New Argos catalogue out in the UK

 

  • New Argos catalogue out in the UK

    Posted by Huw, 26 Jul 2009 04:32. Filed under Shopping (UK).

    3835: Robo Champ
    Games, 2009
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    ©2009 LEGO Group

    The new Argos catalogue is out this weekend and there's a lot of LEGO in it including some of the new games. There's also a new online Argos LEGO shop which makes it much easier to see what they stock.

    Since the disappearance of Woolworths it's become difficult to find any LEGO at all on UK high streets, but thankfully Argos has a decent range still and I notice my local Wilkinsons now has a selection of high turnover sets such as small City sets and Bionicle.

    So, if you're in the UK, apart from Toys R Us,where do you buy your LEGO from?


    64 comments, latest one posted 45 months ago. (Commenting has ended on this article)
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Comments

Posted by LegoOinc in United Kingdom, 26 Jul 2009 05:01

my local ASDA had the cairo indy set, does any body know if space police3 lego is going to appear in shops?

Posted by capnrex in United Kingdom, 26 Jul 2009 05:03

Well, I live in a fairly large town on the south coast called Eastbourne. Although it is a fairly large town, it doesn't actually run to a good toy shop! But, on the bright side, we have two Argos' and a Tesco extra! Luckily also, in Brighton just down the coast, there is a Lego shop, so I guess I am quite lucky really!

Posted by capnrex in United Kingdom, 26 Jul 2009 05:05

@LegoOinc - Some of the space police is available at Toys r us. But it is all in the Lego shops.

Posted by capnrex in United Kingdom, 26 Jul 2009 05:08

Where do you get most of your Lego from Huw, since you are in the UK?

Posted by DrDaveWatford in United Kingdom, 26 Jul 2009 05:22

Usually I'll make a list of what I want over time, and when the list is long enough I treat myself to a visit to the Lego store in Milton Keynes which is Lego paradise ! And I get loyalty stamps on my card. I try to visit when they have a "double points" promotion on.
I'll also use Lego Shop online 3-4 times a year.

If I want to buy NOW, however, and/or there's a sale on, I'll get my sets in the following stores :
- John Lewis
- Argos
- T R U
- The Entertainer is horribly expensive, so I avoid them in principle
- Very occasionally Tesco

Dr. D.

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 26 Jul 2009 05:28

@capnrex, mostly LEGOshop.com, LEGOLand and the LEGO shop at Brighton, where I'm responsible for putting the model into the 'Window into the community' display.

Posted by capnrex in United Kingdom, 26 Jul 2009 05:50

@Huw - You must live fairly close to me then if you go to Brighton so often! I am in Eastbourne, do you know it?

Posted by LegoOinc in United Kingdom, 26 Jul 2009 06:42

capnrex- thanks for telling me :)

Posted by raoulxb in United States, 26 Jul 2009 08:03

I live on a small island in the UK called Jersey.
We don't get many sets in stores and Lego.com don't ship to us.
With woolworths gone we only have the small independant stores selling lego.
We have no Argos,no ASDA,no Tesco, no Toys R us and no lego store.
But when i go away to brighton I generally drop by the lego store there.

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 26 Jul 2009 08:09

@capnrex, of course I know Eastbourne :-) I'm near Portsmouth so it's a bit of a trek to get to Brighton so I don't get there as much as I would like.

Posted by halfpenguinhalflego in United Kingdom, 26 Jul 2009 08:20

I usually only buy lego in Fenwicks or on the Lego website, the nearest place with a Lego store is over 100 miloes away :-( but i'm finally going to Legoland this week! I usually find the Lego in Argos expensive but the website looks like it is quite cheap now.

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 26 Jul 2009 09:07

I've just returned from Argos with a handful of sets including Power Miners set 8708 which isn't even available from LEGOshop.com yet. It's apparently an Argos exclusive.

Posted by jonbuddy in United States, 26 Jul 2009 10:07

Ebay is expensive, but has lots of legos.

Posted by DrDaveWatford in United Kingdom, 26 Jul 2009 10:11

Good point, jonbuddy - I buy more sets from eBay than anywhere !

