Planning a trip to the LEGO Store

KingAlanI

So there's a LEGO Store 17 miles from me. It's a long bike ride for me, but possible. Mom didn't care for that idea and offered to give me a ride when she's off from work in a couple weeks. I'm not complaining.

However I get there and when, what should I know and do beforehand?

I'll save up as much spending money as I can.

I just signed up for the VIP program. What do I do if I don't get my physical membership card by the time I go?

I checked the events calendar. President's Day weekend, you get double points on #21006 The White House. That's not a huge draw for me, but might be a good deal if I happen to be there then. The 17th through 29th, VIP's get early access to a new exclusive set. Is that worthwhile, or don't we know yet?

The small and large pick a brick cups seem to be a comparable value. I've read advice for packing mor einto them, reminds me of getting creative with Priority Mail flatrate packaging. I think I'll stock up on rare colors. I want 24 2x3's of each color for something. I don't have any other project needs in mind yet.. Any other ideas?

What should I look for in regular sets?

grounded

They should be able to look you up by email address associated with the account. I think my VIP card took something like 4 months to show up when I signed up last year.

madforLEGO

It sounds like the early access set is the Classic batcave, but seeing how over priced it is (at least IMO) and that it is not like VIPs get a discount, but an early chance to buy at RRP I do not consider it that 'exclusive'. What I am hoping is those breaking up the set buy a bunch so I can get just the batmobile for a decent price.

In any case, I go to the LEGO store usually for one thing: PaB (pick a brick)wall and BaM (build a minifigure) area. I would buy more at my local store, but considering Sales tax is double what I pay if I buy from my home I usually refrain, unless the store has store only discounts of 20% or greater (which occasionally does occur)

SumoLego

I would check what is on the PaB wall.  The store in Victor doesn't have the best selection.  Unless you want to build an army of panda bears.  

I would also wait for double points whenever you can.  Helps pay for those extra PaB cups when you do find a piece of value.

The staff their are very nice.  Dave, Dan and Pete know their Lego, and don't feed people nonsense if they don't have an answer.

KingAlanI

Informative, all of you.
I saw something that said up to 40 days to get the real VIP card. OK, avoid the so-called exclusive set.
@madforlego, you mean the store near you is in a jurisdiction with higher sales tax? For me it's 8% anyway.
PaB seems to be everyone's favorite. PaM is 3 for $10 I've heard, better than CMF but not great.
How do you get double points besides that White House offer?

madforLEGO

KingAlanI said:

Informative, all of you.
I saw something that said up to 40 days to get the real VIP card. OK, avoid the so-called exclusive set.
@madforlego, you mean the store near you is in a jurisdiction with higher sales tax? For me it's 8% anyway.
PaB seems to be everyone's favorite. PaM is 3 for $10 I've heard, better than CMF but not great.
How do you get double points besides that White House offer?

Yes, Im in IL and I believe all the LEGO stores are in a county that has a rather large sales tax whereas the county I reside in is about 4% cheaper. There is one store that may not be in that county, but is so far away that driving to that one would negate any savings in sales tax.

Rainstorm26

Gurnee Mills is 8%.  A little better than 10% in Schaumburg and 9.75% in Northbrook , Orland Park and a whopping 10.25% in Chicago.  Shop at home is better for me as my tax rate is <8% as long as I can get free shipping.

tallblocktoo

KingAlanI said:

Informative, all of you.
I saw something that said up to 40 days to get the real VIP card. OK, avoid the so-called exclusive set.
@madforlego, you mean the store near you is in a jurisdiction with higher sales tax? For me it's 8% anyway.
PaB seems to be everyone's favorite. PaM is 3 for $10 I've heard, better than CMF but not great.
How do you get double points besides that White House offer?

There are double VIP points at Lego stores from what I understand coming up in March and then again in fall.   Not a huge savings but everything helps.  

madforLEGO

Also important to note that the double points are usually available via [email protected] as well during the same time period.

CCC

Depending on how long you've got and how long your mum is willing to wait, I'd plan nothing. Except for saving money beforehand.

If this is a rare occassion, go to the store and be there all day and enjoy it.

Be like a kid in a toy store. Literally.

SprinkleOtter

SumoLego said:

I would check what is on the PaB wall.  The store in Victor doesn't have the best selection.  Unless you want to build an army of panda bears.  

I would also wait for double points whenever you can.  Helps pay for those extra PaB cups when you do find a piece of value.

