Why Barnes and Noble?

[greanie2011]

I have been reading alot of comments that have been posted here on sales and it always leads to a comment somewhere "Im waiting for Barnes and Noble to have it!".

Why?

What does it cost? (Just the $25 or is there another cost for the membership?

Just curious if its something i should look into or Definitely get? Does barnes and noble carry these sets in their B&M stores? And do they accept the coupons in the B&M?

[natelite]

because B&N has regular coupons of 15-20% and usually new sets are released with 10% discount. Including the coupons, you get close to 30% (plus any rebate program you may choose like rewardsrunner or ebates) off MSRP on NEW sets. no membership needed for online purchases. if you buy in store you'll need membership for a further 10% off.

comparing B&N with TRU and you quickly see why everyone loves B&N. Next to B&N, KMart is pretty close too. Like the recent BOGO 50 sale on SW, adding the 25 off $125 coupon, you get close to 45% off (plus any bonus rebate programs) on lego sets. the only problems here are the tiny selection of sets and website glitches (orders can be cancelled, prices not reflected, shipping errors, etc).

Walmart and Target are good for clearances but otherwise lose to the above too on regular sales. walmart never goes above 20% d/c and target only does 25% d/c on unpopular sets if ever.

TRU is only ever good for the vast selection and exclusives. prices are ridiculously expensive.

[greanie2011]

So you say no membership or other costs associated with purchasing from B&N? What about shipping? And how do you receive the coupons in email? I went to the site and the only thing I was able to find was a $25 membership to sign up for.

[natelite]

open an account online at Bn.com.

[nick91884]

Make sure to sign up online for the kids club, within a week of signing up you get a 30% off any one toy coupon (I believe they still do this, they were as of a couple months ago) in your email good in store! Also with the kids club you get $5 rewards for every $100 spent on LEGO or other toys.

The $25 membershipis not required but it can be a great deal, but really only makes sense if you buy enough to save over $25 from there (after which you actually start saving money), you basically get 10% off everything in store and it usually stacks that discount with any coupons on hand, plus there are member exclusive coupons as well helping you pass that $25 dollar threshold so you actually start saving money faster. If you don't live near a store the $25 membership doesnt really give much benefit other than free expedited shipping.

Some stores have better selection than others and Barnes and Noble does not carry many of the larger sets most every set they carry will be 99.99 or less (one exception being the architecture Robie House $199.99). The nice thing compared to Toys R Us is most of pretty much all their sets are marked at MSRP so you really are getting a discount.

Anywho that's my understanding. I really like it and its a heck of a lot easier to get my wife to go to a book store than it is to get her to go to Toys R Us :-P

[kevin7215]

I have been reading alot of comments that have been posted here on sales and it always leads to a comment somewhere "Im waiting for Barnes and Noble to have it!".

Why?

What does it cost? (Just the $25 or is there another cost for the membership?

Just curious if its something i should look into or Definitely get? Does barnes and noble carry these sets in their B&M stores? And do they accept the coupons in the B&M?

I will also add that they ship overseas and to Canada. LEGO MSRP in some other countries are much higher than the U.S. That's just what I hear, since I live in the good old U.S.A.

[QuagsireQing]

I will also add that they ship overseas and to Canada. LEGO MSRP in some other countries are much higher than the U.S. That's just what I hear, since I live in the good old U.S.A.

Yes, their international shipping rates are the cheapest around. Most other online retailers charge an arm and a leg, negating any savings we'd achieve through sales and the low US MSRP, but with B&N's flat-rate shipping, Canadians can often save between 30-40% what we'd be charged here.

[slacker]

They had the best deal during black Friday. 50% off one item. I used the coupon 4 times last year. plus another 10% with the card.

[Luciant]

Yea. The $25 fee for Membership will pay for itself within the first month. Especially if you purchase it right around a good sale. If you buy other books, the the 10% discount will pay off so quick, then you will love that extra bit if you have a B&M store that carries a good selection in store. Otherwise the free shipping for members is great if you just want to buy a lower value set.

B&N has been known to do roulette sales where you get 10, 20, 30, 40, 50% off 1 item. In the past, you could use it on the website, and print it out and use it in stores (I know I used a 50% off one to justify purchasing all the Architecture line from B&N (since they carry them all!).

B&N also doesn't usually mess up their shipping unless they get overwhelmed when SD turns great sales during new releases into big disappointments. They ship quick, and usually for free.

