LEGO moving North American headquarters to Boston

PDelahanty

https://www.boston25news.com/news/local/lego-moving-north-american-headquarters-boston/BHZ2Z6TQOBAWDOXENSBOG7ATUU/

After hearing about the new factory in Virginia and knowing that the Enfield office had been scaled back, I figured they'd move the HQ to Virginia...so this news is surprising!  ...and as someone who has spent most of his adult life living near Boston, this is most welcome!

WesterBricks

Their NA office has been in Enfield CT longer than I've been alive.  It will be slightly strange to see Boston MA in the fine print in a few years.

CCC

So Enfield will just about make it to 50 years when LEGO kill it.

pxchris

Wow...
I'm with @WesterBricks on this... Enfield has always been synonymous with LEGO to me. Weird.

madforLEGO

It looks like LEGO will do paid relocation for those wanting to move.. While I hate seeing companies move as it typically means jobs lost, at least LEGO is paying for relocating. That's something that most companies would not do.

PDelahanty

Not only are they paying for anyone that wants to relocate (to some limit, I'd assume), but anyone who doesn't will get some financial support (severance pay) and job placement assistance.  Not sure what kind of "job placement assistance" that is though.  Probably some recruiters.  I dunno about the rest of you, but I've always found new jobs on my own and recruiters haven't been a help other than to ask if I'm interested in some job that isn't what I'm looking for and I'm not qualified for.  (I'm a programmer, so they'd regularly send me jobs for programming languages I don't know.)

daewoo

A missed opportunity for Lego, keeping its US corporate in New England.  There's a whole host of other places they could have chosen that are just as connected and have a much more affordable cost of living.

FireFox31

I wonder what advantage they see in moving physically in the modern world of increasingly virtual work.  A friend of mine works for Lego corporate and I think she rarely goes to Enfield.  It's NOT enticing to have workers come to work on the curvy, confusing streets of Boston.

On the other hand, they're close enough that I could get a job there... as a janitor.  Ooh, I've got plenty of experience being sucked in as a buyer, so could I work in marketing?

Astrobricks

Anyone know where Lego is located in Enfield? There is a Lego Way, but weirdly, no sign of a Lego office on it.

If they move to central Boston as the above story says, then at least the employees will have transit options to avoid those “curvy, confusing streets” :)  But I’m from the midwest. Every street in New England is curvy and confusing to me.

davee123

Astrobricks said:

Anyone know where Lego is located in Enfield? There is a Lego Way, but weirdly, no sign of a Lego office on it.

They're a bit further down-- the official address was always 555 Taylor Road, Enfield, CT.  I believe they still have the "L" shaped building there, where their HQ offices are. 

Slightly north is the old distribution center, which is a gigantic building.  Now Google says that it's "Advance Auto Parts Distribution Center".  We got to a brief view inside the building back when it was in operation in 2003 (mostly thanks to Jamie Berard, who wasn't an employee yet, but who was daring enough to ask if we could come in for a tour).

Just to the west of the offices is the LEGO factory building (another huge building), which now (says Google) is LEGO Systems as well as Coca-Cola.  It had (still has?) the company cafeteria, and tons of storage space which (last time I was there) was being used in part to store some of their very large brick sculptures.

They also have a building with the model shop (I think it's still there?), although Google says that it's "Cirtec Medical".  And the old home of LEGO Education (back when it was still Dacta) was also on Print Shop road, but has since moved to Boston.

And they've got a daycare center on the corner of Moody & Taylor, which I know used to be intended for kids of employees, but I'm not sure if it was or is an independent business.

As I understand it, LEGO bought the land back in roughly 1972 or 1973, when they took back the license for LEGO in the US from Samsonite.  They were in Brookfield, CT briefly (I'm not sure where), and then built up their HQ in Enfield where they hosted production, distribution, and business offices.

I don't know the story behind "Lego Way", but LEGO was always supportive of the community-- it wouldn't surprise me if they contributed money to the town at some point, and had the street named after them in thanks.

But sometime after 2004 (possibly during their financial crisis?) they sold the property to a new owner, while still leasing the property for their own use.  The latest lease agreement is finally coming up soon, which is (from my understanding) why they're announcing the move now.

DaveE

datsunrobbie

Here's a shot of it from Google maps: 2 Print Shop Rd - Google Maps

Astrobricks

That’s a lot of infrastructure to leave behind and to recreate somewhere else. I wonder if other factors might include a reduction in their warehouse space needs, and trouble recruiting employees that are willing to move there. I’m not convinced that the “increasingly virtual work” environment is appropriate for every business, and certainly not for every employee - even the ones who spend most of their time on a computer.

daewoo

Isn't the main US warehouse in the Chicago area?

davee123

daewoo said:

Isn't the main US warehouse in the Chicago area?

I think that's the main distribution center these days.  I forget when the one in Enfield stopped being used exactly, but it was probably 2005 or later.  I believe we got invited to the last "tent sale" where they sold warehouse overstock (mostly to employees) back in 2005, so I'm pretty sure it was there at the time, and then ... I think moved to Tennessee?  So it has probably been around a good 16-17 years since the one in Enfield was being used for distribution.

The molding facility was shut down in... I think early 2001?  They still did a lot of packaging in Enfield, though, up until around 2006 or 2007, when they outsourced that to a different company.  Seems like that 2006/2007 timeframe is probably when they sold the property and started leasing.

DaveE

Astrobricks

davee123 said:

daewoo said:

Isn't the main US warehouse in the Chicago area?

I think that's the main distribution center these days.  I forget when the one in Enfield stopped being used exactly, but it was probably 2005 or later.  I believe we got invited to the last "tent sale" where they sold warehouse overstock (mostly to employees) back in 2005, so I'm pretty sure it was there at the time, and then ... I think moved to Tennessee?  So it has probably been around a good 16-17 years since the one in Enfield was being used for distribution.

The molding facility was shut down in... I think early 2001?  They still did a lot of packaging in Enfield, though, up until around 2006 or 2007, when they outsourced that to a different company.  Seems like that 2006/2007 timeframe is probably when they sold the property and started leasing.

DaveE

The current distribution center is in Romeoville IL. According to my old shipping invoices, the previous one was in Southaven MS, just south of Memphis TN.

Istokg

The Enfield-to-Boston relocation of LEGO USA reminds me of the story behind LEGO GmbH German relocation from Hohenwestedt (starting in 1956) to Munich in 1999.  LEGO GmbH was located in the small town of Hohenwestedt near the Danish border in 1956, when LEGO was only sold in 4 countries (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany).  It was never a production facility, but a distribution and design facility.  LEGO mold making facilities were added here in 1958 before moving to Switzerland in 1974.