Posted by szww in Poland, 26 Jul 2009 10:29

Most of my new sets I buy in S@H,

I have t'R's and John Lewis, but they haven't got big selection, and you have to wait 2-3 weeks for any new sets...
...and Milton Keynes is bit too far :/

Posted by Huffy1968 in United Kingdom, 26 Jul 2009 11:00

We have a Co-Op department store here in Stafford that carries a pretty good selection, though not much Technic sometimes. So I usually go to my local Argos Extra store if I have cash, S@H for debit card purchases, or of course BrickLink for any deleted sets or parts. And sometimes I go online to Amazom Marketplace and laugh at some of the ridiculously marked-up sets that some sellers there try to rip off unsuspecting buyers with... :-)

Posted by mrdoofa in United Kingdom, 26 Jul 2009 11:22

I live near Leeds in the UK, I have a toymaster near me and a toys r us about 20 miles away and 2 argos stores nearby, however, I buy mostly from shop at home. I wish lego would realize that people do actually live north of London and open up a lego shop in Leeds or Manchester or Sheffield or somewhere as my nearest one is nearly 200 miles away in Milton keynes!

Posted by capnrex in United Kingdom, 26 Jul 2009 11:31

I have just visited Argos, looks like some good sets are to be had! They have almost all of the Lego Star Wars, and all of the Lego Indiana Jones! @ Mrdoofa - I live in the south, but I agree that Lego should open a store up North (maybe one in newcastle and one in manchester?)

Posted by legobagel in United Kingdom, 26 Jul 2009 12:24

normanlly buy it from argos and toys r us but i also buy it from tesco,asda and the lego store

Posted by legobazooka in United Kingdom, 26 Jul 2009 12:57

I've noticed this year that TRU is more expensive than S@H - though only after I made a few purchases! Probably sticking with S@H on that basis unless I see something on good offer. I closed my e-bay account to remove the temptation of buying from there - I did the same with Bricklink but then re-activated it in order to buy Rolly from Bob the Builder for my daughter.

Posted by keithkram in United Kingdom, 26 Jul 2009 13:09

I buy 90% of my lego from lego online, and a bit from TRU (they are expensive compared to lego online). I live 20 miles fron Norwich and TRU is about the only shop that does any decent amount of lego sets, but as I say they are usually between £2 and £8 dearer than they should be.

Posted by timeo in Canada, 26 Jul 2009 13:09

I'm actually coming to England tomorrow and wanted to visit the store at Legoland in Windsor as it will be the nearest, but can you visit the store without paying the entrance fee to the park itself? I went to Legoland California few months ago and they did let me in without paying the entrance fee, but only for 1 hour and I had to leave a deposit on a credit card which was fair I thought. Any help or advice would be appreciated, otherwise I will be scouring Gloucestershire!

Posted by brickzone in Ireland, 26 Jul 2009 13:18

Argos catalogue is out for Ireland also, however, their Lego prices here are fairly crazy - mostly more than Lego Shop at Home which in turn is more expensive than the main toy chain here in Ireland, Smyth's Toys.

Posted by capnrex in United Kingdom, 26 Jul 2009 13:21

@Timeo - No, the Lego store in Legoland Windsor is only available to paying guests I think. Sorry. And if you are coming over to England, you should definetely check out Argos! It has such a fantastic range in the current catologue! It is in most towns and cities so it should be easy to find.

Posted by Targellian in United Kingdom, 26 Jul 2009 13:38

And there was me promising myself I wouldn't be adding any more Lego dedicated websites to my bookmarks :o)

Thanks for the tip!

Shame they're not carrying Space Police 3 yet, but Nil Desperandum

Posted by timeo in Canada, 26 Jul 2009 13:43

@capnrex - Thanks for the reply. I think maybe then I will make a trip to the store in Milton Keynes as long as I can convince the family it will be a good day out! I really wanted to visit a pick-a-brick and see some of the exclusive sets. Maybe I will take them to see the Concrete Cows! :)

Posted by capnrex in United Kingdom, 26 Jul 2009 13:54

Oh yeah, there's loads in Milton Keynes, there's the errr... Concrete cows and the errr.... Massive shopping centres. But the shops are great, if you are interseted, there is also an Entertainer (a huge British Toy shop chain) in the same shopping centre as the Lego shop! That always has loads of Lego!

Posted by chrisdog121411 in United States, 26 Jul 2009 15:40

@ Huw what other sets did you get

Posted by David1971 in United Kingdom, 26 Jul 2009 16:35

I'm glad we're discussing shops that sell Lego! In central London, it is very hard to find Lego, which seems very strange. Hamleys is insanely overpriced (but at least they sell it) - they seem to routinely add 20 per cent to the S@H recommended price. John Lewis has an ok, but small-medium size selection.

For Londoners the solution is to go to Toys R Us, which is reliable and i have not really found prices to be noticeably more than S@H ... and sometimes there are bargains. These are not in the centre, though, so it remains the case that it's very hard to get Lego in London!

