| Discussion Forum: Thread 328648 |
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| | | Author: | krystensprouse  | | Posted: | Oct 19, 2022 02:31 | | Subject: | Physical Store ... anyone??? | | Viewed: | 191 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| I have a Bricklink store but I want to maybe go physical. Obviously there are
a few franchises already, but what about Bricklink? With the right people on
board has anyone asked or even just tried?
And no.. I'm not about to "just try
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| | | | | Author: | yorbrick | | Posted: | Oct 19, 2022 04:30 | | Subject: | Re: Physical Store ... anyone??? | | Viewed: | 66 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| In General, krystensprouse writes:
| | I have a Bricklink store but I want to maybe go physical. Obviously there are
a few franchises already, but what about Bricklink? With the right people on
board has anyone asked or even just tried?
And no.. I'm not about to "just try
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Bricklink doesn't sell anything tangible, just a service. A physical version
of bricklink would be something like a mall or large store in which individual
sellers have a store/table. We have some antiques stores here where there are
many individual sellers that each have a cabinet but they don't actually
work in the store. Store staff run the tills and the store and take commission
on each item sold. I don't really see something like that working too well
when everyone sells the same things. You would need to have individual sellers
there all the time to run their own tills. Otherwise stock would get mixed up
from seller to seller.
It is the sort of thing that yo are better off going alone but only once big
enough to use it as a day job.
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| | | | | Author: | UTLF | | Posted: | Oct 19, 2022 05:32 | | Subject: | (Cancelled) | | Viewed: | 54 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| | (Cancelled) |
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| | | | | Author: | Shiny_Stuff | | Posted: | Oct 19, 2022 06:18 | | Subject: | Re: Physical Store ... anyone??? | | Viewed: | 64 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| In General, krystensprouse writes:
| | I have a Bricklink store but I want to maybe go physical. Obviously there are
a few franchises already, but what about Bricklink? With the right people on
board has anyone asked or even just tried?
And no.. I'm not about to "just try
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There are various independent toy stores and even some Lego-only stores around
the world. Some with origins that began at BrickLink.
My favorite is Sir Troy's Toy Kingdom which is now up to 3 toy store locations
in Ohio. Troy is one of the original members of BrickLink, was a beta tester,
friend and confidant of our founder Dan Jezek, a former BL Admin and a huge contributor
of LDraw images that BL used for many years. Along with Dan's store, Troy's
BL store was one of the first BL shops to exist.
These days, Troy's BrickLink sales are a small percentage of his total business
enterprises which are still focused a lot on Lego products. Partly because in
order to be an authorized LEGO dealer you MUST also sell other toy brands in
addition to Lego sets, and partly because to run a successful toy store business
you have to diversify and offer more than one type of product, Sir Troy's
Toy Kingdom stores are stocked with thousands of other non-Lego toys the range
of which would make a list too long to post here.
https://www.facebook.com/sirtroys
https://store.bricklink.com/mnementh?p=mnementh#/terms
(BL shop temporarily closed for a few days)
* * *
Over the years, many independent toy shops and authorized Lego dealers have come
and gone. In the decades before big-box retailers dominated the toy market,
independent toy stores were everywhere in cities big and small and LEGO was generally
a large portion of their entire businesses, tho rarely a very profitable part
as the retail markup for LEGO has always been rather small compared with most
other toy brands.
One I used to do a lot of business with in New York State was a locally-owned
bookstore with two locations and they had a modest amount of toys, of which most
of that was LEGO sets.
Another I used to do business with in Boston, Massachusetts had been in business
for so long and had been one of the very first retailers to sell LEGO in the
USA that they were authorized to sell all Lego products including the full product
range of the Lego Education (DACTA) division products -- something that pretty
much no other retailer was authorize to do, at least not in the USA.
* * *
One of the primary rules/requirement to be an authorized Lego dealer has always
been that you must have other product lines and cannot be a Lego-only store.
A rule that has likely been in place since Lego was founded. The idea being
that only The LEGO company could operate Lego-only stores and call themselves
a Lego Store and use the word and trademark LEGO in the name and signage for
their business.
So even today, any independent business that sells only Lego products CANNOT
and WILL NOT gain authorized status as a Lego dealer and be able to purchase
product thru official wholesale sources.
