Leicester Square store opening: what time to arrive?

stlux

I can confirm that even on Thursday, when there were hundreds of people in the store, as soon as you got hold of a member of staff they would assist you for as long as you required, and check back with you later to confirm everything was now OK.

Not sure how much staff they plan on having when the foot traffic goes to "normal" levels, but I'm sure they will want people to have a positive experience and not have to wait too long for a member of staff to help.

SeanTheCollector

I was there on Thursday as well and all the staff I interacted with where incredibly helpful. I keep forgetting to take note of names so I can mention them when I fill out feedback forms.

WatfordScottyM

I wonder what 'normal' levels of traffic will be.  I've been in the M&Ms store on many occasions and it always seems to be rammed.  Why, I have no idea, other than that it's in Leicester Sq.  Maybe queueing to get in the Lego store will be 'normal'?

Whateverist

On Friday, I spent twice as much time in the store than I planned because the staff kept stopping me for a chat. The guy at the door recognized me from Thursday, one staff member helped me pick a Duplo set for my cousin and a third had a chat about opening day and how they're going to try and get shopping baskets.

The staff in the store all deserve credit for their excellent service and for managing the craziness of an opening day.

I keep forgetting to take note of names so I can mention them when I fill out feedback forms.

If someone can get me the names of the French gentleman who entertained the crowd on Thursday or the lady who stood at the front of the queue by the registers when VISA was down, that'd be grand. They did a fantastic job.

Humdrum

If we're talking about the bloke who handed out the Gingerbread Houses, his name is Sebastian. But he's Austrian, not French :) I know this for a fact, because I asked him.

SeanTheCollector

One thing to watch out for in the London store, and it really pissed me off when i got home, was that one of the larger sets I bought had a security tag stuck to the bottom of the box! :( I hate security tags and always remove them even if i end up damaging a box. My OCD coming into play! :) I've never seen LEGO stick security tags on anything before so it took me by surprise. I also gave some pretty negative feeback about it, after I finished praising the helpfullness of the staff. I'm sure If I had spotted the tag in store, they would have went out back and got me another one without a tag. Just watch out for tags in the London store.

koshka

Good to hear that the customer service levels match the other stores. The London skyline is the main thing on my wanted list although I'm worried that the mosaic thing might prove to be too tempting. 

Whateverist

Humdrum said:

If we're talking about the bloke who handed out the Gingerbread Houses, his name is Sebastian. But he's Austrian, not French :) I know this for a fact, because I asked him.

My bad! 

monkeyhanger

Humdrum said:

If we're talking about the bloke who handed out the Gingerbread Houses, his name is Sebastian. But he's Austrian, not French :) I know this for a fact, because I asked him.

Austrian? Well G'day mate!
 

obi_g

stlux said:

Not sure how much staff they plan on having when the foot traffic goes to "normal" levels, but I'm sure they will want people to have a positive experience and not have to wait too long for a member of staff to help.

my understanding is that for the next couple of weeks they're still going to be drafting in people from other stores to help!

DollarStudios

I am going down to London this weekend and I am going to visit the store first thing Saturday. Are the Store Passports and t shirts going to be available or were they just for the grand opening?

LostInTranslation

The store passports are a permanent feature. I don't know about the t-shirts. 

DollarStudios

Thanks for letting me know @LostInTranslation

OrmskirkBricks

I'll be popping into the Store this week, errrr 2nd visit already. Damn this is too close to my office. It will be at a lunchtime, so I'll report back what mid-day is like now the opening weekend os over.

mmozzano

Here right now, no queues. Busy but not too packed. The large models are fantastic. Picking up a lego t shirt :) 

koshka

No queues at 8.30 p.m. but plenty of people browsing. Loved the 3D mural on the staircase, the tube train plus characters and Big Ben. Fairly disasterous shopping experience given that I went for the London skyline (out of stock until Saturday) and possibly the mosaic (machine currently broken). A very helpful member of staff got some motors from the stockroom but there were absolutely no free gifts (even the bus stickers would have been something). Just to rub salt into the wound the tills were offline so I need to contact customer services to get the VIP points added.

DollarStudios

I hope the mosaic machine is fixed by the time I visit on Saturday, I can't believe it has broken already. At least they should have some London skyline sets in stock.

Calv

The mosaic machine broke during my photo on Friday (It wasn't me - honest!) The software got confused and wouldn't take the photograph. Staff were very apologetic and it soon got fixed after a high-level reboot (take the back panel off and switch it off and on again!). It has obviously broken again since. 

koshka

DollarStudios said:

I hope the mosaic machine is fixed by the time I visit on Saturday, I can't believe it has broken already. At least they should have some London skyline sets in stock.

You might want to call and check if it's your main reason for going. They weren't sure how quickly the machine would be fixed and the delivery could apparently take place at any time up to the early evening.

