Lego Shortage at Canadian Independant Toy Retailers?

[omalak]

Just read this
http://www.canadianbusiness.com/compani ... -shortage/

Looks like the small toy shops are being shafted so that Lego can fulfil orders to larger global markets.

[mshiels]

And customers wonder why it's so hard to find LEGO sometimes. The average retailer can't handle these sorts of disruptions to supply. They need product that will always fill the shelf all the time, so they can sell it and make money. Seems LEGO thinks it's in the best interest to supply the big chains, but when you think about it the big chains are the guys who take the rare stuff/list it on the web site with no limits and blow it all out to resellers right? The smaller retailers would probably get much more of the product into the hands of the individual buyers since the product would be spread out more and more available. These days it's hard to find a small retailer that carries LEGO. Scholars choice gave it up.

[dulait]

Just read this
http://www.canadianbusiness.com/compani ... -shortage/

Looks like the small toy shops are being shafted so that Lego can fulfil orders to larger global markets.

Big retail order lots and lots of skids while small stores can afford only a case. Common sense, I wonder who they rather satisfly first.

[timtosino]

Not surprising this is going to affect things into Christmas. Year after year LEGO has always shown independent stores the short end of the stick when it comes to fulfilling orders. The LEGO Movie popularity is just an excuse they have this year that they still can't keep production up with demand despite being the number 1 toy company.

[hatcher]

Just had a horrible thought. Will this mean no Black Friday sales in Canada? No boxing day clearances? Say it ain't so!

[Congruence]

The big retailers will always get first dibs on lego or any other product that's also sold by smaller independents. This is due to the fact that they make annual purchase commitments that they need to live up to even if the product is like a dog with fleas. (Galaxy squad / chima). They will get a better cost price on it than smaller shops, but they also make significant financial commitments upfront, which also gives them first chance at reorders for the items they want more of, how they mix out the hits they take on the dogs.

The small independent in my town has a pretty decent amount of lego, but if it is 5% of their total offering I'd be shocked. I'm sure they sell some, but they make their business work off of the other lines that they specialize in, that aren't carried by the large boxes in any significant form (Hape, playmobil, Melissa and Doug). I'll ask the woman next time I'm in but I suspect she's not overly concerned.

Stores like lasting toys may be shorted orders, but their niche is also their stock of those sets that you can't get anywhere else as they are retired. They can also get lego from other wholesalers to help fill in gaps and offer some deals to bring in traffic if they need to.

Am I worried about a lack of Black Friday / boxing week, a little, but the deals have been getting worse and worse every year. I'm counting on my local loblaws superstore to clear out their 8ft section in the spring and Target will likely have another fire sale again this winter as their inventory situation is no better than last year. Walmart will be the coin flip, some stores will have great clearance, others will put it 20% off and slowly let it move cause it does.

[stevebuscemi]

Maybe a small toy shop shouldn't price gouge so they can move more product and thus make larger orders.

You ever try to find a decent deal at a small toy shop, lol. They don't exist and then when set discontinue they jack the prices even more.

[mshiels]

At Lasting Toys - we keep our prices at retail for years after the item is out - unless of course we find scalpers/ebayers coming and wiping out our stock and making 2-3 times our profit on each item. Then we do adjust the price but tons of our stuff never gets adjusted for years after it's become discontinued. Having done this for 10-11 years now we know how much to grab/what to not bother with, but are also trying to grow our local business for local customers. Not help ebayers make a fortune on stuff that is under priced. It's a game for sure.

[dulait]

At Lasting Toys - we keep our prices at retail for years after the item is out - unless of course we find scalpers/ebayers coming and wiping out our stock and making 2-3 times our profit on each item. Then we do adjust the price but tons of our stuff never gets adjusted for years after it's become discontinued. Having done this for 10-11 years now we know how much to grab/what to not bother with, but are also trying to grow our local business for local customers. Not help ebayers make a fortune on stuff that is under priced. It's a game for sure.

2-3 times your profit on each, must be a LONG time ago? Never gets adjusted for years, really, does months or days count, they are part of a year? Ebayers make a fortune, while small stores also have their own stores and that is ok to do exactly the same thing? Those are some BOLD statments comming from small store owners who themselves or senting their employees to clean up stuff on clearances at big retailers. Not targeting any specific stores, but I have seen it happen myself. Quite funny really. What goes around comes around? They screw some of their customers over by cleanning up on clearances, and now they have supply problems, cry me a river.

[King]

Lego has long screwed over ITD accounts, so this should not really come as any surprise.

