a crapton there!). Don't know where I rank this year.

The invites aren't quite as nice this year though - a blue and red printed card, but no plastic "wax seal" like last year. But heck, it's fun and free. Not gonna complain! Now just have to go call and RSVP. Nah, I'll just go and buy some stuff and rsvp in person...

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I got my invite yesterday. I didn't go last year as I was traveling but I'm thinking of checking it out this year. I don't really know what to expect as I usually avoid retail outlets like the plague on (actual) Black Friday, I'm more a Cyber Monday sort of guy, but this might be fun.

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I'll have to go check the mail... was invited last year; I've severely curbed my LEGO spending, but I've still purhcased a lot this year. Hope I get the invite... I'd rather not "do" black Friday. Was already holding off on a number of sets to easily get up to the amounts you need for free pick-a-brick boxes and special holiday sets... I have off that whole week, so getting sets on Saturday to play with that week is definitely better than waiting until the following Friday.

Whatever - I'm glad to hear they are doing it again this year and happy for whoever gets the invite.

I mean, it wasn't "all that," and you essentially got the same deals as BF customers, but it was before the shelves were emptied and not crowded.

EDIT: my mail comes real late; it's after 6:00pm here - but I just got my invite, so cool!

Edited by fred67

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Dang it, I'm probably not in the top 25 in my store. I'm, like, number 50. :hmpf_bad:

I hope that holiday set is not just for this event.

Edited by just2good

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What is the $$ range that puts one in the top 25?

My wife be glad I didn't get an invite (vbg).

Andy D

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don't know, but I know I've spent a few thousand each of the last years. I also don't know if it's based just on in store, or if S@H purchases on your VIP card count as well. Either way, I'm sure I've spent $3k+ in store this year.

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Is it just one store? I've spent about $2k between 2 stores. Roughly half per store.

Don't tell my wife.

Andy D

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[Wow, who's gonna drop 5 grand in one day? I'd sure love to though!]

I know someone who has... :laugh:

He also got one of two 50% coupons one of the blackfridays....

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It's top 25 per store.

I didn't realize the invites were coupled with spending habits. Part of me now feels a little uncomfortable that I've been invited two years in a row. I knew I was "avidly embracing my hobby" but I didn't realize that, living in the 10th largest city in the US, I was consistently outspending 4.5 million of my neighbors.

I am so glad my wife never reads this forum... I feel like I should go buy her some jewelry or something to balance things out.

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I know I used to spend embarrasing amounts on LEGO, but last year I made the decision to cut way back. I've probably still spent $1000k between S@H and my local LEGO store, but that's far less than I used to spend. With how many wealthy spoiled kids there are around here, I'm surprised I made it again - unless they're counting from when they started the program, then I could see me still lingering on the list.

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That's neat! I'd love to have some good deals right before the store gets crowded/emptied. My first visit to a LEGO store was a few weeks ago and I was the only person in there aside from my wife and the employees. So I had all the time I wanted to linger at the sets and the Pick-a-brick wall. It was really nice. I have spent a fair amount from S@H but I doubt I'd be invited, and even if I was I wouldn't be able to attend since I live so far away from a store. But I have also curbed my spending quite a bit this year. Which is odd since there are more great themes out this year than last year when I went crazy. It makes me wonder what I spent my money on last year...

Have fun with your shopping everyone who goes. Be sure and let us know of your finds!

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My area has a new Lego store that opened this past June. Looks like I've barely spent $400+ there since it opened. Might be interesting to see how that plays out with the top buyers from that store.

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That's neat! I'd love to have some good deals right before the store gets crowded/emptied. My first visit to a LEGO store was a few weeks ago and I was the only person in there aside from my wife and the employees. So I had all the time I wanted to linger at the sets and the Pick-a-brick wall. It was really nice. I have spent a fair amount from S@H but I doubt I'd be invited, and even if I was I wouldn't be able to attend since I live so far away from a store. But I have also curbed my spending quite a bit this year. Which is odd since there are more great themes out this year than last year when I went crazy. It makes me wonder what I spent my money on last year...

Have fun with your shopping everyone who goes. Be sure and let us know of your finds!