The staff their are very nice.  Dave, Dan and Pete know their Lego, and don't feed people nonsense if they don't have an answer.

I've been planning a trip the the PaB wall, too. Any chance you can take a few pictures of what's on the wall for me next time you're there? No problem if you can't.

chrisalddin

the Pre-Easter 2X VIP points.
start's on the 7th of March 2016.
and will run until the 22nd of March 2016.
hope that info helps.

tallblocktoo

@CCC I love being like a kid in the Lego Store.  I sometimes go just to visit.  Some of the employees are huge Lego fans themselves and is fun just to hear about what they are building.  

KingAlanI

I'm going the week of February 15th through 19th, maybe the weekends before or after, so double VIP points in March don't help me. However, I might wait to get some sets at MSRP from [email protected]

Yes, I'm talking about the Victor, NY store, also known as the Eastview Mall location. Mom was planning to shop at other places there, but I have no idea how long. It's in Ontario rather than Monroe county, the sales tax is 7.5% instead of 8%.

I understand that selecting pieces and packing cups for PaB takes a lot of time, so I intend to do that after taking a quick look at the regular sets.

SprinkleOtter said:

SumoLego said:

I would check what is on the PaB wall.  The store in Victor doesn't have the best selection.  Unless you want to build an army of panda bears.  

I would also wait for double points whenever you can.  Helps pay for those extra PaB cups when you do find a piece of value.

The staff their are very nice.  Dave, Dan and Pete know their Lego, and don't feed people nonsense if they don't have an answer.

I've been planning a trip the the PaB wall, too. Any chance you can take a few pictures of what's on the wall for me next time you're there? No problem if you can't.

I was thinking of updating brickbuildr, but I might not have wifi. Come to think of it, I could take pictures (or write down notes) for later reference.

KingAlanI

I might be able to go on Monday if the weather's clear enough to drive, and the forecast doesn't look too bad.

http://www.brickbuildr.com/index.php/view-store/?store=94/
Brickbuildr says the PaB wall there has six rows and 14 columns. So I'll lay out a 6x14 paper grid with room to note type of piece, fullness, and whether it's a PaM bin.
I'll make notes of a few specific pieces I want for projects.

Jenni

@KingAlanI some people take a video of each bin in the PAB wall and work from that instead. I've not done it that way, I update on my phone while I'm there, but it sounds easier than writing everything down.

KingAlanI

Writing it down seems simpler overall even if it'll take longer in the store. I'll take a picture if I'm pressed for time. I'd have to transcribe the visual anyway.

KingAlanI

I did make it today!

The LEGO Store is such a bright cheerful place. This does help find it when you locate the right mall entrance; #4 is to the right of a Von Maur sign. I was excited to go in. It's a small store, but well laid out, especially for how busy it was. The staff was very friendly, which fits the child audience, and it wasn't over the top to this AFOL.

As planned, I focused on PAB. I was momentarily confused by the dummy bins near the ceiling. It was more tedious than I thought to write down what was on the wall. I was bummed out that they didn't have most of the specific parts I was looking for, but I found some close approximations and got to stock up on rare colors and shapes. It took more than an hour and I had to explain to people that I didn't work there.

I wanted 4x4 plates that were good colors for a chessboard. I took light gray and brown. I had red and black which I'll keep for checkers. Stacking to pack the cup isn't a problem with bricks but is with plates.

I wanted green 2x2 tiles for my soccer field. Lime 1x2's will do and still provide uniformity instead of the hodgepodge of colors I had.

I used 1x4's and a 4x8 plate to hold the 4x4 plate towers together. I added 2x4's to the top of the cup. The side towers were more 2x4's. There was room for 6x12 plates. I packed in as many chairs as I could since I rarely see those. It was fun pouring in tiny pieces, especially gems, which I'd never gotten in quantity. I filled the stud with 1x1's. I used my own tape to hold them in as I flipped the lid over.

A few mid-to-large sets were 10% off due to damaged boxes. None of them interested me. The only other sale was #40201 Valentines Cupid Dog for $8 - I had to get one; they're adorable. I didn't look at the sales on accessories. As for regular sets at MSRP, I'll wait for the 2x VIP Points in March.

