How do I Find Cheaper Loose Parts?

Are you looking for parts to build your own creations? Or maybe you’re a parent like me and have kiddos who like to build and want some additional parts.

I have a parts collection back in the US in storage, but we have a big plastic bin of random parts here to free build with (as you can see below).

So where can you find cheaper parts?

Bricks and Minifigs is an after market store in the US and Canada. It is franchise owned and more seem to pop up every year. It’s been a few years since I have been to one, but I used to live by the Albuquerque, NM store. The store had 2 large tables of loose bricks. They buy used pieces and then re-sell them at a higher price. You can pick the size container/bag you want and then sort through the parts to find what you want. I was usually able to find some great parts in great condition. Usually I could get it down to somewhere between 3 and 5 cents per piece. Definitely check them out if you live nearby.

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The LEGO Classic line is a great place to look. While you don’t get the exact parts you want, you can find them at a lower price and brand new. I recently got the set pictured here for 28% off. It worked out to around $0.03 per piece which is a great deal. You might not get minifigures, but they usually have a great color scheme and some cool parts. It’s definitely worth it to look for sales on the Classic line. Especially before Christmas time.

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Now we tread into the unknown… there are numerous ways you can buy used bulk LEGO parts and sets from garage sales and Craigslist, to EBay and Amazon. There’s a lot out there and it can be hard to know what you’re going to get. You may be getting a bin from an expert who has picked out the “good” parts and left you with items you may not want. Or you may end up with a gold mine of old disassembled sets that you can re-assemble. Prices may vary, but usually you can get a decent deal here. Just the quality may not be where you want it. So let the buyer beware…

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Is it worth it to go straight to the source? You can get the quality of part and the type of part that you’ll want, but you’ll pay. Online orders can get pricy so it might not be worth it unless you are trying to get that one hard to find piece. In store may offer you some savings. Purchasing a cup full of parts can be good if you know how to pick and stack smartly. I am not an expert there by any means, but I recommend you look online for videos from people with tips on how to stack and fill your cups at the LEGO store. My last trip to the LEGO store was a while ago, but it was around $18 for the large cup. Is that still right? In the past I’ve been able to get parts for around $0.04 per piece or so, but usually the pieces are smaller so it’s hard to make a judgement there.

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The secondary market… It’s actually pretty large. You can get specific parts on numerous sites from EBay to Amazon to BrickOwl, but I will focus on Bricklink.com for now since I am most familiar with it. Bricklink is now owned by The LEGO Group so it’s the secondary market owned by the primary market. The downside is that most sellers are AFOLs or people knowledgeable with bricks so finding great deals on parts is probably tough. The plus side is if you can’t find it on Bricklink, it probably doesn’t exist. You can also work with (some) buyers to get discounts if you are buying large lots or if you become a regular customer. You can get a lot of opinions about Bricklink so I’ll stop there. Bottom line is, lots of available parts, but not always the lowest price.

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There are probably a few other niche areas like if you are in a LUG and can participate in the LUGBULK program. What else am I missing? What has worked the best for you?

Please post in the comments or send me at note at store@bricksforbricks.com and I will add to the post.

Happy building!

LEGO® Store Review - Mall of America

I have been good at putting a new blog post up weekly until last week.  I have a good excuse though...  I happened to be away and I had the chance to tie in LEGO® while I was away.  In case you all weren't aware, the Mall of America is located in Minneapolis, Minnesota (okay, it's actually Bloomington, but close enough).  It's very large and has a ton of stores inside along with an amusement park.  You can go to the link above to see more about the mall, but back to the important stuff... the mall contains a LEGO® Brand store.  

Fitting with the largest mall in the US, the LEGO® store comes across as large too.  Here is the front.

First off, it has its own building area with couches and tables.  The tables have built in base plates to make stacking bricks easier.  The store also has a number of very large brick built models on top to add to the expanse of the store.  I'm not sure if they are permanently there or if they swap out models... I didn't think to ask.  

Here are some closer shots  of the models.

The inside of the store didn't have much different from other stores other than it seemed a little more spread out.  They had the standard building areas for kids (or adults) and all of the sets seemed to be in stock.  One thing that I noticed in this store and maybe it is in all stores, but I wasn't paying attention, was that the really big expensive sets were not stocked on the shelves.  They just had a single version of each one.  A customer in line ahead of me purchased the Star Wars Sandcrawler (#75059) and the worker told him that they only keep an empty box of the set out so kids don't wreck them.  The worker mentioned that some people buy these as collectors items versus buying the set to build it.  I was glad to see that they took note of that and were trying their best to help their fans out.  Another note on stock levels in the store, they had the Volkswagen Beetle (#10252) and the Disney Castle (#71040) available (at the time of this post #71040 was sold out online).  You'll also notice that they have the standard display case windows around the store.  The windows in the picture show some of the sets available to include the modular building #10251 - Brick Bank and #10248 Ferrari F40.  

In terms of the store, the workers were pretty involved with customers.  Many were walking around with constructed sets or parts of sets and they all seemed to be answering questions.  One was explaining to a family with kids how to best stack pieces in a pick-a-brick cup to get the most pieces in there.  She said that they "didn't want to pay for air."  The customer service interactions were definitely at a higher level than the Tysons Corner Center store I went to this past summer.  They also had some of the larger sets on display outside of the windowed display areas to include the Technic Bucket Wheel Excavator (#42055) which was built and by the registers.  Also, one of the windows had some creations built by "our model builders."  I'm not sure who they are, but here is a picture of what they built.