King

[mshiels]

Actually that was pretty recently. We had one of the 8420 technic motorcycles from 2005 still at retail around 80$ I think, so we make around 30$ but it was going on ebay around 180$ so the ebayer that came in and tried to clean us out was making a lot more than we were. So we adjusted the price to below ebay selling price, but high enough not to be usefull to sell on ebay. I sure don't have time to clear out clearance from anywhere for the store, I doubt any store owner has time for that. Around the GTA there are too many resellers that hit each store daily so wipe it out quick. Have fun right! It's only a toy.

[dulait]

Actually that was pretty recently. We had one of the 8420 technic motorcycles from 2005 still at retail around 80$ I think, so we make around 30$ but it was going on ebay around 180$ so the ebayer that came in and tried to clean us out was making a lot more than we were. So we adjusted the price to below ebay selling price, but high enough not to be usefull to sell on ebay. I sure don't have time to clear out clearance from anywhere for the store, I doubt any store owner has time for that. Around the GTA there are too many resellers that hit each store daily so wipe it out quick. Have fun right! It's only a toy.

Have fun? Are you not also trying to make a buck on only a toy? Why are you upset when someone trying to clear you out, waste their time posting on ebay HOPING they will sell. By the way, from a simple quick search, the 180 is the max price, you forgot to mention the min which is 130. Why sometimes prices get that high? It is simple, a no brainner really, it is FIXED. And by rasing the prices, I can bet that your stock level will be safe. Also it is a fun thing right? Most of the small stores NEVER order things for MSRP, so you guys are really making more then it sound. For example, 8420, MSRP at 50-60, say at max, buy in at 50% off would be 25-30? So most stores already make back more than they lead us to think.

Do you have a huge stores that have tons of inventory that you have no time to update it say weekly? As you have said, people make 3-4 times off of you by reselling, then MAYBE you should HIRE someone to keep track of things like this for you if you say you are busy? Unless you are being truely lazy and cheap, then no one can help you.

If this is really bothering any small store owers, for some that have not done so, may I suggest try selling other things? And to the extreme, try selling those China knockoff brands, now, there are money to be make from those.

[brickity]

mshiels: Just ignore this guy. Based on his previous posts, every sale post that goes up gets a comment from him about how it's a terrible deal, unless it's at 80% off. Most people can understand and empathize with how difficult it is to be an independent small business. I'm not sure why he's so upset with you, but it doesn't seem very rational.

Anyhow, best of luck with your business.

Dulait: It's probably best to keep your comments related to deal threads only. Although I almost NEVER agree with what you say about the deals, at least your thoughts are coherent. When talking about small businesses, your comments make absolutely no sense.

[dulait]

mshiels: Just ignore this guy. Based on his previous posts, every sale post that goes up gets a comment from him about how it's a terrible deal, unless it's at 80% off. Most people can understand and empathize with how difficult it is to be an independent small business. I'm not sure why he's so upset with you, but it doesn't seem very rational.

Anyhow, best of luck with your business.

Dulait: It's probably best to keep your comments related to deal threads only. Although I almost NEVER agree with what you say about the deals, at least your thoughts are coherent. When talking about small businesses, your comments make absolutely no sense.

Not upset at him or her, more at what some small businesses are doing to survive, they complain people ripping them off but some of them are doing exactly the same thing. I usually say how it is a terrible deal, unless it's at 50% off, please pay more attention before quoting.

Fine if you do not agree, for the record I NEVER force people to agree with what I have said. Yep, I have no clue on running small businesses, but all I know is, if anyone need to survive these days is to lie, steal, and cheat. And that is why I rather not venture there, since I will have to start doing what ever it takes just to survive, aka L.S.C.

As a collector, we get upset as sets get cleared out fast by those that live on making profits, and we have to pay MORE to acquire it from them. As a reseller, I say screw the people, I make the profit so I can make a living and even live better depends on how much L.S.C. I do. So, unless they start paying more, who cares if a kid will not be getting his or her birthday or christmas gifts. If I am the latter, then I will say in general, best of luck with your business since we are on the same boat and I totally understand what you are going through.

Bottomline is, this discussion is about "Shortage at Canadian Independant Toy Retailers" and not how small stores get screwed by resellers, or what thoughs we have towards some of them, I appolgize for that. But the fact is, Lego favor the big stores, there are really nothing the small stores can do except order what they can, and find a way to make up for the lost. Some ideas I stated on my last post. So really, this should be the END of the discussion.

