[US] 3316 Friends Advent - Extremely Limited Availability

DadsAFOL

The Friends Advent calendar is showing up in Lego Stores in the US this week. I saw it in Anaheim, CA today. There is a thread on TNB that appears to confirm that this is an extremely limited US release. http://toysnbricks.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=6687&start=20
Apparently, this will not be sold on Shop at Home, and the stores are receiving only one shipment. Someone is estimating there will only be 2000 total available in the US market.

LegoFanTexas

2,000? That is nuts... Minecraft had 10,000 produced in the initial run.

IF this is true, it will be over $100 for Christmas.

LegobrandonCP

^ Darn is, I was hoping you wouldn't see this. I guess now you're gonna sweep all the stock at the LEGO store. ;-)

Kidding aside, I will be picking one up and opening a window each day of December. But I don't know if I can handle a set in the closet for 3 months.

Russell844

I remember reading on the Ambassador forum that over 10,000 were being released in North America.

brickupdate

Okay, so 1,999 for @LegoFanTexas, leaving 1 left for the rest of us to fight over!

:)

LegoFanTexas

Just got home from the Lego store, they had a bunch of them, just got them today.

No one fall down now... but I only bought 2 of them... :) If someone here really wants one, let me know.

I am not convinced this will not be more common, and don't want to get stuck with 20 of them for RRP if that happens.

I of course could be wrong, but only time will tell.

Side note: They did have #6873 - Spider-man's Doc Oc Ambush, I picked up 2 of those as well.

Ma1234

My store does not have them yet, but is scheduled to get them Wednesday.

sidersdd

Picked up mine today. Spidey set as well. And they had Lloyd DX.

And the City/SW advent calendars - which I passed on.

dneul

How much are they?

ecmo47

The Spiderman set is available in most of the Walmarts I've haunted recently.

LegobrandonCP

dneul said:

How much are they?

$34.99 USD and $39.99 CDN. :)

Penkid11

I'm starting to get curious now... I need to call the brand store and get some info on the shipments and stuff if they're willing to give it :o)

richl

The Lego store in New York's Rockefeller Center also has the Friends advent calendars - $34.99. Couldn't quite pull the trigger on it to sock it away for my daughter (who's 3 months old).

I mean, if Friends and the Friends style figures are gone by the time she's old enough for this, what's the point? And if they're not, I can just get her that year's calendar, right?

DavidBrickley

If Friends IS gone when she's old enough to appreciate the calendar, it'll make it THAT much more special (especially if you're getting some Friends sets now and saving them for her). If Friends is still around (in 4-5 years? who knows?), this first will hopefully be unique enough that it'll still stand out.

And if by then she has a sister with which she could share the calendar? Well, isn't that what Friends are for?

Legoboy

The UK (for the moment) know nothing of 'limited availability'. As @Lost has said elsewhere, they are due to be on the shelves come 1st September in the Brand Stores. They don't currently have a massive stock but are due in more units by the weekend.

jamiew

My lOcal store said they have "over 240" in stock

Penkid11

Is there still any value in reselling this?

LegoFanTexas

We'll know more after Sept 1st when it becomes "official", if it is really limited or not.

They didn't say no to me buying more at my local Lego store, they had plenty... That is why I only bought 2, if they are really "rare", then they wouldn't let me take 20 of them. :)

doriansdad

They had a ton of them at our local Lego store. Already sellers on ebay are cutting prices. Not enough profit potential to interest us. Did get the Halloween accessory pack shipped to our home which should complement HH nicely on Saturday and my son scored the Lloyd he wanted so not a total loss.

mressin

It's advertised in Germany as well. No reason to believe availability will be limited.

My understanding is that to be profitable, Lego sets have to have a production run of at least 25.000 anyway.

herekittykitty

I bought two in San Diego this morning, they had lots. I asked the sales associate about availability, and he said he had read the same thing online (so hi, if you're reading this!), but that Lego had not told them anything. They had gotten a very large shipment of the friends calendar and relatively small shipments of the city and star wars ones, though, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything at all.

krklint

could be, as stated in the SW Advent calender thread, Advent calenders are more popular in particular locations on the planet. It could be that we see a limited availability in the States, but a rather robust availability in Europe - especially in Germany where advent calendars are quite a common holiday theme.

In the states, I only knew of them due to my families Swedish ancestry, and my Grandmothers focus each year on the importance of the calendar. Just some food for thought? and if good food, I wonder how a limited - US availability might affect after-market value if Europe is not limited? Something similar to Team GB?

streeker

To back up @Lost, LEGO said that it's only North America that will see limited supplies of the Friends advent calendar. Europe will have wide availability. Similar to the 2008 Castle advent and 2009 Pirates advent calendar that had extremely limited runs in US/Canada, but found pretty easily in Europe.

BTW, resellers will just buy out stock on the European Amazon sites and ship it to the US since it's going for 20€, so feel free to leave some Friends calendars for the girls at home, yeah?

Penkid11

Talked to a BAM employee, they say stock is very limited and they said that it will be shipping in only a few areas around the world. Also you're limited to 5 per purchase per day.

brickupdate

I stopped by the LEGO Rockefeller Center store today, and they had all three calendars in stock. Attached is the photo of the Friends advent calendar.

I posted 43 other photos on my blog from the store in case you want to see what else they had in stock too.