In places around the world other than the USA, some of the rules and requirements
to become an authorized LEGO dealer have been modified in recent years and and
a few select independent toy sellers have been granted the title LEGO Certified
Stores. Here is one example:
https://www.facebook.com/legopavilionelite/
https://themalaysianreserve.com/2020/12/01/lego-group-opens-first-lego-certified-store-in-southern-malaysia/
* * *
As for franchised Lego-based operations, there are some options available:
tinyurl.com/3rpjak43
* * *
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| | | | | | | Author: | 1974 | | Posted: | Oct 19, 2022 08:37 | | Subject: | Re: Physical Store ... anyone??? | | Viewed: | 61 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| In General, Shiny_Stuff writes:
| | One of the primary rules/requirement to be an authorized Lego dealer has always
been that you must have other product lines and cannot be a Lego-only store.
A rule that has likely been in place since Lego was founded. The idea being
that only The LEGO company could operate Lego-only stores and call themselves
a Lego Store and use the word and trademark LEGO in the name and signage for
their business.
So even today, any independent business that sells only Lego products CANNOT
and WILL NOT gain authorized status as a Lego dealer and be able to purchase
product thru official wholesale sources.
In places around the world other than the USA, some of the rules and requirements
to become an authorized LEGO dealer have been modified in recent years and and
a few select independent toy sellers have been granted the title LEGO Certified
Stores. Here is one example:
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Those may be the US rules from TLG
There are at least one indy LEGO store in my country that only sells LEGO, have
done so for many years, buys wholesale from TLG and is _not_ a certified store
I know of another one that went bust a few years ago as well
And yes, that shop also started out as a BL shop a long time ago 
So, please take what is written above as being INCORRECT (yes, I can use caps
too)
Also, it's my understanding that several official LEGO stores are run on
a franchise basis and thus not run by TLG at all?
Cheers,
Ole
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| | | | | | | | | Author: | Shiny_Stuff | | Posted: | Oct 19, 2022 15:28 | | Subject: | Re: Physical Store ... anyone??? | | Viewed: | 44 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| In General, 1974 writes:
| | In General, Shiny_Stuff writes:
| | One of the primary rules/requirement to be an authorized Lego dealer has always
been that you must have other product lines and cannot be a Lego-only store.
A rule that has likely been in place since Lego was founded. The idea being
that only The LEGO company could operate Lego-only stores and call themselves
a Lego Store and use the word and trademark LEGO in the name and signage for
their business.
So even today, any independent business that sells only Lego products CANNOT
and WILL NOT gain authorized status as a Lego dealer and be able to purchase
product thru official wholesale sources.
In places around the world other than the USA, some of the rules and requirements
to become an authorized LEGO dealer have been modified in recent years and and
a few select independent toy sellers have been granted the title LEGO Certified
Stores. Here is one example:
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Those may be the US rules from TLG
There are at least one indy LEGO store in my country that only sells LEGO, have
done so for many years, buys wholesale from TLG and is _not_ a certified store
I know of another one that went bust a few years ago as well
And yes, that shop also started out as a BL shop a long time ago
So, please take what is written above as being INCORRECT (yes, I can use caps
too)
Also, it's my understanding that several official LEGO stores are run on
a franchise basis and thus not run by TLG at all?
Cheers,
Ole
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Thank You for the information. It is always good to learn more. I do not mind
being corrected when I am wrong. Bad information is not good for anyone.
Like most any organization, rules change over time and for different locations;
exceptions are made to try different business methods; and different people make
new decisions and new rules and try out new ideas.
____
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| | | | | | | | | | | Author: | 1974 | | Posted: | Oct 20, 2022 04:36 | | Subject: | Re: Physical Store ... anyone??? | | Viewed: | 55 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| In General, Shiny_Stuff writes:
| | Thank You for the information
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No prob. We're all here to learn
I know quite a bit about dealing with TLG and I'm glad that I do not depend
on a single supplier of goods for my livelyhood 
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| | | | | Author: | PapaPearson | | Posted: | Oct 19, 2022 13:57 | | Subject: | Re: Physical Store ... anyone??? | | Viewed: | 58 times | | Topic: | General | |
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| There are franchise opportunities with a company called Bricks & Minifigs...
www.bricksandminifigs.com
Could be worth a look if you are in an area where there a few actual Lego stores.
It wasn't for me as it took quite a bit of start up capital, but the right
person and funds could make it work.
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