Well, your first year back is always crazy. There's so much to buy from years past that are still on the shelves. This year doesn't seem so bad because you've gained some ground. I went nuts my first year back. Every week going to TRU, constant eBay checks.

I've done a fair bit of spending at LEGO stores this year, mainly big dollar exclusives, but I primarily buy at TRU because it's close and I'm terrible with directions. The closest LEGO store for me is a little over an hour away. Part of me is happy to not be invited, I don't have any money to spend anyways.

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I got the invite last year, but missed out on this year. I originally thought it was all purchases tied to your VIP card, but I could be mistaken, b/c I thought I'd get one this year, but nothing came in the mail.

I called my local store to find out about it, and they upped the # to top 35 this year, so I'm really shocked I missed out. Oh well. It's fun to go to, but not fun at the same time as the few sets that will be discounted on BF won't be discounted for the Pre-BF event. Buuut, it's still cool to walk away w/ the freebies. :)

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...I knew (or thought) that I've spent less this year compared to last year since I have not been going to my Lego store that often and there aren't that much sale going on at S@H either... so it is a surprise when I got the invite today in the mail... now I'm curious how I did this year since there's no number-system and reading an earlier post, TLG upped the invite from 25 to 35 per stores... maybe that's why I got included in the invite... nevertheless, I'm excited; we'll see how it goes this Saturday...

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It is definatly not the top 25 spenders per store. I spent under 2K this year, no way that puts me in the top 25 in this area, yet I got an invite to the Woodbridge store. I have only spent a few hundred there this year, so it must take past habbits and online purches into account. I think it is sometinh like: this guy spent 5 times as much last year than this, we need to get him to teh store to spend, lets send him an invite...

Edited by Follows Closely

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I dunno about that, it's easy to forget as AFOLs, but 2K spent on Lego is quite a lot compared to what a typical person would spend (even those who have signed up to a loyalty scheme like VIP).

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I don't really want to think about what I spent to get the invite (or what I'll probably end up spending on Saturday) I'm just looking forward to going. I didn't go last year (didn't realize it was that big a deal actually, I guess that's what I get for not paying attention) but now that I have a better idea of what to expect, I'm actually kinda psyched.

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I'm going to ask this here since I'm not sure where I would go, but it relates to this Black Friday Deals.

Anyways, I just got an email from Lego telling me about a VIP "Exclusive VIP offers--Tomorrow Only, early access to Brick Friday offers". It's the same day as this in-store event, but it says online offer only. So will there be some kind of deals online tomorrow as well--and what could we expect from this?

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I got the same email. Not quite sure what to expect, but I'll be checking it out. Considering one needs to spend $100 to get the xmas set and that qualifies for free shipping, I guess it's better than driving out to the local store - not that I got a ticket anyway.

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The online deal (for the US, not sure about details in other countries) today is:

Free ship on $49, Free holiday set with $99, and 10% off $149 or more. And they stack.

I went to my store VIP event this morning. Spent about $800, got the holiday set. We also got one of the holiday PAB boxes to fill free today, a holiday PAB to fill later (since I purchased), a reusable lego bag (too small, frankly - won't hold larger lego sets!), and a poster about Lego stores. It was cool - the manager noticed people trying to carry stacks around and said "It's just us here, just make a pile somewhere" so there were random piles of boxes all over the store while people shopped. Then when you were ready to check out, just scoot the pile over to the registers.

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Just got back too :grin:

Basically what mostlytechnic said - biggest miss is that "brick"friday sales weren't actually on - just the scratch cards, so I guess it means all of us have to still go back next week :sick:

But the 50% card exists!:

8193723306_7637e0f12a.jpg

LBR VIP Event - yes 50% exist~! by Si-MOCs, on Flickr

Also images of loot:

8193747604_4e96f24520.jpg

LBR VIP Event Loot by Si-MOCs, on Flickr

1x poster (DAMMIT! I didn't think about asking the store people to sign it! ARGH~!)

1x VIP lanyard

1x red fold up bag

1x PAB holiday box - which we could fill up right there and then!

1x holiday set - if you made qualifying purchase

1x scratch card - 10, 20 or 50% - and yes can get 50%, and a VIP did!

(I also invented the greeble grenade).

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