First French LEGO store opens today

 

  • First French LEGO store opens today

    Posted by Huw, 18 Oct 2012 07:59. Filed under Shopping (Europe).

    We've had brand stores in the UK for about 10 years so we take them a bit for granted now, but over in France, today is a big day because the first brand store opens there, in Levallois, near Paris.

    Brickerik attended a special press event there yesterday evening and has posted pictures on the FreeLUG website. It looks reassuringly the same as every other LEGO brand store :-)

    He states that the grand opening event will take place 14-17 November.

    I'm guessing that the next one in the world to open will be Watford, UK, although I suspect there will be a flurry of openings in the next month or so during the run-up to Christmas.


    8 comments, latest one posted 8 months ago. (Commenting has ended on this article)
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Comments

Posted by BrianOg in France, 18 Oct 2012 08:36

I just posted this under the other news item about the shop opening.
I suppose I really should've waited till the grand opening!

"Just back from visiting the shop. My one word reaction is: underwhelmed.

I guess I was expecting something more like the Rockafellar Centre Lego store in NYC, which has wonderful displays. Here there was nothing on display - maybe it'll take time for them to build stuff up, I dunno. There were normal sets on display of course, but no big 'ol MOCs that you see, even in the TRU at nearby La Défense, there is a huge Eiffel Tower and a full size Star Wars Trooper of some kind.

I asked a member of the sales staff what exclusives or special gifts were being dished out if I spent money there today, and she told me I'd get double VIP points! And a free key-ring if you spend €55 or more on Star Wars. So basically nothing that you don't get on Shop@Home.

They did have a nice selection of sets, and the pick a brick wall looked good to me - some interesting pieces (tan 2x2 tiles?), but I'm not a pick a brick expert, so take that for what its worth. Pricewise, the big cup was €15 - which seemed like decent value to me - and the smaller one €9 I think.

I was kinda hoping against hope that they'd have the Horizon Express available, as the TGV is French, and somebody on HothBricks had mentioned that they'd been selling the Eiffel Tower set in Paris before it became widely available. Obviously it wasn't there, and I've no real interest in buying anything else, so I got nothing. Sorry I took no photos.

The shopping mall itself is an horrendeous affair, the underground parking has a capacity of 1750 car I believe, my 15 minutes in the Lego store cost me €2.10 in parking fees, and the traffic was awful coming back! At least I bought some chocolates for the wife while I was in there."

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 18 Oct 2012 09:00

Good report, thanks! None of the UK stores have 'wonderful displays'. They have the 'brand ribbon' at child-eye-height, with some interesting models in them but nothing huge. As I suggested above, this looks like every other European brand store.

Posted by Irene in United States, 18 Oct 2012 10:06

It seems that the special sets are at the "Grand Store Openings"or that is what appears when brickset site is searched for "contains Store"
So special set might not be until 14 November

Posted by grahamm11 in United Kingdom, 18 Oct 2012 11:41

Having a store in France is great and all, but there's still none for us Scots! And the way things are going they'll not be one for some time.

Posted by shinpi in France, 18 Oct 2012 12:14

I was the first one to enter the store this morning and apart from the staff clapping their hands and cheering to welcome us into the store (which honestly felt a little weird), there was really nothing special about this opening. There were a few good sets on display and some of those that you could see from outside the store were missing parts or had tipped over… The staff was nice but obviously still in training as there were some English-speaking people helping poor French clerks with their questions and cash registers (I was also the first paying customer, and the nice clerk had a hard time getting everything to work properly). ;) I'm not (yet) a Pick-a-Brick customer and went to the store mostly to get the Winter Cottage and two Lord of the Rings key chains, but I was disappointed that there were no special sets or gifts for the opening day. I don't know if I'll attend the Grand Opening (Nov. 14th to 17th) but people are talking about exclusive minifigs and other goodies.… I guess I'll have to find something else to buy to give me a good reason to go back again… Maybe I'll become a Pick-a-Brick fan in the next few weeks, who knows… ;)

Posted by Alexdiazb in France, 18 Oct 2012 12:30

I was also this morning half and hour before the opening. I was quite surprised about the amount of AFOLS waiting outside the store. Take a bunch of girls waiting the opening of Shoe Store, transform them in AFOLS in front of a Lego Store and you will see how funny is!. Had the oportunity to talk and exchange point of views with some of the AFOLS like me. Was absolutely interesting to see what people are into, the collections, how they see LEGO and so on.

The store itself seems bigger than the others I've been into (Oberhausen, Cologne). I really liked the espace and the colors. All look crispy and shiny! The staff were quite helpful and nice. Had the chance to speak with the Store Manager of Cologne and the one in Munich. They do all the openings of Lego Stores. Also spoke with the Manager which quite cool.

As a first day to the public, it was a lot of people buying and seen the store. Not so much kids. I just got some Gift Papers, The Halloween Minifig collection and a Lego Truck (my 2nd) and some Star Wars Magnets. People were expecting a special LEGO surprise to commemorate the opening. Maybe it will be available on the Grand Opening as they announce (14-17 november), this told as well by LEGO Direct.

I found quite nice to have twice the points on the VIP Account. Was expecting as well some of the new sets of 2013 (Life is made of hope but we never know ;).

The pick a brick was nice, even if i'm not a user (just picked few one year ago in Oberhausen,). The Make a Figure was cool (Found 3 pilots and 3 passengers for my fleet).

In conclusion, this is a quite nice thing. This store and the others in France will change our lifes. Personally, i won't go again to Jouet Club or Galleries Lafayette or Le Bon Marché to get my Lego. From now, Lego.com or the Stores. (LEGO is quite expensive in Le Bon Marché and Galleries, with almost 5 to 10 euros more than the usual way).

Let's see what's going next.

Alex

Posted by absolutelylez in United Kingdom, 18 Oct 2012 16:18

It is a nice store but sadly lacking any big models, like the Copenhagen one. But I see no point repeating what TRU does in La Défense.

Cheapest Lego in France is still Amazon.fr !!! Though the prices are lower than in the other French toy stores ( thank goodness)

Posted by cinemajay in United States, 18 Oct 2012 17:20

@absolutelylez, but you still get your VIP points in the store, yes?

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