brickzone Posted August 8, 2008 Posted August 8, 2008 Hello there. I don't know how many other Irish members there are, and how familiar they are with where you can buy Lego here. Feel free to add if you are familiar with this - I'd quite like to know as I do get to visit different parts of the country from time to time. I don't know about toy retailers there may be elsewhere in the country, e.g. Dublin. Obviously there is Argos - they are not always that great pricewise though, with a mark-up on S@H. However, the new police station was €55 rather than the €70 on S@H (that price reduction was then price-matched by Smyth's). Argos can also be convenient. Smyth's Toys are almost entirely S@H prices, and indeed occasionally they are cheaper or have sales/mark-downs (sometimes these pseudo-match S@H deals). Last Christmas they had a bumper sale. Art & Hobby can be handier to get to as they are a high-street store. I had written them off except for convenience as they usually have mark-ups on S@H prices. However, although these can be substantial on smaller sets (e.g. €35 rather than €30), they have no markup for many larger sets. And here is the final bonus - they have a loyalty card scheme where for every €120 you spend, you get a €20 voucher. They also have quite an extensive range as they seem to rotate stock currently on the shelf - possibly rotate between stores too. It's fun to call in and see what they have this week. Tesco Ireland seem at the moment to only have a couple of small sets (2x Mars Mission, City police helicopter and fire jeep, racer pods), S@H prices.
Jameseh Posted August 9, 2008 Posted August 9, 2008 Tesco never do big sets, never seen bigger than the Hailfire & Spider. Argos is decent but have like 4 sets, never checked the new catalog.
KimT Posted August 9, 2008 Posted August 9, 2008 Now something like this doesn't belong here, but in the Buy/Sell/Trade Forum. I certainly hope You posted it here by mistake and not because you don't have enough posts to post in BSTF I'll move this and let it live, but don't do it again.
brickzone Posted August 9, 2008 Author Posted August 9, 2008 Sorry, I figured it was much the same topic as the existing "Lego in Croatia" thread in the forum I posted, except for Ireland. As regards Argos, they have a different (more extensive) range of Lego in Ireland compared to in the UK. Although unlike UK the website does not show items from the previous catalogue that are on clearance (one has to check the codes manually at particular outlets).
Skinny Boy Posted August 9, 2008 Posted August 9, 2008 Toymaster on Jervis Street,Dublin sometimes has older sets, though I think they are starting to get rid of Lego entirely. The Smyths on the same road (Near Parnell Cinema) has good sets. Some of the smaller ones are getting down to €3. The besy Smyths I know is near the Square Shopping centre in Tallaght, Dublin. Although I havent been there in years, they had a huge lego section very close to the cashiers. BTW Glad to see a topic about Ireland, Especially Lego in Ireland.
brickzone Posted August 9, 2008 Author Posted August 9, 2008 Now that Castle 07 is no longer an Argos exclusive (they did that but only released 3 sets!?) the addition of Castle '07 to the Smyth's line-up means that at the store in Limerick at least, they have virtually the entire Lego current line-up minus Lego S@H exclusives (mind you, I think there are still one or two sets exclusive to Argos). It is an impressive sight with the warehouse style of Smyth's - Lego down one aisle stacked to the ceiling! Skinny Boy - unfortunately the franchisee for Toymaster in Munster/Midwest went bust after overexpansion! They did used to have a reasonable line-up of Lego, but they went bust just as my dark ages ended! (I missed out on a mad sell-off with the local outlets closing).
KimT Posted August 9, 2008 Posted August 9, 2008 Sorry, I figured it was much the same topic as the existing "Lego in Croatia" thread in the forum I posted, except for Ireland. Ahh. Yes, thanks for pointing that out. I'll move that one as well.