Black 4x8 Plate - 1
Blue, Medium 2x4 - 32
Brown 2x2x2 Chair - 22
Brown 4x4 Plate - 32
Gray, Light 4x4 Plate - 32
Green, Light 6x12 Plate - 2
Lime 1x1 Round Brick - 16
Lime 1x1 Round Plate - 40
Lime 2x4 - 16
Orange 1x1 - 39
Orange 2x3 Plate - 2
Pink, Light 1x2 - 36
Pink, Light 1x4 - 6
Purple 1x1 Round Plate - 5
Transparent Green 1x1 Round - 38
Transparent Red Gem - 35
Total - 354

KingAlanI

The boxes for huge sets like Brick Bank seemed even bigger in person.
I didn't need 1x1 round plates, but took a few odd-color ones as filler.

The brown 4x4 plates were actually reddish brown.
I'm not sure if the medium blue 2x4 are actually medium azure.

I thought I signed up for VIP online, but the cashier couldn't find it. So I got a new card in store, registered it, and that apparently worked. However, I'm seeing 32,33 or 34 points in various places. My items and signup bonus add up to 32. The website says 33. The email says 34.

Hopefully I'll have even more time next visit and be more efficient at the PAB wall.

I just put my notes on the PAB wall into brickbuildr.

[7,4] had white sloped curved 2x2 no studs (BL 15068).
[13,5] had a white 1x2 plate with a stud and a 1x1 slope.
[10,4] had a white tile with an eye pattern. (BL 98138pb007)
[10,3] had a blue 3x6 half hexagon plate (BL 2419)
However, I didn't see these in the list. So I put in the closest I could find.

[4,1], [10,5], [12,4], [11,3] had light gray parts, but that wasn't in the color list. So I put in light bluish gray.

Dark gray wasn't on the color list either. I think the site should show PAM status and type of piece, especially since you can take a few pieces from the PAM bins.

I didn't update quantity if the site already showed the right type of piece. I sometimes didn't take notes on that anyway.

I did email brickbuildr about these things.

TigerMoth

KingAlanI said:

[4,1], [10,5], [12,4], [11,3] had light gray parts, but that wasn't in the color list. So I put in light bluish gray.

Dark gray wasn't on the color list either.

Neither is a current colour, nor has been for many years, whether using the official names or the fan names.

If you don't understand the colour names, you will soon cause a lot of confusion, especially when it comes to the pinks and purples. The subtleties are important.

KingAlanI

TigerMoth said:

KingAlanI said:

[4,1], [10,5], [12,4], [11,3] had light gray parts, but that wasn't in the color list. So I put in light bluish gray.

Dark gray wasn't on the color list either.

Neither is a current colour, nor has been for many years, whether using the official names or the fan names.

If you don't understand the colour names, you will soon cause a lot of confusion, especially when it comes to the pinks and purples. The subtleties are important.

So light bluish gray is current and I mistook it for light gray?
I did notice what I call light pink was in the system as bright pink, or did I screw that up too?

TigerMoth

Without the piece in front of me, it's hard to determine just what you're talking about. And no, a photograph often doesn't help because it comes down to lighting or colour reproduction.

The easy way is to compare a piece with a set - but you have to be careful, because a set may contain the same part in multiple, vaguely similar colours. So compare it with multiple pieces or multiple set until you know what's what. Then look everything up in the inventories either here or on Bricklink.

Then you have to bear in mind that the two sites use two different sets of colour descriptions, and which you use will depend on where you want to use it. Some names are unique to one set of descriptions or the other; some are the same in both; and some are in both lists, but are actually different colours. Nor is there necessarily a one-to-one equivalence between the two lists

If that's not complicated enough, some colours are no longer used, but people discuss older sets and parts. And Bricklink's older inventories can be wrong because they relied on people guessing what colours were used, even when TLG had changed it.

KingAlanI

Next time I can carry pieces of known colors. I made some one piece per color stacks. I have used them for comparison when sorting at home.

TigerMoth

You don't need to - you're in a store full of them!

There's usually only about 50 colours in current use. It doesn't take long to recognise most of them - and, more importantly, to realise which colours are likely to give you problems and need further checking.

To give you some idea of what's what, there are loads of articles about LEGO colours, and a few years ago they even released the official palette (there's also a slightly later version kicking around too).

http://lego.wikia.com/wiki/Colour_Palette

http://en.brickimedia.org/wiki/Colour_Palette

Both of those use the official names, not those used by BrickLink.

The trouble with any such site is whether it's 100% up-to-date. Just don't try to match colours of real bricks with those in pictures.

KingAlanI

I did have trouble with comparing pictures on my medium azure/blue question. So I can see how that's an issue.