We might be affecting the Lego Market more than we realize, thoughts after most recent Lego store run

[redeemed763]

I went on a trip this weekend that took me past 5 different lego stores and I went shopping in each of them to hunt for any deals and get a pulse on the current market. First of all, I saw almost zero LOTR sets on the shelves anymore, not a single weathertop, shelob attacks or orc forge, two stores still had Helms deep in stock and 3 of them still had mines of moria, Gandalf arrives, but the sets had made themselves scarce, the store managers said that they were not getting any more of these period (ok take that with a grain of salt) my eyes were definitely opened to their scarcity and really hit me that they would be GONE very soon. Secondly, and more to the point, I spent several hours filling my cups at the brick wall over the weekend and this gave me an eye on the cash register for a long time. I must admit, I was amazed at how many adult collectors there were at each store. I must have seen at least 5 different people walk out with over $1000 over Legos in their hands, and probably 50 over them with over $300. The kids did indeed outnumber the adults but they weren't buying anything big, one of them got an $80 set but pretty much all the rest were getting sets in the $10-$30 range, those little sets just fly off the shelves. However, I was trying to do some numbers and totals as I watched them ring up and each time I thought the kids purchases were starting to add up, another AFOL would come through and tip the scales again. In all honesty, I'd say that the AFOL's bought more than the kids by a 2:1 margin and that is being VERY conservative. Interestingly, I didn't see parants plunking down tons of money at the stores in affluent areas, it was the ones that were a bit shabby that were the bigger spenders, must not have had money for clothes after buying their kids toys. Now I am sure that Lego stores draw AFOL's out of the woodwork in a way that no other store does, however, at the Lego stores, watching nothing but Legos purchased, there was absolutely no contest at any of the stores, AFOL's out bought the kids/parents every single time. I know we say on here that AFOL's aren't a very big part of the market, but they really are. One final thought, I saw only one person buy more multiples of any set the whole time I watched, and I am almost positive that the person bought them for the bricks, so if investors are making a dent in the market, they aren't going to Lego retail stores.

[Huskers1236]

Makes sense with what I've seen around my local stores. You see a lot of adults browsing the Lego section. You never know if they are purchasing for themselves or children, but adults are there nonetheless. AFOL's are always going to be a large portion of the market whether Lego wants to admit it or not. They have the money and are willing to spend it probably more than the parent that sees Moria for $80 and thinks it's expensive, where the collector is thinking that's nothing compared to his $400 Death Star.

[sadowsk1]

It's interesting that so many people are buying them at nearly MSRP through the Lego store. If these people are investing I can only imagine what kind of returns they are expecting and if they are large collectors a person would think that they would be savvy enough to look for better deals elsewhere. All in all though it has to be the adults buying the sets in the Lego store, most kids aren't able to drop that kind of coin, who knows what percentage of those purchases, if any go towards children. The most curious thing is what they plan on doing with them. Interesting observations.

[comicblast]

I think that a large portion of the AFOL's that we see at the Lego Store are buying to build. As many of you have said, AFOL's generally have more money to spend on Legos than a child, so in some cases, they don't even have to invest. Instead, they can just buy and build instead of buy, wait, sell, and build a little in between. As sadowsk1 said, its pretty interesting that the AFOL's are buying at regular MSRP. If they were doing it for investment purposes, it handicaps their potential for a great return, unless they pick extremely good investments.

[arobert125]

I am one of those AFOL's....I have opened probably 90% of what I purchase. (I have an opended Green Grocer and am waiting 1x2x3 white pieces and Red Slopes from being complete with a Cafe Corner. I grew up with LEGO, and now have the cash flow to buy for my kids and myself. Last fathers day, we all went to the LEGO store and everyone got a large LEGO, we spent the entire day building and having fun. MSRP doesnt bother me, I'm a collector more than an investor......

[Fcbarcelona101]

The LEGO store close to me may be the exception to what is described here, mostly kids or families buying for their kids. I am sure the fact that the store is in Disney World has nothing to do with that. Ends up being better for me in the long run since it is always stocked full of pretty much all the available sets. Anyway, I just don't see the amount of people buying LEGO for investment purposes at this point being problematic in the long run. The fact that LEGO stops producing sets after a relatively short period of time guarantees that there usually there will be way more demand than supply for old retired sets. Of course, all this may change in the future.

[kerrmando]

I'd say its a fair assessment to say that Lego Stores probably have a disproportionately large amount of AFOL buyers. However the average buyer of Lego at Walmart, Kmart, Toy R Us, Target etc tend to be little kids.. More adults want to go to the Lego store because of VIP points, Exclusives, etc. Kids don't care if they can get Chima at Walmart or Ninjago at Barnes and Noble they are still getting what they want..

[JoshTX]

There's always a rampant amount of kids everywhere at the Lego store here. It always feels like chaos, but as someone said, the bigger sets seem to be available. But that place seems tough to visit on the weekends, I really need to find the time to go on a Monday night to avoid the crowds. My last dream of the Lego store involved some kids running around and one hit a button or knob or something on a wall. Suddenly a huge door opened and I was buried under an avalanche of random mini figures, with kids crawling all over the pile grabbing their favorites. I guess it wasn't really a nightmare, but strange nonetheless.