US - LEGO Friends Advent Calendar

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US - LEGO Friends Advent Calendar

Post by meyerc13 » Sat Aug 25, 2012 8:31 pm

I took my daughter to the LEGO Club Meeting this morning, and the theme was Friends. At the meeting, the store manager announced that the LEGO Friends Advent Calendars will be arriving this week in LEGO Brand retail stores. According to him, they will only be getting one shipment, and these will not be available at any other US retailers, not even at shop.lego.com.

Again, this is straight from the store manager at a LEGO retail store, so I have no reason to doubt him. If your daughter is as interested in Friends as mine, I'd recommend keeping an eye on your local LEGO store this week. As much as I hate doing holiday shopping before Halloween, in this case by Halloween the only thing you are likely to find is the ghost of the LEGO Friends Advent Calendar, since these will be gone well before that.

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Re: US - LEGO Friends Advent Calendar

Post by Legobrandon » Sat Aug 25, 2012 8:41 pm

One shipment only? Are these like really hard to produce or something? The Friends line is a really good seller, so why not produce more to earn more money?

I don't get what message LEGO is try to send out here. :what?:
Last edited by Legobrandon on Sat Aug 25, 2012 8:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: US - LEGO Friends Advent Calendar

Post by SpaceViking » Sat Aug 25, 2012 8:43 pm

Thanks for the info!

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Re: US - LEGO Friends Advent Calendar

Post by Legobrandon » Sat Aug 25, 2012 8:58 pm

I'm apologize about my previous post, it just don't really understand what marketing strategy LEGO is using.

I was hoping these advent calendars would be widely available at TRU, Walmart and Target like the 2011 SW calendar. And then I would buy em at 50% off or more.

But I will be sure to grab one while they are in stock so I won't have to pay $100 for one. Thanks for the info! :)
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Re: US - LEGO Friends Advent Calendar

Post by lego the hutt » Sat Aug 25, 2012 9:10 pm

The one on ebay is 200$ +shipping :shock:

I feel like if I see these in store I should buy a bunch...

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Re: US - LEGO Friends Advent Calendar

Post by goshe7 » Sun Aug 26, 2012 7:11 am

lego the hutt wrote:The one on ebay is 200$ +shipping :shock:

I feel like if I see these in store I should buy a bunch...

That is the best way to ensure you continue to see them for $200 on eBay...

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Re: US - LEGO Friends Advent Calendar

Post by meyerc13 » Sun Aug 26, 2012 7:20 am

Legobrandon wrote:One shipment only? Are these like really hard to produce or something? The Friends line is a really good seller, so why not produce more to earn more money?
I suspect one of two things has happened, one of which you touched on in your post. We all know that LEGO Friends sets have lots of specialty pieces, and lots of normal pieces in special colors. LEGO produced a handful of sets in the first wave, which seem to have been selling faster than LEGO could make them. Now they have a second wave, no doubt with the retailers placing huge holiday orders. I'm sure LEGO produced enough pieces initially to meet what they expected demand to be, but since demand was higher than supply, I'm sure they have to now produce more of the specialty pieces and more of the normal pieces in the special colors. They only have so many molding machines and molds for the specialty pieces, so something had to give. Rather than fail to meet orders for the existing sets, they had to cut somewhere so they cut this new set from their retailer catalog. That's one theory.

The second theory has to do with retailer forecasts. I'm sure that retailers place their holiday orders very early in the year, probably right after toy fair in February. LEGO showed this set around that time, but perhaps sales of LEGO Friends hadn't been proven yet so the retailers decided to pass. LEGO would then adjust their manufacturing calendar to make less of these sets. By the time retailers decided they were interested, it may have been too late for LEGO to meet the high demand of stores such as Wal Mart, TRU, and Target.

Honestly either theory, or both, is probably what happened here. I think LEGO is getting some out to their stores because they know that LEGO Friends fans will buy them, but either they couldn't produce enough to meet retailer demand or the retailers didn't want them. Remember, that outside of the LEGO stores, LEGO's customers aren't you and I, they are Wal Mart, Target, TRU... Even though you and I will buy these, if the big boxes decided to pass on this set, LEGO had no choice but to cut production to what they expect to sell in their stores.

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More Information on Friends Advent Calendar 3316

Post by Toys N Bricks » Sun Aug 26, 2012 8:10 am

James Calder reports to us that the LEGO Store in Fairview Mall (Toronto, Canada) now has the Friends Advent Calendars instock along with the City and Star Wars ones. Therefore, we recommend perhaps even checking your local LEGO Brand Store today.