DollarStudios

@koshka I'm visiting London for the weekend anyway so it wouldn't be that big of a problem if they don't have what I want. I still might give them a call though, thanks for the suggestion.

AndyPol

I had to go to central London for work today, so felt it would be rude not to pop after my work!

Walked straight in with no queue at about 4.30pm and the store was busy, but not unbearable at all. I loved the wall mosaic up the stairwell, the Big Ben is great, the tube train is fun (although I hope that the real drivers do not look that frightened!) and the play area is unusual (probably not for AFOLs but if I had my children with me, they would love it).

The staff were very friendly as usual for any LEGO store, but I was very disappointed that they had no more London Skylines until this coming Saturday (26th November). Given that it is only available in that store, I find it strange that a set that was always going to be a hit with AFOLs/tourists/children/generally everyone, was not in stock?

I understand that the initial bits, like scratchcards, t-shirts etc were always going to be limited, but to run out of such a core set after less than a week is a bit of an error IMO.

That said, it did not ruin my visit at all, and it just gives me an excuse to go back!

Anyway, I took solace in purchasing the Buckingham Palace set which made me feel much better :)

I didn't give them a call first as I had to go to London regardless, but if you are planning a visit especially, I would recommend calling first to ensure you don't waste the trip.

omnium

They probably had over a hundred skyline sets on the shelves when I was there on Sunday, so I guess it's very popular?
They seem to have a basement at the store, so I assume they have stock space down there too and not just what they can fit on the shelves.  Although I seem to remember staff at the Westfield shop telling me that *all* their stock is out on shelves, so that might be the case in Leicester Square too.

theLEGOman

I wouldn't be surprised if they sold over 500 of the architecture sets.

HugeYellowBrick

Leicester Square definitely has stock hidden away somewhere - at least it did on Thursday. A nice LEGO employee asked me if I'd found everything I wanted (I was standing in the queue to pay, with a pile of boxes). I told her that in the time it took me to stroll around the upper floor, all of the Maze sets had gone from the shelf. She talked to someone else, who brought me a set (still queuing), and refilled the space on the shelf.

Whateverist

HugeYellowBrick said:

Leicester Square definitely has stock hidden away somewhere - at least it did on Thursday. A nice LEGO employee asked me if I'd found everything I wanted (I was standing in the queue to pay, with a pile of boxes). I told her that in the time it took me to stroll around the upper floor, all of the Maze sets had gone from the shelf. She talked to someone else, who brought me a set (still queuing), and refilled the space on the shelf.

They were restocking like mad on opening day. I only got my hands on a pet store by chatting with a staff member who was carrying a stack of them, and on Friday I was told by another member of staff that many sets didn't even make it as far as the shelves - customers would come up to staff as they came out of the stockroom and ask to get the sets the staff were carrying.

MrKettle

As for staffing levels, as I was queueing last Thursday I saw one of the senior staff go over to a group of people who it turned out worked at another Lego store but were on a day off. She asked if they would mind helping out and gave them staff t-shirts to put on. They clearly underestimated how busy opening day was going to be. 

Lego_Star

So, after another visit to the store (Thursday eve) the following info was obtained:

Double VIP points on Big Ben, Tower Bridge & Mini Cooper when bought in the Leicester Square store - unclear when this offer ends.

Masterbuilder sessions 10am-3pm Monday to Thursday. This is the christmas tree make and take that was running on opening day last week. 

London Buses purchaseable for £10 each are done. No more stock of these. John Goodwin business card minifigure no longer in the display case.

I noticed that the following big sets aren't stocked: Mixer, Kwik-e-mart, Pet Shop.

Mosaic maker working again, expected to be busy today.

Some other (as yet unspecified) sets expected to be added to the discounted ones on Cyber Monday, again unclear if this is just for Leicester Sq. or brand store/[email protected] wide.

Legoboy

Lego_Star said:

Double VIP points on Big Ben, Tower Bridge & Mini Cooper when bought in the Leicester Square store - unclear when this offer ends.

Interesting that.  I wondered how they'd managed to double up on the VIPs when I bought last week.

theLEGOman

Lego_Star said:

Some other (as yet unspecified) sets expected to be added to the discounted ones on Cyber Monday, again unclear if this is just for Leicester Sq. or brand store/[email protected] wide.

I overheard in my local store, (not Leicester Square), that the Tower Bridge will be on 20% discount on Monday, not sure about any others though.

Lego_Star

^ That would suggest that the additional offers on Monday will be in all stores and probably online too, it was Tower Bridge I was enquiring about. John Lewis, Oxford St had it at 10% off already today as part of their Black Friday event. Selected LEGO with 10% off. 

London Buses are back, came in in a delivery this morning, they weren't expected. And so I bought another one. Also saw the LEGO decorated bus advertising the store on Oxford St tonight too :o)