[murphquake]

Ended up in the Greenwich Village B&N yesterday, saw that the new John Birmingham book had finally come out and remembered this thread when asked if I had a card & signed up. Now I'll be keeping an eye on B&N Lego deals! Thanks for the input, all.

[Deathleech]

I definetly want to go through Barnes and Nobles for the new LotR sets coming out because I estimate I can save around 150 bucks when all said and done. My question is though, how long does it take Barnes and Nobles to usually get their Lego sets in?

Also, I saw above someone said they usually don't have the larger sets. Is this pretty common, or is it only the case on the more rare sets? I've never really ordered anything through B&N here in the Us so any info would be great! Thanks!

[nick91884]

They do carry some larger sets but the threshold is usually 99.99. My local store has the police station and recently for some reason got in a few of the big alien conquest sets (earth defense mobile HQ) which I thought was weird because they no longer have any other AQ sets. Also scorpion pyramid. I'm not really heavily into starwars lego but they also carry a larger starwars set (I think the republic frigate) which actually is a little above $100.

Basically its gonna be hit and miss. Also sometimes they get in new sets promptly and sometimes it takes a while. Mine got in the DC super heroes stuff fairly quickly but have yet to get any of the marvel/avengers sets yet (not even in their online store).

Also sometimes you have to make a sweep around the store, they have most of the sets in a central area but occasionally will have a table set up in a random area away from the lego, also check the childrens book section there will be a few sets there as well. Architcture is kept in its own separate place by the board games and what not in my store as well so dont assume the only lego is in the lego section.

[Deathleech]

What about online? The Barnes and Noble near us has next to no Lego selection from what I have ever noticed (not that I really looked hard tbh though). Do they usually have the bigger sets there, or get them in a fairly timely manner?

[nick91884]

Online they do carry some in the $100-$150 range, online with bn.com can be hit and miss. First many of the available sets are from market place venders (people b&n lets sell on their website similar to how amazon lets users sell on there) and if they aren't available directly from bn.com coupons won't work. Also the website seems to be way pickier about what coupons it will allow for which sets, while in store rarely will you run into an issue where they wont use a coupon on LEGO (unless it specifically says no lego or only good on certain items). Sometimes the website will not apply coupons on certain sets but it will work on others. Some people still really like bn.com shopping but I do most of mine in store.

[Morgan19]

Why?

For me, going to B&N is largely a matter of habit. Like a lot of folks, my "fun" income is limited, particularly with a 5-month-old rounding out my family now. So when Borders was still open I'd consistently use their 25-40% coupons on LEGO sets (prior to their price hikes), and that was my main source for them. When they closed, I started going to B&N... Not nearly as much since I'm a non-member and their coupons are nowhere near as frequent as Borders' were, but it's still a natural evolution of my shopping habits.

From the sound of things, I luck out on my store, as they tend to have a pretty good selection of themes and sets. Not everything, but enough to make the quick drive worth the time with a coupon.

m19

[starfailure]

Do B&M B&Ns (heh) ever put Lego on sale or clearance?

[meyerc13]

I know for some other toys, like Thomas the Tank Wooden railroad, about once a year they'll have a few discontinued models on clearance. So far I haven't seen the same thing with LEGO, even on themes we know are on the way out (Alien Conquest, Kingdoms, Pharaoh's Quest, Atlantis). Maybe they're going to let the sets fade away - not restock but not mark them down either.

[brickarmor]

Why B&N? Why Toysnbricks? Because the two together showed me how to get Destiny's Bounty for 40% off! Thanks to all the above posters.

As a side note, they still had a bunch of AC, PQ, and Atlantis. I asked at both stores (found the set I bought at the second one, so glad I made the drive!) if they were going to ever clearance the old to make way for the new. I got the exact same answer at both stores: anything's possible, but they had NEVER seen a Lego set on clearance. Bad news for us, looks like meyerc13 is spot on! Guess we'll just have to keep relying on the coupons.

[sidersdd]

Why B&N? Why Toysnbricks? Because the two together showed me how to get Destiny's Bounty for 40% off! Thanks to all the above posters.

As a side note, they still had a bunch of AC, PQ, and Atlantis. I asked at both stores (found the set I bought at the second one, so glad I made the drive!) if they were going to ever clearance the old to make way for the new. I got the exact same answer at both stores: anything's possible, but they had NEVER seen a Lego set on clearance. Bad news for us, looks like meyerc13 is spot on! Guess we'll just have to keep relying on the coupons.

Their "clearance" is the 50% off Black Friday day.