As for buying anything, while the store was fully stocked with all of the current sets I didn't get any new sets.  For one, it's tough to buy something when you know you can get it cheaper elsewhere like at Amazon or Walmart.  I did see one set of parents checking the price of a set at an online location and deciding not to buy due to a cheaper price elsewhere.  The other reason, the sales tax at the store was higher than what I pay locally in FL.  Ordering online from Shop @ Home makes the most sense if I'm going to pay full price for a set directly from Shop @ Home.  I did get a container of bricks from the Pick-a-Brick wall.  The contents of the wall were the same from over the summer when I went to the Tysons Corner Center store, but I still got some pieces.  I realize that it makes it look bigger, but why the need for the giant wall with the fake bricks in the top drawers?

Hopefully I'll make it to more of the branded stores to see which are better or worse.  If you have one nearby that I should checkout some day, please let me know.

Happy building!

Store Review - LEGO® Brand Store - Tysons Corner Center - McLean, VA

I was in the Washington DC area this past weekend with my family and with some downtime decided to stop at a nearby mall (mainly for the air conditioning on a hot day).  As it turns out this mall had one of my favorite stores in it.  The LEGO® brand store in the Tysons Corner Center happened to be open while we were there so of course I hadto check it out.  In walking around the mall it seemed that the bags you saw people carrying most were either Victoria's Secret or yellow with a red 2x4 brick on it.  We followed the bags and ended up at the store.  It was busy.  Lots of kids all over the place building in the various free build areas and running around excited to see all the sets.  A store worker was near the entrance to greet people.  I'm not sure they appointed the right person as this worker was rather quiet and didn't give a smile.  We got "have you been to a LEGO® store before?" and "your kid's outfit is cute."  Great.  Whatever.  I wasn't there to chat with the employees.

The store seemed to be pretty well stocked with all of the different themes.  I didn't inspect each and every one, but I didn't see holes on the shelves either.  One of the items on display in the front of the store was the new Creator Expert - Big Ben #10253.    

As my NLS (non-LEGO® Spouse) commented, it looked beautiful.  I've seen the pictures and designer video, but seeing it up close and personal was pretty cool.  They did an amazing job with the design.  Here's the box on the shelf.

Another set that I finally got to see in person was the LEGO® Technic Porsche 911 GT3 RS (#42056).  First off, it looks incredible and very sleek!  Secondly, it is definitely a lot bigger than I expected.  The picture I took is pretty bad because it's behind glass so you get a reflection and some of the paint on the window, but it's still an impressive model.  The set was on the shelf, but the box was listed as "for display only."  I didn't pick it up to see if it was just the box or the actual set.  My guess is that if you wanted it you had to request it from the workers.  I didn't ask to see if they had them in stock or if you had to order them.

Other things to note about the store... Collectible Minifigures Series 16 releases on 1 August 2016 (I believe), but they were on sale at the store.  I saw at least one AFOL trying to feel through the bags to get the ones he was looking for.  Also, it was a good mix of people buying different items.  Lots of families with kids walking out with smaller bags including Angry Birds sets and Friends.  We also saw someone walk out with a Tower Bridge (#10214).

Did I make a purchase?  Yes!  My NLS did let me or maybe I pressed ahead without asking before she could say no.  Either way, I am a big fan of the Pick-a-Brick wall in the back of every LEGO® brand store that I have been in.  They have 2 size cups that you can pick from and fill as you want.  I picked the larger cup that cost $16.95 in Virginia after tax.  They had a range of parts in different colors and sizes.  I tend to stick to the smaller pieces so you can fit more in and I pick the colors that are not as prevalent.  I have yet to open my container, but I was impressed that the store worker used packaging tape to make sure my container didn't explode so that was good (I'm sure it's from experience and having to clean up messes in the store).  My cup is below:

My favorite by far is the sand green parts that were available.  They had 1x1 bricks and 1x2 plates.  That's not a common color that I tend to see often so I was glad to grab a few.

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Update (August 9 2016):
2 pictures below of the bricks I picked up from the Pick-a-Brick Wall.  I didn't merge them together, but hopefully you can see where the pictures match up.  You'll notice I went for most of the smaller pieces to try and fit more pieces into the container.  In the end I counted 753 pieces from the container.  With the Virginia tax the final came out to be about $0.02 per piece.  I can't complain about that.

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My favorite by far is the sand green parts that were available.  They had 1x1 bricks and 1x2 plates.  That's not a common color that I tend to see often so I was glad to grab a few.

I called it a review so I should give my opinion.  Should you go to this store?  Or any LEGO® brand store?  The selection is great and the additional benefits are useful such as the Pick-a-Brick wall and minifigure creation station.  Plus you get store workers who understand LEGO® and can help you get sets you don't have if they aren't in stock.  They also have some of the harder to find sets that aren't typically in your average retail store.  Finally you can get and use VIP points for your purchases.  The downsides... you don't get the discounts that you can find at places like Target, Walmart, or Amazon.com.  Everything is at the full retail price.  So should you go, I recommend going if you're looking for a harder to find set or price is not your main driver.  The Pick-a-Brick wall is useful if you stack the cup right too.  It's a fairly decent way to get pieces.  Once I open up the cup I purchased, I'll give an update to this post with the number of pieces I got and the different types.  

Do I wish I had a LEGO® brand store closer?  Yes!  Maybe it's better that I don't when it comes to my credit card bill.  What are your thoughts of the LEGO® brand stores?