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Lego to open 160 new stores as other toy retailers suffer

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Re: Lego to open 160 new stores as other toy retailers suffer

#41

Post by RandallBrown »

torgian wrote: post #37
RandallBrown wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I personally loved the office I worked in with no assigned desks. We didn't even do work on personal computers. (We had pair programming stations) To each their own of course. Not everyone has to like working at every company. I've never been unhappier than when I was in my own personal office.

Pair programming stations? That actually sounds really cool if you’re in the right frame of mind

Yup, we did all pair programming, all the time. Even mostly did test driven development. It was pretty awesome.

The room was set up like a computer lab, with a few rows of computers. Each was an iMac with an equal sized Apple Cinema Display that was mirrored, along with 2 keyboards and 2 mice.

The machines were reimaged occasionally to make sure everything was always the same and up to date. You never had to worry about setting up an environment or anything.

We all had personal laptops, but almost never used them.

Re: Lego to open 160 new stores as other toy retailers suffer

#42

Post by OriginalPenguin »

jedberg wrote: post #23

I predict they’ll close 1/2 of those in five years time. There will eventually be a recession and I don’t think they’ll be able to support that many stores.

I don't know how many stores they currently have worldwide, but 160 new stores across the entire world is nothing.

That's less than one new store per country on average.

To put it in perspective there are 37,000 McDonald's and 11,766 Wal-Marts in the world. Even Levi's has 750 of their own stores worldwide.

Re: Lego to open 160 new stores as other toy retailers suffer

#44

Post by xixixao »

chrisseaton wrote: post #12
xixixao wrote: post #8

Lego is a really cool company. One fun fact: At least the "techy" parts don't have assigned desks. They're also investing in cool new tech, like compostable lego (of course, no easy feat given the requirements on durability). It's also extremely test/research driven. (source: a friend who works there)

> At least the "techy" parts don't have assigned desks. Can’t tell if you think that’s a good thing or you’re being sarcastic?

I just find it a non-traditional approach from a company with such a long history. I'm personally happy having an assigned desk at my job.

Re: Lego to open 160 new stores as other toy retailers suffer

#45

Post by jimmcslim »

TylerE wrote: post #36
jncraton wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You aren't wrong, but the two are tightly related. LEGO's competitors are also selling many licensed products, but LEGO's position as the best quality brand in the market has allowed them to secure contracts for the most popular IP (Star Wars, Marvel, Minecraft, etc). Their competitors are left with less popular or less family-friendly IP such as Halo or Star Trek. Its also worth noting that some of LEGO's competitor…

Part of that is that LEGO has a policy against making any models including guns.

http://brickarms.com fills this niche.

Re: Lego to open 160 new stores as other toy retailers suffer

#47

Post by dbcurtis »

Larrikin wrote: post #39
TylerE wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Part of that is that LEGO has a policy against making any models including guns.

I read this, believed it, and repeated it to a friend in a Lego store. My friend then pointed out that there are tons of models with guns and many other weapons. I think the actual policy is that their original nonlicensed models don't feature modern day guns or military vehicles, but they are totally fine making models with guns and weapons of war so long as they are from the fantasy world or they are not modern.

pfft. Built any “City” theme sets lately? All the police minifigs pack pretty realistic-looking semi-autos.

Re: Lego to open 160 new stores as other toy retailers suffer

#48

Post by celticninja »

Larrikin wrote: post #39
TylerE wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Part of that is that LEGO has a policy against making any models including guns.

I read this, believed it, and repeated it to a friend in a Lego store. My friend then pointed out that there are tons of models with guns and many other weapons. I think the actual policy is that their original nonlicensed models don't feature modern day guns or military vehicles, but they are totally fine making models with guns and weapons of war so long as they are from the fantasy world or they are not modern.

It is modern military and weapons that are not made. Not weapons per se

Re: Lego to open 160 new stores as other toy retailers suffer

#49

Post by jedberg »

OriginalPenguin wrote: post #42
jedberg wrote: post #23

I predict they’ll close 1/2 of those in five years time. There will eventually be a recession and I don’t think they’ll be able to support that many stores.

I don't know how many stores they currently have worldwide, but 160 new stores across the entire world is nothing. That's less than one new store per country on average. To put it in perspective there are 37,000 McDonald's and 11,766 Wal-Marts in the world. Even Levi's has 750 of their own stores worldwide.

They have 180 in the world and about 80 are in the United States. 160 more almost doubles their worldwide footprint.

Re: Lego to open 160 new stores as other toy retailers suffer

#50

Post by tonyedgecombe »

krustyburger wrote: post #30
jdkee wrote: post #26

Toys 'R Us used to sell Legos at a roughly 10% markup over MSRP. I always wondered how they got away with this. And I am glad Toys 'R Us are gone.

Toys R Us charged higher prices because they were offering a shopping destination, something closer to Disneyland than Walmart. Their customers knew their prices were higher but shopped there for the experience. They didn’t last forever, but they did last much longer than their competitors like KB and Playco that had lower prices but a more ordinary shopping experience.

something closer to Disneyland than Walmart

You must have had a different Toys R Us to the UK then because they were dismal places over here.

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