Meanwhile, I was in Leicester recently and found an amazing shop called Dominoes (66 High Street) which had loads of all the latest sets ... it's like a Lego brand store. So I recommend that to anybody near Leicester.

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 26 Jul 2009 17:45

@timeo, you can get a refund at LLW if you leave within the hour. Good luck!

Posted by mrdoofa in United Kingdom, 26 Jul 2009 20:18

If you are in London did you know that there is an actual Lego shop in the Bluewater shopping centre which isn't too far outside London?

I have family who live in east London and I visited the store when I last visited a couple of weeks ago and bought the Grand carousel and the Emerald night sets. They had both these sets built and on display in store and thats when I saw how beautiful the emerald night was and had to buy it!

Posted by DrDaveWatford in United Kingdom, 27 Jul 2009 03:00

Huw, great tip about getting a refund at Legoland if you leave within an hour - never realised this was possible. I actually work very near Windsor, so all of a sudden this becomes an easy option..... Can anyone tell me (1) do they give loyalty points like the other stores, and (2) how big is the store there compared with Milton Keynes ? Big selection ? Any older items on sale ?

Cheers,

Dr. D.

Posted by DoctorAl in United Kingdom, 27 Jul 2009 05:37

Dr D:

(1) No loyalty points, but 10% off with an annual pass. Annual passes are often given away in December with a £75 purchase of sets (only the shop is open in Dec, so free entry then) - so if you time it right, you get in free all year anyway and get 10% discount.

(2) Huge. Bigger than MK. Pick-a-Brick has very different selection, but is £45/kg compared to by volume at LEGO shops. Mostly works out rather more expensive. Stock has lots of new games in at the moment, also 20% off Star Wars magnets, and lots of pre-release sets due for wider release in August.

Racers store nearby also has "bargain" stock - older sets, reductions are minimal but some different Pick-a-Brick stock from modelmaker surplus at £27/kg, occasionally some rare pieces in both Pick-a-Bricks.

Dr A.

Posted by grayie in United Kingdom, 27 Jul 2009 06:34

I buy most of my sets from DVD.co.uk they have a really good seletion & some awesome prices. I got the Power Miners Thunder Driller for £16.99 plus £0.99 UK shipping which is the cheapest i have found anywhere. What i also love is that they ship worldwide so friends i have in the USA can buy sets from the UK that are not out in the USA yet.

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 27 Jul 2009 07:35

@DrDaveWatford, When you buy your ticket it will be worth checking about the 1 hour rule. I haven't needed to try since I usually have a season pass, but other members of the Brickish Association have stated they've done it without problem. I suspect, also, that if you turned up 1/2hr before closing you'd get in for free anyway.

No, LLW do not give loyalty points and while the Big Shop at LLW does live up to its name it only carries the regular retail assortment and not the exclusives that you'd find at the brand stores. This is of course because it's not actually a LEGO owned store, it's a Merlin store. It does often have some nice 'tat' that you can't find elsewhere though.

Posted by legoguy2805 in United Kingdom, 27 Jul 2009 08:14

I buy most of my Lego at Tescos.

Posted by DrDaveWatford in United Kingdom, 27 Jul 2009 09:18

Thanks, guys - much appreciated ! An annual pass works out cheaper online than 2 visits a year, so might be worth considering.....

Dr. D.

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 27 Jul 2009 09:19

Yes, and you get 10% off in the shops and resturants.

Posted by JCC1004 in United States, 27 Jul 2009 10:00

Re:LegoOinc
Space Police 3 is already in my local TRU, so yes, and I also saw a Cairo Indy set there, can't believe I past it up, DARN!

I would like to see more of those studs, will they replace the old one's because they're nice, but not too, you know, LEGO, they look to knockoffish.

Posted by geckostocks in United Kingdom, 27 Jul 2009 13:04

Well if you live in Devon - the Toymasters in Exeter has a fair share of stuff - however, yesterday I found a Lego goldmine in Trego Mills near Newton Abbot - all of the new lego star wars sets in including Venator £96 too - also they had Aquaminers, Mars Mission and all the new city sets - I don't think the bank manager is going to be very impressed now!

Posted by Commander-Cody in United Kingdom, 27 Jul 2009 14:06

Don't know if anyone's actually said this yet!!! Argos EXCLUSIVE sets:

1. Lego City construction Drum Roller (steam roller) (£19.99)
2. Massive Red Technic Crane truck (£129.99)
3. Power Miners CAVE CRUSHER (!!!) (£39.99)
4. Large Pink Brick Box (£24.99)
5. Ultimate Lego Vehicle building brick box (£29.99)
6. Lego Star Wars PIRATE TANK (£34.99)
7. Bionicle Skopio XV-1 Titan Walker (£59.99)
8. Lego Games CREATIONARY (£24.99)

Posted by kendo73 in United Kingdom, 27 Jul 2009 14:12

I live in gainsborough, lincs, and argos is the only store in town that sells lego without going to TRU at lincoln, which is expensive, will be buying the technic crane truck at the end of the next month.

