LEGO Store Grab Bags

[Legobrandon]

Sorry to bring up a somewhat old thread, but has any Canadians seen these at the LEGO Store? How much were they, and when do they usually put them out? Thanks in advance!

[Ricecracker]

Sorry to bring up a somewhat old thread, but has any Canadians seen these at the LEGO Store? How much were they, and when do they usually put them out? Thanks in advance!

Yeah, they've been available at both stores in Toronto. Bags of system pieces are $10.99 each, and Duplo pieces are $6.99 each. And they put them out whenever they feel like it.

[dr_spock]

Sorry to bring up a somewhat old thread, but has any Canadians seen these at the LEGO Store? How much were they, and when do they usually put them out? Thanks in advance!

Saw some at the Fairview Mall store in Toronto on the weekend. Seems to be a mixed bag of bricks, plates, technic pieces and such for $10.99.

[Legogal]

They had some in the Raleigh NC Lego store the past week. I picked up a bag that had about 80 of the golden window inserts for the small arched windows....too bad I paid like 1-2USD each for these things two years ago on BL! But I have plenty of the window frames and will use the inserts as they are gorgeous. It looked as if all 5 bags out that day had these windows in them.

A couple of the bags had pieces that looked as if they had been built and not taken fully apart. Now I understand why if they came from returns or displays. My bag was a great deal at 8USD with so many nice parts. I was also tempted to take the one Duplo bag they had as I like building with those parts, but I am very picky as to the colors I want.

I will always check these bags when in a Lego store because they can be very good buys if they have parts you need. This thread has been very helpful explaining where the parts come from and how random the process is. Cheers!

[ramvid01]

The other day I picked up a grab bag from my local Lego Store and it had Maersk train peices with stickers attached.

[Legogal]

Man, were you lucky or what! Maersk blue anything is at the top of my list! They must have just taken back a used set because the train is still in the store window in Raleigh. Cheers!

[Homer_S]

I was at Fairview in TO, no bags, decided to go to the Sherway Gardens store and found they only had 2, so I bought both.

tires and some of the other pieses are from a ninjago set.

in the 2 bags there were 263 white 1 x 2 with Grill

Edited February 6, 2012 by Homer_S

[Rosethorn]

Calgary also does grab bags. None out at the moment, there were about 50 last week. They're usually in the Signature section of the store, back right hand corner.

[kasmca]

My wife got me my first grab bag from Sherway Gardens, Toronto. Cost was $10.99 CDN and fill 2 large PAB cups loosely.

Here are the pieces layed out. Good mix of blocks, plates, tiles and special parts. There were a lot of dark blue outside corner slopes as well as studs.

Some Technic pieces:

Some special pieces including a Ninja type minifig, blue pants, sword, telescope, long jousting pole?, truck exhaust pipe, shovel, fire, cabinet and fenders. I have never seen that tan 1x2 brick with the brick pattern on the side. Too bad it was only one piece. My daughters will like the pink plate. I have no idea what that red pipe on the right would be for. anyone?

Overall it's a great deal. Looking forward to getting more in the future. There were 7 packages left as of last night.

[ACWWgal2011]

I got a half dozen bags total lately. Outside of the bricks and plates, i got some interesting parts including some lego minifigure parts and scorpians. Not in a rush for anymore though. i discovered a lego friends frying pan hiding in of the bags and except for the fact that i really love the thrill of finding lego minifigure parts and neat bits, i'd STOP buying bags. I'm on the side of hating the series and don't want any of those parts in my collection. I'm going to go some research and see if i can mail the item in a standard envelope. If so, i'll be looking into offloading it soon.

and to the above poster, there's a minor error with one image. the 3 rubber circles aren't technic, those are wheels. As far as the brick pattern on the tan piece, it's a fairly new pattern. I saw it in the 7 dollar snake set with ninjago though it may be in more sets.

[NiceMarmot]

Hit the Santa Clara and San Mateo stores today and both had grab bags. Almost out of them at Santa Clara, but San Mateo still has a bunch left. Haven't opened them yet, but they look good. Fair amount of minifigs in the Santa Clara ones, plus lots of pieces from a display Town Hall they took apart. Hard to tell where the San Mateo ones came from; lots of random stuff.

[fred67]

I've been keeping my eye out at my local store, but since the last time I bought it seems they are putting less and less in the bags; I doubt I could get anywhere near two big cups worth of pieces that kasmca got if packed with even a weak packing job, probably little more than one. Given the price and that you can only see a few of the pieces, it hasn't seemed worth it.