Thanks.
BrickUpdate.com

dougts

Lego store employee confirmed they are only getting one shipment in.

Penkid11

^Second that. Also limit has changed to 2, although they would cave to 5 per person just because the other calendars are sold at that rate. I was in a rush grabbing my 5 copies, and I overheard some guys chatting about Brickset (one of them with 6 calendars in hand). Wish I could've joined in on the conversation. :(

dougts

^ what store were you in? that might have been me you saw with the 6 sets chatting about Brickset (though I only bought 5 when I checked out)

ThreadOne

Just bought two for my daughters at the Columbus - Easton store. The store employee that helped me also confirmed that they were only getting limited qty's. When I left they had ~12 on the shelf.

evantyler

@ThreadOne, that's my "local" LEGO store, too. I'm going to head there this weekend to pick up a Haunted House. Maybe I should pick up a Friends Advent Calendar for my niece while I'm there...

drdavewatford

Not sure if Amazon.it will ship to the U.S., but my copy is on the way from there, and it's a veritable bargain at €19.99 compared with the U.S. price...

http://www.amazon.it/gp/product/B007457I3Q/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=gl00-21&linkCode=as2&camp=3370&creative=24114&creativeASIN=B007457I3Q

TheBrickLadd

I got a couple of these this morning in the uk. Some bloke had ten of them when I first walked into the store but a staff member told them ony 5 per person!

LegobrandonCP

Sold out in Vancouver. The employee on the phone said they will try to order some more. Doubt that will be very likely though.

Guess I will have to rely on trading or Bricklink.

Russell844

@LegobrandonCP, my stores still have several on the shelf as of today. I can possibly help you help.

ecmo47

Raleigh and Indianapolis still had set available as of 2 Sept.

monkeyhanger

£20 at base.com (although awaiting stock), slightly dearer than Amazon.it, but cost of shipping with Amazon probably negates Euro saving.

jamiew

I counted 76 left at the arundel mills store. The friends inventory has really expanded there

timinchicago

The Chicago Water Tower Place LEGO store had over a dozen in stock as of yesterday. Will take a look later in the week to see how many remain.

hoyatables

Arundel Mills in MD had a ton of them sitting in front of the cash register on one of the platforms they often use for "sale" items.

Was in the Potomac Mills Store earlier in the weekend but didn't think to take note.

DavidBrickley

I was in Potomac Mills on Saturday, and they had a lot of them on a display stand near the free-standing Friends display. When I had called the store last Thursday to ask if they had them in stock, I was told they had so many they had a lot still in the back in shipping boxes.

krklint

In Sunrise (Miami) the Lego store had a good number of these on Sept. 1st. I was grab bag shopping. I was able to inform a few fathers who were shopping with their daughters that this item might run out fast. Happy to share this "secret" with a few parents enjoying Lego with their daughters :) The one dad had planned on returning in October for the calendar :/

Penkid11

This calendar doesn't sound as limited as we thought...

LegobrandonCP

More calendars for the higher profit stores?

gmpirate

^ well, why the buying limits then?

meyerc13

Penkid11 said:

This calendar doesn't sound as limited as we thought...

I don't think that's a reasonable assumption. You need to remember that we are still three months away from the start of the Advent calendar, so not many people would be thinking of picking these up yet. It's only AFOLs who know at this point that the stock is limited.

I can tell you that when I left my dark ages a few years ago, I planned to pick up a castle advent calendar on a trip to the LEGO store close to the holidays, only to be disappointed when I got there that they had already sold out. Now I know not to let it wait too long. However, were I not in on the secret on this set, I would have waited expecting to find the sets later at TRU or Target. By the time I realized that wasn't going to happen, I have no doubt that the LEGO store will be sold out.

So these will sell out far earlier than the City or Star Wars calendars (which will no doubt be available at some retailers even after the Holidays), but I didn't expect them to sell out in the first week.

jamiew

IMO it's just not an exciting product. You get very little for your money and what you get just doesn't seem to warrant the price tag. I think AFOL's stocking up on this thing are going to get burned. I spend far more time in the Lego store than I care to admit, and I saw a lot of people pick up the product and put it down quickly. My own daughter looked disappointed when she saw the box and quickly moved on to the other Friends sets--new ones seem to be appearing on the shelf on a regular basis and were just far more appealing to her. I think this is going to be a case where scarcity does not equate to valuable.

Little3piggies

^ i disagree, my 2 girls were just dying to open it right there in the parking lot when we got it. Even my 5 yr old son was excited to claim some of the pieces!

LegobrandonCP

Just called the Vancouver LEGO Store, they will be getting another shipment in on Tuesday!

So it looks like these won't be too limited after all. :-D

Legogeek

Was at the Mission Viejo CA, LEGO store earlier this week and they had plenty of Friends Advent boxes.

Also spotted the SW Advent at TRU in Huntington Beach CA.

UKtsumi

^^^ , ^^^^ I agree with both of you, My daughter really wants this set, but knowing that she can't open it till December sways her to other boxes that she can open now. So if a parent was looking for a gift for their child that they wanted to open right now the advent calender wouldn't be a contender! Kids have only just finished their summer holidays, for them Christmas is ages away!

hippoeater

I was just at the Beachwood Mall location in Ohio and they had plentyyyyy - It was packed due to that kids day event where they were building the owl - tons of families in and out buying lots of stuff and I didn't see one single person pick up the calendar for the 45 mins I was there.