From Toys 'R' Us superstores to small independents, Time Out Family checks out the city's finest toy stockistsBaby International is at 79 Yueyang Lu, near Yongjia Lu, Xuhui district. See here for full address detailsIt’s not glamorous, and like all the city’s markets, be it Fake or Fabric, the Children’s Market is frequently clogged with people and stalls. But for a one-stop shop, this subterranean Puan Lu spot is hard to beat. Whether it’s a bike, a foam-bullet shooting Nerf gun, a Barbie doll, a model car, it’s all here. Some shops are more like warehouses, metal shelves stacked high with goods, but the upshot is an excellent range. Don’t expect any price tags on any of the toys; instead, bring your haggling A-game as the prices are all negotiable, meaning you make some decent savings compared to shops in Shanghai’s malls.Another bonus to visiting the Children’s Market are the distractions for kids. There are various mini carousels and kids rides for them to enjoy.
Even better is the – to give its full name – Neon Children’s Playground House (open 10am-6pm, Mon-Fri; 10am-7pm weekends). It costs 35RMB/child and an extra 10RMB if an adult wishes to accompany them in. The play area features the usual mix of ball pools, slides and space to run around in. It looks like a slightly more tardy version of Kerry Parkside’s Adventure Zone. Yet while it doesn’t meet those high standards, it’s certainly much cheaper and gifts parents a pit stop if they’ve just been dragged through numerous stores looking for that ideal toy.The Children's Market is at 10 Puan Lu, near Jinling Lu, Xuhui district. See here for full address detailsIsetan is at Seventh Floor, Westgate Mall, 1038 Nanjing Xi Lu, near Nanhui Lu, Jingan district. See here for full address detailsAlthough other stores like Kids Land and Toys “R” Us sell Lego, the largest store dedicated to the incessantly fun coloured bricks lies in the Joy City mall. Although not a mammoth showroom, the Hongkou location sells almost every kind of Lego from across its many ranges.
For toddlers there are Duplo blocks, which come in circus sets (499RMB) or Disney castles and Ariel’s underwater palace (499RMB). Packs of generic blocks for creative kiddies who want to build their own constructs are also on sale (299RMB/80 pieces).Ninjago Hero FactoryLego is at Joy City, 180 Xizang Bei Lu, near Qufu Lu, Hongkou district. See here for full address detailsLollipop is at Third Floor, Grand Gateway, 1 Hongqiao Lu, near Huashan Lu, Xuhui district. See here for full address detailsRenoir is at Floor B1, Kerry Parkside, 1378 Huamu Lu, near Fangdian Lu, Pudong. See here for full addressA German brand established in 1856, Sigikid has been active in China since this store opened in the IFC mall in June 2013. Half of what the shop sells is cute children’s clothes, but there are some standout items amongst its range of toys. Especially cute is a (deliberately, as it turns out) slightly off-kilter looking fluffy bunny (989RMB). The price tag seemed steep until the extremely helpful sales assistant pointed out to us that BEASTS, the makers, only produce their cuddly animals in small batches and hand-finish every one.
Other wonderful items that we only came across at Sigikid are their adorable finger puppets (119RMB, pictured at the top of this page). Little gnomes, crocodiles, mustachioed kings, farmers and grey haired grannies all feature in the range and would be sure to entertain young kids with their tales. Larger hand puppets are also available and princesses, jesters, wizards and bunnies are the additions to the cast.Sigikid is at Third Floor, IFC, 8 Century Avenue, near Lujiazui Huan Lu, Pudong. See here for full address detailsSimple Mill is at Floor B1, Kerry Parkside, 1378 Huamu Lu, near Fangdian Lu, Pudong. See here for full address detailsThis American mega-chain needs little introduction; China is just one of 35 countries to feature its stores. The Super Brand Mall in Lujiazui houses the flagship store on its fourth floor. As you enter, it seems disappointingly small. Move past the Disney Princess section (which sadly only stocks classic characters, such as Snow White and Cinderella), up the stairs and out of the store’s anteroom, however, and things suddenly expand, TARDIS-like.Toys 'R' Us is at Fourth Floor, Super Brand Mall, 168 Lujiazui Xi Lu, near Lujiazui Ring Road, Pudong.
See here for full address detailsAlthough the fourth floor of the Réel mall is host to a couple of women's underwear shops near the escalators, the remainder of the floor is devoted to shops for children. The excellent kids’ salon Qkuts sits amongst Sergent Major, Les Enfants Plus, Jacadi and Stella McCartney Kids.At the far end lies Wise Kids, an all-round great toy store. Most eye-catching were the colourful rolls of wrapping paper (25RMB-30RMB/sheet), something so simple but so hard to find good specimens of in Shanghai. The shelves are well stocked with educational card games like Red Dog, Blue Dog (199RMB), designed to encourage colour recognition, and Two by Two (245RMB) a memory game inspired by Noah’s ark. An entire section of Voila wooden block products, from shape board (209RMB) to ‘basic skill builders’ sets (432RMB) provide further material for any parent looking to purchase something more instructive than another toy car.Wise Kids is at Fourth Floor, Réel, 1601 Nanjing Xi Lu, near Changde Lu, Jingan district.
