Toy store owner Chen Chu-hung (陳諸鴻) said his 264m2 store near Taipei Railway Station is barely able to keep up with the demand for Lego bricks, as the demand for the product has been surging in Taiwan.
His store used to stock only two to three boxes of Lego, but now he stocks 200 boxes, which are still insufficient to meet demand, said Chen, general manager of the DD Toy Town store on Taiyuan Road.
The store sells more than NT$10 million (US$324,729) of Lego products per year — with 4,000 boxes sold during the Lunar New Year holidays, Chen said, adding that sales have been so high that Lego’s director-general visited his store from Denmark two years ago to ask him about his retail strategy.
Photo: CNA
Chen attributed his success to his early entry into the Lego retail market, as well as his propensity to give customers discounts of up to 20 percent, which he said has drawn many to his store seeking bargains.
It is difficult to predict how much to stock, Chen said, adding that he refers to online Lego fan pages to see what is popular.
At times Lego is not able to fill larger orders, Chen said.
Lego collector Hu Cheng-ta (胡政達), who carries business cards made from Lego figures, said that DD Toy Town was selling Lego products before they were widely available elsewhere in Taiwan.
Collectors spend huge amounts of money at the store, Hu said, adding that he spent half of his income there from the time he began working until he was 35 years old.
Hu said he spent about NT$10 million on Lego products.
Hu said was he was a Lego World Cup building contest judge from 1996 to 1998 and that he often used his collection to encourage creativity among the students he teaches at a cram school.
He said he has conducted workshops for students who expressed interest in building using Lego, with the aim of boosting their creativity and hand-eye coordination.
One enthusiast, who goes by the pseudonym Audi (歐弟), said he has been building structures out of Lego bricks since he was 10, adding that it helps him deal with the stress of his studies.
Audi said that he works as a “MOCer” (My Own Creation) — a term given to people whose hobby is building with Lego bricks — adding that he began building his own designs when the plan in a Lego set he bought was too monotonous to build.
Audi won first place at Taiwan’s first Lego building competition in 2011 with a Taiwanese temple celebration construction.
Audi said he is planning to build more creations using elements of Taiwanese and Chinese culture.
He showcases his creations at DD Toy Town.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all