graham g Posted August 23, 2008 Posted August 23, 2008 Good to see this thread here. Down here in the South East we're pretty restricted to Smyths and a few small retailers under the Toymaster brand. There is a Byrnes in Waterford but haven't ventured in there yet. As I'm getting in to the idea of actually building up a project rather than just buying kits I'm really interested to know how people increase their brick count - is it simply a matter of buying kits for the parts, Pick a Brick at S@H and Bricklink? Also, are there any good Lego groups in Ireland? Thanks Graham
The Rancor Posted August 23, 2008 Posted August 23, 2008 Smyth's are starting to advertise in the UK. Maybe it's not just an Irish chain
brickzone Posted August 23, 2008 Author Posted August 23, 2008 (edited) Looks like they have expanded to the UK now - Northern Ireland and Greater London. The Lego prices appear, as in Ireland, to be almost all the same as S@H prices. Smyth's are a pretty good toy chain, albeit retail park warehouse style rather than high street. Art & Hobby had some special 50% money back voucher offer the past couple of days (offer runs until Monday), I didn't get to check it out though. Still intending to go back to them for upcoming Lego purchases - €20 back for spending €120 is a good deal! For now though I'm stalled on spending in anticipation of next years sets (although I'd be tempted if they had certain sets in stock that they don't currently have). Edited August 23, 2008 by brickzone
Dfenz Posted August 24, 2008 Posted August 24, 2008 Just to keep the threads linked up, I thought I'd mention that on the 3rd page of the Lego Shop Database thread I provided information on Irish shops that sell Lego. While the post is old (18 months ago) I'd agree that Smyths is by far and away the best place to get Lego regularly beating LS@H prices. My local store in Naas has a huge selection with almost a complete aisle devoted to Lego, much bigger than the Tallaght store referred to above although that's where I picked up the recent Star Wars sets the night before they were due out officially. The store near the Parnell cinema used to have a good selection also with the added bonus of a pick a brick section. I haven't been there in a while so I'm not sure if the PAB still exists. One thing to watch with Smyths, the prices between stores can differ substantially for the same item even though they have a catalogue and an online presence. Mark-downs in one store may not be available in others and I've encountered some significant overpricing errors on sets in the past year. My post in the shop database thread mentioned TK Maxx and Heatons stores. Well in the past 18 months I've seen nothing in Heatons and only the odd Bionicle or Knights Kingdom cannister in TK Maxx. So other than Argos, the most significant remaining source for Lego is the Byrne's World of Wonder chain (there's a store at Liffey Valley retail park near Argos extra). You can pick up some good deals at sale times especially at more rural locations trying to shift older stock but in general the prices can be a bit more expensive than Smyths and the range far smaller. My two cent David
brickzone Posted August 24, 2008 Author Posted August 24, 2008 One thing to watch with Smyths, the prices between stores can differ substantially for the same item even though they have a catalogue and an online presence. Mark-downs in one store may not be available in others and I've encountered some significant overpricing errors on sets in the past year. The Smyth's stores around here have in the past had reductions where not all the sets have been price-stickered with the reduced price, and to confuse it further, sometimes they apply the reduced price even if you can no longer find a set with the reduced price stickered (had this last year with the Advent Calendar, reduced from €16.99 to €14.99 - only the top of the stack had new stickers, but even later on the reduced price still applied despite the remaining sets being marked with €16.99). So sometimes you get a completely unexpected surprise of a cheaper price than the one marked - I don't think this is really ever a pricing error, just that there was a reduction and the remaining sets didn't get the updated price stickers. The price label messiness at Smyth's (even just having actual price labels rather than squainting at shelves), and the unknown of what local reductions apply (or old sets not on the online catalogue, and possibly also marked down), in my estimation just make them more fun to shop at. An excuse too to check back every so often to see what's up. It's almost like the old days of Lego shopping in Quinnsworth and Roches Stores! The online catalogue is handy to find out if your local store has the catalogued sets in stock at all at all, also it gives release dates for new sets sometimes even before the sets are on S@H (e.g. this happened with Castle '08). I haven't been to Smyth's in Dublin - that's pretty awesome if they still have a PaB! Last time I saw PaB in real life was in German dept. store a year or two back, and before that, Quinnsworth as a kid in the 1980s!
brickzone Posted August 29, 2008 Author Posted August 29, 2008 My post in the shop database thread mentioned TK Maxx and Heatons stores. Well in the past 18 months I've seen nothing in Heatons and only the odd Bionicle or Knights Kingdom cannister in TK Maxx. Just a note that the local Heatons had Lego today - albeit just a racer pod at €5 (same price as Tesco's which has the latest small ones), a slightly larger set at €6 (similar recent set in Tesco - €13) and some bionicles. Art & Hobby have yet again rotated their stock, and I picked up a new print catalogue there also. They've almost sold out of Lego Agents - having had Mission 1,2,3 and 6 they now have only 3 of the latter left.