[ACWWgal2011]

I've been keeping my eye out at my local store, but since the last time I bought it seems they are putting less and less in the bags; I doubt I could get anywhere near two big cups worth of pieces that kasmca got if packed with even a weak packing job, probably little more than one. Given the price and that you can only see a few of the pieces, it hasn't seemed worth it.

Sounds more like a problem with the store then with the PAB bag program overall. The ones i've gotten at the store i go to have been filled well

Edited March 28, 2012 by ACWWgal2011

[Flipz]

The bigger stores seem to manage to keep the "good pieces" spread out between bags. The store in Anaheim actively tries to avoid putting minifigs in the grab bags, but at least they save those for their "special" grab-bags for little kids who are quite obviously having a very bad day.

The price per bag is a little steep for me, I'd almost rather buy a set wich specifically has an assortment of parts I know I need. (It doesn't help that all the sets this year are about US$15.00 overpriced, meaning I have little extra money to spare.)

Edited March 28, 2012 by Flipz

[ACWWgal2011]

The bigger stores seem to manage to keep the "good pieces" spread out between bags. The store in Anaheim actively tries to avoid putting minifigs in the grab bags, but at least they save those for their "special" grab-bags for little kids who are quite obviously having a very bad day.

The price per bag is a little steep for me, I'd almost rather buy a set wich specifically has an assortment of parts I know I need. (It doesn't help that all the sets this year are about US$15.00 overpriced, meaning I have little extra money to spare.)

That seems to happen to the store i visit also. I picked out 3 bags on the last trip and i only got half of the green snake from a lego ninjago set. I got the completed technic mechinism but none of the part that makes the snake's head. After i got back from the mini vacation and did some research, i realized what the item was and that what i thought was a hero factory part in ANOTHER bag i had no interest in was most likely the snake head.

I wonder if the store i went to is doing that also(the holding the figures on the side part). While i did get minifigure parts in the bags i've gotten(not all bags), there's nothing special about them. It's just a couple cheerleader heads, a couple caveman legs, a robin hood head, about 2 twirly mustache heads, hula girl head and legs, and a few other common things. I'll admit that the hula girl legs seem to work with the hoodie torso as a "one piece swimsuit under a hoodie" minifigure design(work in progress) but it's really nothing to write home about, so to speak.

Have you tried using bricklink, ebay, or another site to find sets you're after for cheaper?

[fred67]

Sounds more like a problem with the store then with the PAB bag program overall. The ones i've gotten at the store i go to have been filled well

Yes, that's exactly what it is. The first couple of ones I got from the local store were quite good, they were completely stuffed and barely close-able. Now the bags are maybe 2/3 full and I don't see anything interesting in them.

While i did get minifigure parts in the bags i've gotten(not all bags), there's nothing special about them. It's just a couple cheerleader heads, a couple caveman legs, a robin hood head, about 2 twirly mustache heads, hula girl head and legs, and a few other common things. I'll admit that the hula girl legs seem to work with the hoodie torso as a "one piece swimsuit under a hoodie" minifigure design(work in progress) but it's really nothing to write home about, so to speak.

I actually got Squidward's head (the good molded one). I think they are getting cheaper with what they give you.

[ACWWgal2011]

Yes, that's exactly what it is. The first couple of ones I got from the local store were quite good, they were completely stuffed and barely close-able. Now the bags are maybe 2/3 full and I don't see anything interesting in them.

I actually got Squidward's head (the good molded one). I think they are getting cheaper with what they give you.

Either they are getting cheaper with the variety or store employees are walking off with the good stuff for their own bag(s) before the bags that are put out for the customers are packed.

[fred67]

Either they are getting cheaper with the variety or store employees are walking off with the good stuff for their own bag(s) before the bags that are put out for the customers are packed.

I'd like to assume it's the former.

[sharky]

I chatted a bit with my local Lego store employee that I have made an acquaintance with regarding the grab bags. What happens normally is that they get in shipments and when they get a box that is too damaged to sell, they part it out. They might hold on to the parts until they get enough to make a batch of bags. This guy in particular tries to spread the parts out from a set among several bags if possible. I think the idea is to make it more random and not basically give you half a set or even a whole set in a bag. IIRC they weigh them, and try to make them all about the same. They sometimes fill in some parts from the pick-a-brick wall when needed. He also makes it a point to throw in one minifigure in each bag. Although, the minifigure itself may have random parts and may not always have matching torso, legs, and head.