Arnaud from France also writes in to let us know one of the rumored reasons regarding the limited availability for the Friends Advent Calendar 3316. Although its disappointing that there may not be enough Friends Advent Calendars for everyone, its good to know that LEGO is keeping up with its promise where "only the best is good enough".
I'm not sure of my source, so I don't send it directly. As far as I've understood, TLG has found out one of their producing sites (none mentioned, but pointing out to "non western Europe working for the American market" - I guess some eastern European site or even China ?) had been producing non-standard quality pieces for the calendar.

Thus, a part of production was halted early on, and either transferred or highly delayed. Either way, it means current production levels are far lower than expected. My friend who told me that said TLG would not discuss this "officially" until a solution has been found.
LEGO Friends Advent Calendar 2012

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Re: US - LEGO Friends Advent Calendar

Post by Legobrandon » Sun Aug 26, 2012 10:55 am

Very well thought out explanation. Thanks meyerc13.

I'm going to email the store and see what info they can provide me. Will post back once I get a reply.
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Re: US - LEGO Friends Advent Calendar

Post by eldudearino69 » Sun Aug 26, 2012 11:12 am

Looks like a good "buy it, and wait 5 years" set lol

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Re: More Information on Friends Advent Calendar 3316

Post by mah4546 » Sun Aug 26, 2012 12:22 pm

Thanks for all the info, much appreciated. But what's the point of posting a picture of its contents on the front page? A lot of us like to be surprised by the contents and that ruins the surprise.

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Re: More Information on Friends Advent Calendar 3316

Post by Ice » Sun Aug 26, 2012 12:39 pm

mah4546 wrote:Thanks for all the info, much appreciated. But what's the point of posting a picture of its contents on the front page? A lot of us like to be surprised by the contents and that ruins the surprise.
Image removed. Sorry about that.

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Re: US - LEGO Friends Advent Calendar

Post by SpaceNinjaDino » Sun Aug 26, 2012 1:00 pm

This is bad news. I'm 2 hours away from a LEGO store (I'm sure more people are in even harder situations). I guess this is something I'll have to live without.

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Re: More Information on Friends Advent Calendar 3316

Post by mah4546 » Sun Aug 26, 2012 2:24 pm

Thanks. Sorry if that came off harsh. A lot of fan sites have been posting the image of the contents on news feeds lately. Luckily I have for the most part averted my eyes on time. Now hopefully this won't be too hard to find in stores!

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Re: US - LEGO Friends Advent Calendar

Post by atmail35 » Sun Aug 26, 2012 2:43 pm

How many do you think "one shipment" contains? I wonder if it is 24 or 100 or what. I wish i thought to ask the manager on Saturday.

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Re: More Information on Friends Advent Calendar 3316

Post by anakinisvader » Sun Aug 26, 2012 2:46 pm

mah4546 wrote:Thanks. Sorry if that came off harsh. A lot of fan sites have been posting the image of the contents on news feeds lately. Luckily I have for the most part averted my eyes on time. Now hopefully this won't be too hard to find in stores!
I hate to spoil the surprise but it has legos in it :lol:
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Re: US - LEGO Friends Advent Calendar

Post by Legobrandon » Sun Aug 26, 2012 4:08 pm

There were 2 of them on the shelf at the Vancouver LEGO store today. Not sure if they have anymore in the back. I didn't buy it because I wasn't prepared to see them. I believe it is $39.99 each.
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Re: US - LEGO Friends Advent Calendar

Post by meyerc13 » Sun Aug 26, 2012 4:08 pm

I think somewhere just over 200 were expected for the store I visited. If each store is getting an equal shipment, that means about 1500-2000 units in the US. Some of the bigger stores might get more. Internationally people have been finding them at other retailers, but I'm sure they weren't ordering the quantity that Wal Mart, Target, or TRU would order so that might explain it. I suspect these will be more readily available than the 3300003-1 LEGO Brand Retail Store grand opening exclusive, which is now going for about $100. The question is, what will demand be for this set? Outside of AFOLs, how many people will even know about this set? I don't think it is going to be the next Cabbage Patch Kids, Tickle Me Elmo, Nintendo Wii, or LeapPad. If nobody knows about it, people aren't going to be looking for it and paying the insane prices.

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Re: US - LEGO Friends Advent Calendar

Post by SpaceViking » Sun Aug 26, 2012 4:19 pm

SpaceNinjaDino wrote:This is bad news. I'm 2 hours away from a LEGO store (I'm sure more people are in even harder situations). I guess this is something I'll have to live without.
You might try giving your nearest store a call and ask them to hold one for you. My local store has done this for me a few times on close-to-EOL sets.

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Re: US - LEGO Friends Advent Calendar

Post by Legobrandon » Sun Aug 26, 2012 4:37 pm

atmail35 wrote:How many do you think "one shipment" contains? I wonder if it is 24 or 100 or what. I wish i thought to ask the manager on Saturday.
I'm wondering the same thing.
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