Stauder Posted August 29, 2008 Posted August 29, 2008 Tesco never do big sets, never seen bigger than the Hailfire & Spider. Argos is decent but have like 4 sets, never checked the new catalog. While I don't live in Ierland, the Tesco here in slovakia commonly has large sets, by large I mean dwarve's mine and Y-wing large. Stauder.
Skinny Boy Posted August 29, 2008 Posted August 29, 2008 I just noticed that the police station in the Argos is €20 cheaper than S@H, in Ireland anyway. No signs of Peril in Peru price drops though, so unfair.
brickzone Posted August 29, 2008 Author Posted August 29, 2008 Yep, Smyth's also originally listed the new police station at €70 (€5 cheaper than S@H), but when Argos released it at €55 (why I don't know, they mostly have higher than S@H prices), Smyth's updated their price to match. It was such a bargain I picked one up despite having the previous police station.
Skinny Boy Posted September 22, 2008 Posted September 22, 2008 Looking at the winter Smyths catalog, I see the police station is €55 like argos. For an odd reason, the 2006 Cargo train is in there, for €130. Still a bit much, 2 years and its only dropped like €15. Whereas the police station has dropped €20 in about a year. More crazy Irish pricing.
graham g Posted September 22, 2008 Posted September 22, 2008 Interestingly Smyths had dropped the price of some of the Clone Wars sets last week wehn I popped in. At least €10 or €15 off some of the larger ones.
brickzone Posted September 22, 2008 Author Posted September 22, 2008 Smyth's dropped the police station price back early in the year (just a couple weeks after it arrived on shelves) when Argos brought out their '09 Spring/Summer catalogue. Argos for whatever reason were the ones who decided to price the police station at €55 rather than the S@H price of €75. Phenomenal value for the set size (nearly 1000 pieces). I'm not complaining, I picked up one despite buying the previous one too. Lots of black, white and dark grey building bits, windows, baseplates, cute vehicles, and enough police to handle a Lego Town riot. I hope to use the 3D plain grey baseplate from the earlier one in a space base MoC (along with some moon plates).
brickzone Posted September 24, 2008 Author Posted September 24, 2008 My local Art & Hobby has changed some of their stock again - they now have Indy sets, and the Temple Corridor is €69.99, continuing the trend where A&H are selling larger sets at S@H prices. You may want to check your local store, as they also have some larger sets at 20% off, e.g. Agents Mobile Command Centre (€79.99 rather than €99.99), Creator Ferry, Sentai Fortress and possibly others. Don't forget about the loyalty scheme where you get a €20 gift coupon for every €120 spent.
Kikimaru Posted September 25, 2008 Posted September 25, 2008 Did not know about Art & Hobby's loyalty card -- would've bought lots more there! Anyone seen 7679 Republic Fighter Tank for sale? I went to Smyths by Jervis, but had to pick up a 7676 Republic Attack Gunship instead
graham g Posted September 26, 2008 Posted September 26, 2008 Called into Smyths today to find one of the staff marking down a whole bunch of sets. Seems like there's going to be a rolling set of promotions all the way up to Christmas. All together there were around 20 sets marked down on her list. They included (can't recall them all, just the ones that were of interest!): 4997 - Transport Ferry 7743 - Police Command Centre Lots of Bionicles and at least one bucket of bricks Nothing similar happening in Byrnes though.
brickzone Posted September 26, 2008 Author Posted September 26, 2008 Yep - Transport Ferry is now listed at €59.99 on their website (www.toys.ie) They too have the Agents Mobile Command Centre now at €80 rather than €100.
brickzone Posted October 8, 2008 Author Posted October 8, 2008 My local Tesco has stocked more Lego each week for the last couple of weeks. They rearranged their shelves and for the first time in a long time had a definitive Lego section (all levels of shelf filled with various sets on an entire shelf section). City - police helicopter, small fire jeep+trailer, cement truck, garbage truck. Agents - the smallest set. Indy - Chase for Treasure, and Swamp Chase. Small racer pods and creator pods. Bionicles. Mars Mission trike and €20 set. Visited again recently and the Lego has sold well enough that the shelves looked semi-ransacked. The Speed Racer set they had doesn't seem to be selling though. Mars Mission seems to have just about sold out. The prices are standard (as per S@H). I'm happy to see Tesco stock more Lego, as it's a lot more accessible to many people (more outlets, shopping malls rather than retail parks, etc.) and more suited to impulse purchases. This particular outlet used sell rakes of Lego back in the day when it was Quinnsworth.
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