It might work a bit differently depending on the store and how they like to do things I suppose.

[Zeya]

Hit the Santa Clara and San Mateo stores today and both had grab bags. Almost out of them at Santa Clara, but San Mateo still has a bunch left. Haven't opened them yet, but they look good. Fair amount of minifigs in the Santa Clara ones, plus lots of pieces from a display Town Hall they took apart. Hard to tell where the San Mateo ones came from; lots of random stuff.

Thanks for mentioning this. The Santa Clara store is my local store too. (San Mateo is a little to far for me though.) The grab bags are usually on an easy-to-overlook shelf on the left wall of the store, just below the CMF packets. Or maybe sometimes hidden on that little counter area between the PAB wall and the registers. I have yet to pull the trigger on them, but they're tempting. The one's I've seen there gave me the impression they were packed with not enough variety; maybe these were the ones passed over by people who got to the fresh batch of bags first though. If I'm going to buy a grab bag, I want it to be a healthy mix of stuff, preferably smaller elements and not just a bunch of 2x? bricks.

[vlai23]

I've only found these at my local store once (last Fall) and bought 3 out of the 4 bags they had. They seemed to be at least partly comprised of broken-down display models because there were still certain bricks stuck together. It definitely looked like someone had purposefully sought to spread out the 'good parts' among the bags. I remember specifically there were a lot of pieces from the Imperial Flagship and Diagon Alley in the bags, even some of the larger ship pieces. Also, happily, I think there was enough to piece together a couple Redcoats, and less happily, a Hagrid body piece (I'm not an HP fan). I haven't seen any grab bags at the store since, unfortunately. Really the greatest deal in the store.

[ACWWgal2011]

I've only found these at my local store once (last Fall) and bought 3 out of the 4 bags they had. They seemed to be at least partly comprised of broken-down display models because there were still certain bricks stuck together. It definitely looked like someone had purposefully sought to spread out the 'good parts' among the bags. I remember specifically there were a lot of pieces from the Imperial Flagship and Diagon Alley in the bags, even some of the larger ship pieces. Also, happily, I think there was enough to piece together a couple Redcoats, and less happily, a Hagrid body piece (I'm not an HP fan). I haven't seen any grab bags at the store since, unfortunately. Really the greatest deal in the store.

Have you asked them if they have any in stock? The one i went to doesn't really have room for grab bag display so they keep the box of bags in the back room. If you asked and they don't have any, it could be that the bags are selling quickly or they didn't have a chance to make any more bags.

[Bobkov]

If there available, I almost always pick up a couple of the grab bags when I hit up the Cleveland store. Between the mix of parts I wouldn't normally buy (in sets or bricklink), and the value of the purchase I definitely think it is worth it (as long as you're not looking for minifigs).

That said, you have to be careful. I usually examine each one to make sure there's nothing in it I really don't want to pay for. Frequently, they've been filled with Ninjago playing cards (or whatever they are), Hero Factory parts and the like. In fact, the last two I picked up had no less than a combined amount of about 40 chest badges (http://www.bricklink.com/catalogItem.asp?P=98570pb01) in them, and a whole lot of torsos. That's what you get with a gamble though, sometimes it doesn't quite turn out. That said, I was considering that they'd look great as escape pods on a mico-scale battleship... I also received hundreds of hats, hairpieces, shovels and brooms; I think they dumped out excess build-a-fig inventory into the bags.. maybe I can build some weird trees.

Still.. worth it.

[Dstronghold]

Just stopped by the local lLego store here in Denver. Picked up 2 grab bags. One with remote, receiver, train motor and battery box. Other with 4 peices of curved track, 4 peices of straight track, 8 train wheels with rubber grip band, and 4 train buffer beams. Awesome part is there was 2 more bags of just track. I'm pretty sure they parted out a Cargo Train set cause I also found the yellow windshields from that set in another bag.

So, 8 peices of track, and all the power function parts for a train for under 20 bucks when normally its 45 ordering through Lego.

[Legobrandon]

Just stopped by the local lLego store here in Denver. Picked up 2 grab bags. One with remote, receiver, train motor and battery box. Other with 4 peices of curved track, 4 peices of straight track, 8 train wheels with rubber grip band, and 4 train buffer beams. Awesome part is there was 2 more bags of just track. I'm pretty sure they parted out a Cargo Train set cause I also found the yellow windshields from that set in another bag.

So, 8 peices of track, and all the power function parts for a train for under 20 bucks when normally its 45 ordering through Lego.

Wow! Lucky you!