Yard sales and thrift stores can be very hit-and-miss. When you find them you can get great bargains, but most of the time it’s not fruitful unless you have other reasons to shop there. When I built my Pokemon sculptures, I was able to do that using a bulk brick tub that lego was selling at the time (set #3033). I bought about 20 of those at $20 each and still ran out of certain parts – that’s why Squirtle’s tail was so small. Sadly, that tub was discontinued a few years ago and the bulk tubs that are available more recently haven’t had nearly as good of an assortment or as good of a price per brick. Probably the easiest way to get cheap parts is to shop on BrickLink. It’s an online shopping mall just for LEGO. Sellers buy sets in bulk (generally when they have clearance sales at retail stores) and sort the parts, putting the individual pieces on their stores. Then you can go in and order any part in quantity. It’s an awkward site to use, but I think the best way is to start at the Catalog tab, find the part you want in the color you want, and then find a store that has them in sufficient quantity.
(Disclaimer: I have my own BrickLink store.) There’s also bulk brick available from LEGO; usually they’re a lot more expensive that way but once in a while you can find some real bargains. Look for the “Pick-A-Brick” in the LEGO Shop-At-Home Store and if you have a LEGO store in your nearby mall, they have an in-person pick-a-brick wall where you can fill up a plastic cup with LEGO parts for a set price. And of course don’t forget about buying sets on sale. Check for sales at LEGO Shop-At-Home (and try their phone number too, as they have weekly phone-only sales as well). If you know any other good ways to find bulk LEGO at economical prices, please post it here as a comment…. Shop for LEGO on AmazonThere has been several recent changes to the LEGO Pick-A-Brick (PAB) wall at all LEGO store locations, so I thought it was important to write an update on what you can expect next time you stop by at your local LEGO store to get some LEGO elements. ➡ LEGO PAB WALL PRICE CHANGES
The first and most impactful change is the price for the PAB cups. Each will be increased by a $1 USD, so the small cup is now $9 and the large cup is $16. Obviously, this has a bigger effect on the smaller cup as you roughly get half the volume of the large one. The LEGO Group (TLG) will also be increasing the price of the full boxes of elements you can buy, from the previous price of $75 USD to $100 USD. If you are unaware of what I’m talking about here, that’s no surprise. Normally LEGO employees don’t tell you, but TLG allows you to buy an entire box of a LEGO element you see on the PAB wall, provided they have more in stock. This is ideal for those attempting to make a larger scale LEGO model. A couple of years back I had a conversation with a LEGO representative, and we talked about the PAB wall. This conversation was partly started due to the poor selection at my local LEGO store. He told me that the PAB wall was something TLG needed to change. It was inconsistent on how it was run, and the full boxes of parts at $75 would often mean they were losing money (depending on the part). H
e did admit that raising prices was looking to be one of the solutions. ➡ LEGO PAB WALL SELECTION CHANGES In the past LEGO stores had two options for choosing what went on their PAB wall. The first choice – often the default -was when someone who had very little to do with a particular store would just send out a selection of parts to that store. The second option was for the store manager to elect to pick out the parts they wanted, and hope they got them. Even for the stores that selected pieces there was no guarantee they’d get what they have liked. This is why you saw things in the PAB wall like door-frames with no doors or windows with no window-frames. Apart from this, it was up to the store to stock whatever they had. Later TLG put all their LEGO stores under the same system where every store had to select pieces for their PAB walls. There were still a few restrictions, but we’ll talk about those more below. The most recent change is going to build off of the more consistent application of every store choosing their own PAB wall selection. T
his change involves every store being obligated to carry certain types of pieces. In addition, those pieces will contain advertising, such as “this goes great with LEGO Star Wars sets”. So what you end up with is a system where parts are partly pre-determined and consistent across stores, and then each store has some options after that. ➡ LEGO PAB WALL STORE RESTRICTIONS Remember when I said that the store must work within restrictions? There are policies in place that all the stores have to follow in regards to their PAB wall. First, on the bottom-most rows, larger pieces like 2×4 bricks must be stocked so that they do not pose a choking hazard for smaller children. Another restriction, that may or may not be still in place, is that they had to have the basic parts to make a vehicle; this meant tires, wheel-hubs, a connector piece to attach the hub to, and possibly a steering wheel or windshield. For a while they tried expanding on this idea by having other builds you could make from parts on the wall. H
owever because PAB walls are not all equal in size and storage-capacity, this idea didn’t work out. Chances are that with the latest change TLG may stick with the vehicle parts option plus a bit more, as this would limit the stores ability to order a larger variety of more specialized parts. Unfortunately this is not great for adult LEGO builders, but we have to remember that TLG’s priority is young children and their priorities (kids love vehicles!). ➡ WHAT CAN YOU DO? So with all the changes happening to the LEGO PAB wall, the question is, what can you do as an adult LEGO fan to have the best experience? The most important thins is to get to know the employees at the store; the store manager is especially key. They hold regular meetings and provide feedback to the company on how customers are responding to any given change. In addition, LEGO stores employees are often open to hearing what you want. This may mean being able to talk with the person in charge of picking out pieces for the PAB wall. L