Good PAB/lego shops in LA, CA?

[Legoman]

Hi guys. Late April, I am going to LA, California. I am quite keen to spend up large on lego, Piticularly at PAB's.

I'm hoping some of you can help me out; I basicly want any info on buying Lego in LA. I'm really looking forward to PAB's - It would be great if anyone has info on which PAB's have better Prices and ranges, and what shops in general have good prices/sales. And anything else I may want to know.

I've heard Legoland CA is very expencive for buying lego?

Thanks heaps guys!

[sigmeister]

Go to the Lego store in Glendale Galleria. I went there myself and got a PAB bucket. The staff there is quite friendly and the store is loaded with pretty much all the sets.

I have also been to the Downtown Disney Lego store (in Anaheim) on several occasions. The store is just as big, but I liked the PAB wall in Glendale better.

[k_peek_2000]

The Glendale Galleria Lego Store is where you want to go if you only care about PAB. The Anaheim store is bigger though, and they have awesome lego displays like a full sized giraffe, darth vader, R2-D2, Life Size Bionicle, and a city scape that towers above the store, but the Anaheim PAB is a joke, it's a small corner with really few bricks. But I like the atmosphere and I get 10% off at the Anaheim Downtown Disney location because I am a Disneyland Annual Passholder.

[Legoman]

OK, thanks for that guys. I'm hoping to get to all 3 in the LA area and buy up large

What stores (Walmart, TRU, Target) would you reccomend?

[k_peek_2000]

OK, thanks for that guys. I'm hoping to get to all 3 in the LA area and buy up large

What stores (Walmart, TRU, Target) would you reccomend?

I'd go to Walmart. TRU is insanley overpriced, and unless target still has the mini x-wing (which I doubt), their prices are about the same as legos, if not a little bit higher. I'd stick with the Lego Store.

[Legoman]

I'd go to Walmart. TRU is insanley overpriced, and unless target still has the mini x-wing (which I doubt), their prices are about the same as legos, if not a little bit higher. I'd stick with the Lego Store.

Great. I think I'll buy most of the sets at Anaheim, and buy lots of PAB there (if they have anything I want - which their bound to) Then buy lots at Glendale (PAB-wise), and also check out the other for variety. Thank you all!

[Teddy]

Hi all, i was in the Lego Store Glendale three weeks ago and thought their PAB was not really interesting.

Not so many usefull parts in there.

The collection of specials and hard to find was also rather limited in my humble opinion; no Grand Emporium yet, no Ches sets.

If Legoland is even worse I am in for a shock. Oh well, at least I know it in advance now.

I went to a ToysRus in LA as well. They only had a few different sets inbetween the MegaBlocks.

All in all, if Glendale is the best there is in LA, I think I will just stick to the internet for my supplies here.

Kind regards,

Teddy

[Legoman]

Intresting; thanks. Just wondering, do you guys still have the Republic Gunship and AT-TE in-store?

Also, what are these 'grab-bags' I hear about?

Edited March 19, 2010 by legoman

[Legoman]

Intresting; thanks. Just wondering, do you guys still have the Republic Gunship and AT-TE in-store?

Also, what are these 'grab-bags' I hear about?

Does anyone know if they still have the Cafe Corner anywhere in LA?

[FinalFeature]

Does anyone know if they still have the Cafe Corner anywhere in LA?

I have not seen Cafe Corner for a couple of months. The Lego store still has the Green Grocer though.

[Legoman]

I have not seen Cafe Corner for a couple of months. The Lego store still has the Green Grocer though.

OK, thanks

[Teddy]

I was in the Lego store in Glandale today to get the Grand Emporium.

It was sold out! What a huge dissapointment again!

First they don't have it. Now it is sold out.

The PAB looked rather plain. Nothing special in it, just like four weeks ago.

I just don't get it. Don't they want to sell stuff to me or what?

I have been there twice already and would be glad to spend a large sum of my Lego budget there.

But up untill now, it has been quite a dissapointment.

[Nelly7072]

Don't forget about the LEGO store in Ontario. They have a decent size PAB wall, but it mostly has specialty parts. Not so much of the traditional bricks/plates. They usually have all current items in stock as well, though no Cafe Corner.

[Thee Pirate]

The last time I visited back home, I hit up all three Lego stores, here's my opinion.

The Galleria is well stocked, and in 3 times of going there over a 3 week period, it was always packed, but they had a lot of the current sets on the shelves, I would expect it to be the same. It's pretty spacious.

The Downtown Disney store has a rather "small" PAB, but it was the only store to have an assemble your own minifig station. At the time, I scored a lot of yellow Princess Leia slave torsos, even though they had been unavailable for a number of years. It's also a huge store, but they rarely had things on clearance. I dated a girl that worked at Disneyland, so I was in there a lot... I've probably made 20 or 30 purchases there, I have bought a ton of basic bricks at their PAB. I can fit a few hundred 1X2's in a PAB cup by stacking them, and I've found the employees there to be pretty tolerant of you taking forever to fill cups. When you were done, they'd tape the lid on (no upc, so there's no discount for bringing the cups back)

Ontario Mills is my favorite store. They have a pretty big PAB wall, and it's the only store I've ever seen the grab bags at. These are a great opportunity to pick up specialty pieces you won't normally find in a PAB wall. It was also the store I found to have clearance sets the most, for things like damaged packaging, or end of a production run clearance. There's sets on sale at this store that you wouldn't find elsewhere, but they only had a clearance palate once a month or so. The sets were usually marked down at least 25%

In general, around 50% of the stuff in a PAB wall will be at all three stores, the Disney store seems to rotate stock the fastest, it seemed to be around every two weeks or so

[curtisrlee]

About LEGOLAND: All their stuff is normally priced last time I went there (last August)

They have a Pick-A-Brick room but they don't have anything really special there

Edited April 10, 2010 by curtisrlee

[pdxbricks]

Hi, I don't live in CA, but a word of advice when buying in US stores: always look for extra coupons with which you can sometimes get a large discount (I was able to buy a a bunch of SW sets for almost 50% off regular price at our local Fred Meyer store in Oregon right before Easter, by combining several coupons they had!). Go to the websites of all major retailers (walmart, tru, target, k-mart, etc...) and see if they have any coupons for toys for the zip code where you are staying. I shop there for sets only when there are sales or coupons. I don't know when you'll be in CA, but during the summmer the best times to shop are around Memorial Day (last Monday in May) and around 4th of July, everyone has sales then.

Hope this helps.