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 27 Jul 2009 14:19

Thanks @Commander-Cody, I couldn't be bothered to type that lot in :-)

Posted by LegoOinc in United Kingdom, 27 Jul 2009 14:23

JCC1004: thanks my local toysrus is not really helpfull when it come to see if they have a certain set in stock.

I saw the power miners "Underground Mining Station" when i last visted toysrus

Posted by turtlespit in Australia, 27 Jul 2009 14:45

amazon.co.uk sometimes have some good savings. I bought a Starwars V19 for £35 (RRP £50), and the Republic Gunship for £70 (RRP £83) a few months ago. Of course this is only when amazon fulfills the order - other sellers through the amazon marketplace are generally overpriced.

(fyi - Republic Gunship is currently £68.23 from amazon)

Posted by DrDaveWatford in United Kingdom, 27 Jul 2009 15:11

Agree with the comments about Amazon - I've almost stopped using the site since they started showing items from third party sellers alongside their own; it's only when you get to the checkout that you see that your 'bargain' is actually not cheap at all when you add on the shipping charge (shipping is usually free if the item is sold by Amazon itself).

As as for the Lego prices, current stuff seems reasonably priced as it's sold by Amazon itself, but anything else is completely laughable. Anyone fancy ISD 6211 for well over £200 ?! It was available at retail not so long ago for £79.99, and you can get it MISB on eBay for around £125. Rip-off merchants unite and scalp on Amazon !!

Anyway, rant over !

Posted by brickzone in Ireland, 27 Jul 2009 17:37

Examples of poor Argos prices in Ireland:

Venator Class Attack Ship: €142.99 (Smyths €124.99, LS@H €129.99)
Pirate Tank €49.99 (LS@H €39.99)

Indy Temple of Doom €106.99 (LS@H €89.99, Smyths €94.99)
Fighter plane attack €68.79 (LS@H/Smyths €59.99)
Chauchilla Cemetery €27.79 (Smyths €23.99, LS@H €26.99)
Ambush in Cairo €14.49 (Smyths €12.99, LS@H €13.99)

City Fire Station: €64.79 (Smyths €49.99, LS@H €59.99)
City Farm: €75.99 (Smyths €64.99, LS@H €74.99)
City Corner: €59.79 (Smyths €51.99, Art & Hobby €41.99).

Lego board games seem to only be at Argos here in Ireland. Fortunately not any drastic exclusives like there was with Castle '07 (where they offered only three sets that year and no-one else sold the others till '08).

Posted by keithkram in United Kingdom, 28 Jul 2009 11:35

The reason sellers sell on Amazon for such high prices is Amazon take 17% commission on every sale.

Posted by kurttkrueger in United Kingdom, 28 Jul 2009 11:51

Just thought I'd add that I've just picked up Lego Games Minotaurus from Sainsbury's in Wednesfield in Wolverhampton. They had an individual stand with all the Lego Games except Creationary I think. Considering the Argos down the road was out of stock of all of them, this is pretty handy.

Looking forward to trying it out tonight.

Posted by andy0306uk in United Kingdom, 29 Jul 2009 10:08

In Leicester there is a store called Dominoes which stocks a large range of LEGO and even includes a very small PaB

http://www.dominoestoys.co.uk/

Also, I've found our local Toy Master store in Coalville and Loughborough (Geof's Toys) has a good selection and manages to get the new sets very quickly after release

http://www.toymaster.co.uk/

http://www.geoffs-toys.co.uk/locations.php

Posted by DoctorAl in United Kingdom, 30 Jul 2009 06:00

I noticed that Dominoes runs a reasonably stocked mail order business at

http://www.mailorderexpress.com/LEGO.asp

At the moment they have 10% off all LEGO and delivery is £2.99 for up to 25kg. So if you want a few big sets and can't travel, might be well worth it compared to S@H. I've never used it though.

Posted by fossil121 in United Kingdom, 30 Jul 2009 09:13

There are still some independents out there.

I use Castle Trains in Warwick as they often have a good selection.

http://www.castletrains.com/

The website concentrates on the model train side of things but they have been expanding their Lego, Duplo & Playmobil stock recently.

