In NYC Today, Some Thoughts...

former-member · 2013-03-27T02:15:41.000Z

I'm in NYC this week for a quick 2-day trip, staying right in the middle of Times Square. I hit the LEGO Store at Rock Center and TRU in Times Square today. Some thoughts: 1. They're both full of idiots that are milling around and generally in everyone's way 2. For those of you who whine about TRU prices, you should see the markup at the LEGO Rock Center store 3. 6857 The Dynamic Duo Funhouse was notoriously missing from both. There wasn't even a place on the shelf where it should have been in either store. That the 6857 The Dynamic Duo Funhouse was MIA could be meaningless, as in DFW we seem to have plenty of these available. I wasn't looking to buy any, because I have a bunch, but I did find it curious that it was missing, especially from the TRU. Both places seemed to have adequate stock of most other current sets. Plenty of LOTR, Hobbit, Modulars, Monster Fighters, etc... I was planning to buy several Hayabusa's at the LEGO store, as it would have saved me shipping and earned double VIP points, but they had the price jacked up about $5, so I passed. Now, the deals. I bought 15 40033 Turkey polybags because they were on sale at the LEGO Store for $2.98. Not a super deal, but will eventually give a decent return. At TRU I bought 20 of 40025 NYC Taxi's on BOGO, so an average price of $3.74 each, as well as 20 30241 Mandalorian Fighters at $3.74 each as well. I love flipping polybags because they're so easy, but for the taxis I might have to wait a while. Now, for the best deal I found. TRU had their prices jacked up as usual, except for on a few sets. They had several B-Wings, which I expected to be excluded from the BOGO. I scanned it and it said "$199.99" and that it was BOGO eligible, so I bought 2 of those for an average price of $150 pre-tax. The best deal I can get on the B-Wing at the moment is 10% off, so 25% off was an acceptable deal for me. Tax here is .6% different than home, so that wasn't a deal-breaker. TRU also had the Tower Bridge not marked up and BOGO eligible. I would have grabbed a couple of those too but I only brought 1 bag on this trip, and honestly I don't think even my suitcases are big enough for that set. I've never seen either of these sets at our TRUs in the Dallas-area, and I can't recall seeing many at other TRUs throughout the country. Overall I'm happy with this haul, as I wasn't planning on buying anything on this trip. Note: None of these items, other than the B-Wings, were bought at the same time. I like to make multiple trips so as to not draw attention. Plus all the walking is good exercise.