Friends in short supply?

[atmail35]

Is anyone else having trouble finding the Friends sets? In the past few weeks, I have tried to buy various sets at the LEGO Brand Store for some birthday parties and all they had were the $10 sets and the picture frame. I wanted the Butterfly Beauty Shop or Olivia's Tree House. The Tree House, Cafe, and Convertible are all back ordered on S&H.

Even Target has been in short supply. I really hate to resort to TRU. I guess I should try Walmart.

Is that a good sign or a sign of something else? My daugher and I are trying to give LEGO Friends to any of her friends that have a birthday party. You know, recruit all you can into the cult!

[Zeya]

They do have new Friends sets coming (if it hasn't hit already?) for the second wave, so I don't think it's an issue of suddenly cutting off that theme. My guess is that you just got unlucky, like it's a fluke or something.

[atmail35]

I'm (optimistically) figuring they are just selling out. Although I sort of hope they don't discontinue the first round soon, as we only have one of each set!

[Ice]

I think they are selling really well. Toys R Us, Zellers and even the LEGO Store seems to be having trouble keeping the big sets instock. I've only seen the big sets when Friends just came out earlier this year.

[meyerc13]

Finding these have been hit or miss all year. I think the success of the line was greater than expected. Distribution seems to be spotty as well. I've been to some stores that only have the small sets, some stores that only have the large sets, some stores with almost nothing and some stores with almost everything. That's even within one retailer's stores.

One example, I was in a Target this weekend that had filled the peg hooks for the small sets with Polly Pocket. At another store, the peg hooks were full but shelves bare.

It's a great line, but don't be surprised if the second sets disappear to make room for the fall wave. If that happens it may be the shortest shelf life we've seen for anything outside of the collectible minifigs. The fall wave of Ninjago was like that, here and gone before you knew it. I still hate that I missed out on the Lightning Dragon.

[hassmyster]

I don't actually have that problem here in Maryland. Everywhere I go Target, Walmart, and "Mark up King" Toys R US have them in stock. I have seen pretty much each and every set. Also check online especially walmart.com they actually have some nice friend's bundles you can buy and shipping is only 97 cents.Are the other sites like amazon and online versions of the retailers low on stock as well?.=

[Legobrandon]

My local TRU only has the smaller Friends sets (ex. $6.99, 10.99). No sign of the large house or even convertible.

[silvashado]

My local LEGO store doesn't have the large sets anymore and won't be getting them in. Target and TRU still have a lot, though.

I think this first wave is winding down, sadly. I was hoping LEGO would support it longer, but it looks like they're moving on to the second wave soon. I was hoping to wait for sales, but I think they'll be gone before any sales happen.

[legitimatealex]

Ugh they're all the rage around me. My best friend promised me the Tree House for Christmas and I still don't have it >.< She refuses to shop for it online too. Frustrating.

[MarkV]

Went to pick up Olivia's Tree house for a birthday present for a 6 year old niece. Hit up the Legostore and 2 Meijer's - nada. Ended up with the Butterfly Beauty Salon (or whatever it's called).

Seem to be plenty of the 5.99 and 9.99 sets available but not much beyond that.

[dr_spock]

Has anyone seen Friends on sale? I have been waiting for a friendly sale. My local store has a BOGO 50% sale on all Lego except Friends. Is it that popular that it does not need to be discounted to move inventory?

[natelite]

Has anyone seen Friends on sale? I have been waiting for a friendly sale. My local store has a BOGO 50% sale on all Lego except Friends. Is it that popular that it does not need to be discounted to move inventory?

i haven't yet seen a good price on friends sets other than early in the year when there was a 20% cpn for BN.com and the auto 10% d/c for early release sets on bn.com. BN.com doesn't have any in stock since it sold out.

[legogod]

Went to Wal-Mart today and everything seemed to be in order. The big house was there (at least 2 of them).
Smaller sets were available as well as the medium ones. I think the treehouse was missing or the convertible I can't remember which. They haven't had a sale yet that I know of and if they did they would probably all be gone...

Jared

[ncbarrett]

Went to pick up Olivia's Tree house f... Hit up the Legostore and 2 Meijer's - nada. ...

I believe that is the most popular set, so will be hardest to find.

[bigdaddy]

Went to pick up Olivia's Tree house f... Hit up the Legostore and 2 Meijer's - nada. ...

I believe that is the most popular set, so will be hardest to find.

That is the set I couldnt find until this past weekend. One lone box in Target and I snatched it up for my gf. She loves the name Olivia and we have been looking for that one. Really is a nice lil set.

[vynsane]

The treehouse is a great set. My daughter just acquired the final one she was missing from the first wave, the Puppy House. We're still in the process of building Olivia's House, we have all the rooms done, now it's just the roof and yard. That's also a fantastic set, the modular nature to it is fantastic. I'm thinking of designing some expansion packs to it in LDD if I have the time, with the plan to actually build the expansions as time and money permit.

[lego the hutt]

Just a quick observation I had today...

I have been checking my local stores frequently lately and had noticed for the past couple weeks I hadn't seen many friends sets. I had read this thread and thought they must just be in short supply.

I happened to be walking down a different toy isle and I found the friends sets had been moved. They used to be with all the other lego and building sets a couple weeks ago. Now they are being displayed next to the barbies with the "girl toys".

I'm not sure if this is common at other stores or not. I'm also not sure how being removed from the other Lego products affects their sales.

It surprised me as they had been shelved in the same isle as the other Lego sets until recently. I thought I'd post here as a heads up. If you don't see the friends sets at first check near the barbies. They might not be where you thought they'd be.

[silvashado]

All of the WalMarts, K-Marts and Targets that I've been to have always had Friends in the girl's aisle. TRU usually has an aisle display and then the rest in the LEGO section. But I do think it depends on the store managers as to where they go, but LEGO's intention, as I understand it, was for them to go in the girl aisle since most parents don't take their girls down the LEGO aisle.

I just noticed that most of the sets are still available on Amazon for normal price so if they're not in stores, you should check online.