See here for full address detailsToday I would like to address a subject that often comes up in comments but we haven’t fully explored in an article as of yet. So here it goes; LEGO vs. Mega Bloks. Mega Bloks is a Canadian company, that is basically looked at as a LEGO rip-off and copycat by LEGO fans, with lower quality products and cheaper prices. They use the same studs-and-tubes design as LEGO, package their sets similarly, and their sole purpose seems to be to trick parents and kids into buying a Mega Blocks set instead of a LEGO one. However Mega Blocks also has a niche for themselves by owning some unique licenses – something that LEGO fans may find interesting and venture to explore. Mega Bloks have the rights for making Thomas the Tank Engine, Hello Kitty, Need for Speed, Halo, World of Warcraft, Barbie, Hot Wheels, Skylanders Giants, and Call of Duty sets. Some of you may comment “LEGO is best and all other brands are evil rip-offs that should be burned!” – but hear me through before throwing stones bricks at me, and perhaps you will gain a different perspective.
I own both LEGO and Mega Bloks sets and have fairly extensive experience with both. In addition I’m one of those people who are not afraid to mix the two brands for an extended building experience. As this is a LEGO vs. Mega Bloks post, I will compare the two brands in various categories so you might gain a better understanding of the similarities and differences. Of course we are all familiar with LEGO minifigures; they are cute and chubby with a yellow skin (except for the licenses minifigs). LEGO minifigures are all made up of the same, fully compatible body-parts, so you can mix and match them any way you like. They also fit within the LEGO system with multiple attachment points. In recent years there has been a lot of focus on minifigures due to demand by LEGO fans and collectors, which resulted in a greater variety of facial expressions, better quality and more detailed printing, and even a series of collectible minifigures. Mega Bloks figures are very different from LEGO’s little guys.
They have articulated joints for a much wider range of posing. This is their biggest advantage. Most of them have unique moulds – which means they are not as interchangeable and customizable as LEGO minifigs. In fact, trying to pop together the mini ball-joints proves to be quite a challenge and many times impossible. In Mega Bloks sets the figures come fully assembled, whereas in their collectible packets they come in parts and you need to assemble them. LEGO has been releasing a wide range of accessories for minifigures; tools, weapons, body-armor, backpacks, and more. The details on the accessories tend to be general in nature, so the same design can fit into many different themes, and even serve different purposes. (For example a minifigure-size dinner-plate can serve as a decoration on a building, or a minifigure tool can become part of an engine.) As far as Mega Bloks, I only own their HALO line of products, so I can mainly compare guns and backpacks, not everyday tools and other weaponry.
In general, Mega Bloks accessories are much more detailed and only serve one purpose. They even come with printed highlights to make them as accurate as possible. They are popular with LEGO customizers who are looking for accuracy and detail. (Mega Bloks accessories are compatible with LEGO minifigures as even though LEGO and Mega Bloks figures are quite different, their size is about the same and they both have claw-like hands.) LEGO is known to be an expensive toy. Their mid-priced sets are in the $30-$50 range, which is not pocket-change. And not to speak of the larger sets! The advantage though is that LEGO elements are fully compatible and you can re-use them in an unlimited variety of ways. The same piece can be a brick in a castle-wall, or part of an engine. There are no junk-pieces in LEGO that can only be used for one thing. All pieces are used over and over in many different sets for many years, even decades. They can all interconnect in a variety of ways and be part of the full system.
If you have just a medium-ish LEGO collection you can reuse the parts again and again without having to buy more and more sets. This variability, and the fact that LEGO elements are very high quality gives them tremendous long-term value. The downside of this is that it is harder to achieve life-like detailing with LEGO. You would need to build in a fairly large scale and use many small elements if you want to be as realistic as possible. Mega Bloks, although based on the same studs-and-tubes system as LEGO, doesn’t focus as much on compatibility and connectivity, but more on life-like details. Their sets are more like models or maquettes that are fit together as a jig-saw puzzle, reusability of the elements and fitting into a comprehensive system is not the focus. They make a lot of specialized large pieces that are only available in one set. Making your own custom models and landscapes would be significantly difficult. You can also end up with heaps of pieces that you can only use one way and have little long-term value or play-value in general.
Mega Bloks is also known for lesser quality and precision, which is reflected in the cheaper prices. But they make things like camo-bricks with different colors fused together, which is very cool. Building instructions for LEGO sets are pretty easy to follow. In fact, there has been a lot of improvement in the last few years; colors are easier to differentiate, trickier assemblies have zoomed-in views, and there is a list of parts added in each step. Also, for larger sets bags are numbered so it is easier to build the set in sections instead of dumping all the parts in one big pile and searching endlessly. Mega Bloks building instructions take a slightly different approach. I found them to be a bit harder to follow – probably because I’m more familiar with LEGO’s instructions. I like the fact that they highlight the studs were a new piece goes. However they do not include numbered bags, even for their larger sets, which makes them very hard to figure out and put together, wasting a lot of time searching for parts.