Still miss the offical Lego store that used to be in the revamped Bullring in Birmingham.

Posted by Tb96 in Sweden, 30 Jul 2009 11:31

Hey I'm going to Legoland (Denmark)
is there some exclusive sets to buy there

Posted by Danson Delta-40 in United States, 30 Jul 2009 20:34

Sorry but what exactly is an argos.

I mean is it a UK Target?

Or a UK Walmart?

Or something else...

Posted by Huw in United Kingdom, 31 Jul 2009 02:29

@Danson Delta-40, something else :-)

Posted by capnrex in United Kingdom, 31 Jul 2009 15:04

@Danson Delta-40 - You have a catalogue of stuff and you choose what you want to get, you can't see the items on display or on shelves, you then get an order number and when your order number is called you collect your item.

Posted by Huffy1968 in United Kingdom, 31 Jul 2009 17:07

Keithkram, I appreciate Amazon take a cut of sales, but can anyone really justify the following prices? These were incidentally taken from one particular Amazon Marketplace seller:

Technic 8275 Motorized Bulldozer, 2007: £199.95 (double RRP)
Racers 8674 Ferrari F1 1:8, 2007: £299.95 (triple RRP)
Technic 8285 Tow Truck, 2006: £279.96 (more than treble the RRP!)

These prices are nothing short of extortionate. The seller(s) of such items make excuses in their feedback they are "rare" or "collector's items" or "out of production", often when they're not (8275 is still very much available from S@H). I've seen a Chewie minifig being sold for £70, and I saw one of the Technic-based Racers sets (8649 Nitro Menace, 2005, RRP £34.99) recently on Amazon Marketplace for an astonishing £300. It's gone now, I only hope it was because the seller made a genuine mistake with the pricing or realised it would not sell, and not that some poor person bought it...

In short, avoid Amazon Marketplace like the plague. That is what I tell anyone thinking of buying anything from Amazon, LEGO or otherwise.

And fossil121, I miss the LEGO store at the Bullring as well. Never understood why it was closed... :-(

Posted by Legoman1993 in Canada, 31 Jul 2009 22:24

OH MAN! you guys are SO LUCKY!!! the indy sets are not even in CANADA toysrus yet!!! SHAME ON THEM! i have been waiting about 4 months for 7195 and 7196 ={

Posted by keithkram in United Kingdom, 01 Aug 2009 03:51

@huffy1968 I did not realise they were selling current sets so over priced, I was just commenting on discontinued ones, as thats all I was looking at, so yes they are rip off merchants. You would think people would check lego's S@H site first.

BTW the new power miners sets are now available from S@H in UK

Posted by I like Lego in Canada, 01 Aug 2009 07:54

I am waiting for the summer star wars set's,and toa mata nui was already out here,and i have saved all this money ready to buy them(star wars set's) and there not even out!And it's August 1st!.

Posted by UKVamp in United Kingdom, 02 Aug 2009 05:18

Luckily here in Bolton we have all the major chains, Argos, Toys'R'us, Tesco, Sainsbury's. A Toymaster not too far away.
Since Woolworths shut down tho its been harder to find deals, as Argos say they have sales but you search round the stores and they dont' have any in stock.
And online E-bay you can find some good bargains if you're lucky, Amazon needs to be stayed well clear off as stated earlier, Lego shop is okay but they rarely have technic in the sales.
Easier to stick with Bricklink for the parts you really need.

Posted by jet94 in United Kingdom, 02 Aug 2009 12:22

I do most of my Lego shopping on LEGO.com but argos is becoming quite good for lego and Ebay is good for the older, more rare sets. I just wish there was a lego shop near to me because i live in the north up near manchester. You'd think lego would put a lego shop in a big area like Manchester!!!!

Posted by simonskluk in United Kingdom, 03 Aug 2009 17:04

I for one think the demise of all the high street toy shops is a real pity, but fortunately for folks in Edinburgh, there is a fantastic toyshop called TOYS Galore! They keep quite a lot of lego and are really nice to chat to.

Posted by mrdoofa in United Kingdom, 04 Aug 2009 20:56

I agree jet94, I mentioned this earlier in this forum, I live near Leeds and we really need a lego shop up north! I understand they did have one in Birmingham which is a bit nearer than Milton Keynes but that closed down for some reason unfortunately. I visited my local Toymaster last week and to be honest left rather disappointed, they only had a small area dedicated to lego and was all mainly smaller city/creator sets and hardly any technic at all, in fact only 2 sets! They seem to favour things like playmobil more than lego as they had loads of that and also the full window display was dedicated to playmobil.

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