[timtosino]

LEGO's MSRP vs wholesale price is no where near 50% off, in fact it is an even worse deal in Canada compared to the USA. When TRU has sales for 20% off they are basically selling to you at their cost in hopes you get something else with a higher margin.

[brickity]

Not upset at him or her, more at what some small businesses are doing to survive, they complain people ripping them off but some of them are doing exactly the same thing. I usually say how it is a terrible deal, unless it's at 50% off, please pay more attention before quoting.

I do pay attention. Even at 50% off, you usually rant about how people should wait until it's 75% off.

Fine if you do not agree, for the record I NEVER force people to agree with what I have said. Yep, I have no clue on running small businesses, but all I know is, if anyone need to survive these days is to lie, steal, and cheat. And that is why I rather not venture there, since I will have to start doing what ever it takes just to survive, aka L.S.C.

You're entitled to your opinion, just as I am entitled to mine. But it's unfair to label someone (or a business) as a liar, a cheater, and/or a thief when they've done none of those things.

As a collector, we get upset as sets get cleared out fast by those that live on making profits, and we have to pay MORE to acquire it from them. As a reseller, I say screw the people, I make the profit so I can make a living and even live better depends on how much L.S.C. I do. So, unless they start paying more, who cares if a kid will not be getting his or her birthday or christmas gifts. If I am the latter, then I will say in general, best of luck with your business since we are on the same boat and I totally understand what you are going through.

I think we can all agree that resellers are annoying, but L.S.C? Nobody is entitled to Lego. Nobody is entitled to a 75% off sale or even any sale at all for that matter. If a reseller gets to a clearance item and purchases everything... well sure that's annoying, but he hasn't broken any rules and he certainly doesn't owe you anything. I personally find resellers annoying, but at the same time, I love bricklink and the ability to buy large quantities of singular parts. As you can see, there are advantages and disadvantages to having resellers.

Bottomline is, this discussion is about "Shortage at Canadian Independant Toy Retailers" and not how small stores get screwed by resellers, or what thoughs we have towards some of them, I appolgize for that. But the fact is, Lego favor the big stores, there are really nothing the small stores can do except order what they can, and find a way to make up for the lost. Some ideas I stated on my last post. So really, this should be the END of the discussion.

Yes, I understand the original topic and it sucks for smaller independent toy retailers that they get screwed over during the holiday season. Instead of attacking them with claims of L.S.C, it might be nice to empathize with them. As for your suggestions, I would imagine all toys stores sell more than Lego already, so telling them to sell other things is kind of silly. Also, since Lego is the top toy brand and Christmas is the high season for toys, independent toy retailers are going to suffer.

As for bootlegs, toy retailers can't just go and start selling bootleg toys. We have a lot of regulations in Canada for labelling, child safety standards, trademark and licensing infringements, etc. Sure you can purchase bootlegs for personal use, but selling them as a retailer could get you into some serious trouble.

[stclaire]

Maybe a small toy shop shouldn't price gouge so they can move more product and thus make larger orders.

You ever try to find a decent deal at a small toy shop, lol. They don't exist and then when set discontinue they jack the prices even more.

Some independents mark down retired sets to clear them, but I prefer the ones who don't so they have those older sets in inventory. And my local independent (JJ's in Waterloo) has the best regular prices on Lego that I've seen in Canada.

[stclaire]

Actually that was pretty recently. We had one of the 8420 technic motorcycles from 2005 still at retail around 80$ I think, so we make around 30$ but it was going on ebay around 180$ so the ebayer that came in and tried to clean us out was making a lot more than we were. So we adjusted the price to below ebay selling price, but high enough not to be usefull to sell on ebay. I sure don't have time to clear out clearance from anywhere for the store, I doubt any store owner has time for that. Around the GTA there are too many resellers that hit each store daily so wipe it out quick. Have fun right! It's only a toy.

I just visited you guys last weekend for the first time, and I found your prices to be very fair. And your selection is amazing!

[CLMF Bricks]

Actually that was pretty recently. We had one of the 8420 technic motorcycles from 2005 still at retail around 80$ I think, so we make around 30$ but it was going on ebay around 180$ so the ebayer that came in and tried to clean us out was making a lot more than we were. So we adjusted the price to below ebay selling price, but high enough not to be usefull to sell on ebay. I sure don't have time to clear out clearance from anywhere for the store, I doubt any store owner has time for that. Around the GTA there are too many resellers that hit each store daily so wipe it out quick. Have fun right! It's only a toy.

I just visited you guys last weekend for the first time, and I found your prices to be very fair. And your selection is amazing!

Amazing store.