LEGO is becoming more and more popular. In the first half of this year three percent more construction kits were sold than in the previous six months. This is because more and more adults have started building with the blocks. Lego fan Christo (64) from Best has an attic full of LEGO buildings and understands the popularity: “It calms me down. It’s a toy hobby.”
And thanks to the bad summer, turnover continues to rise in the second half of this year, says Simone van Nuland of the LEGO store in Den Bosch. “It is becoming increasingly popular with adults as LEGO releases special lines, such as the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Taj Mahal in India.”
“When I’m working with LEGO, I’m just not there for a while.”
You can hardly take a step in Christo’s attic. Dozens of buildings are shining. “Not everything fits in the attic here. The Titanic is downstairs in the living room, but my wife doesn’t let me add anything to it.” Christo’s wife has nothing to do with the blocks at all.
Still, Christo can build and collect to his heart’s content. “We have an agreement: each month we both receive 150 euros. What we do with that money is up to us, the other is not allowed to interfere. For me it always goes to LEGO.”
It once started with model trains, but they had to make way for the colored blocks. “Yes, it’s a toy. I see it as a toy hobby. I relax when I’m working with LEGO, then I’m just not there for a while. And I can use my creativity,” says Christo while showing the constructions in his attic. “If I want to muse for a while, I go to the attic: look, clean and change things.”
“It’s not expensive, it’s sustainable.”
In Simone’s LEGO store, a woman comes to buy a set. “It’s for myself, not for my daughter,” she laughs. “The shame is gone,” Simone notes. “We have been here for twenty years now. In the beginning people came with the excuse that they came to get it for their nephew, now they dare to say that it is for themselves.”
Christo also criticizes: “It’s way too expensive. It can be much cheaper, but yes that is a LEGO marketing strategy.” For example, a set for adults quickly costs between two hundred and five hundred euros. Because it is on the expensive side, Christo occasionally buys ‘fake LEGO’. “There are brands whose quality and colors are exactly the same.”
Simone disagrees with Christo. “It’s not expensive, it’s sustainable,” she defends. “Thirty years later, children are still playing with the same LEGO bricks. They just pass from father to son.”
“It’s full, but I’m not stopping.”
How many LEGO sets can Christo add? “Minus two,” he says with a smile. “It’s full, but I’m not stopping. Sometimes I sell a set. It is also an investment. I sell sets for double or sometimes more.”
There is a ‘mega investment’ in the store in Den Bosch. “Here is a blue house. It cost 100 euros about fifteen years ago, but now you can sell it for 3,500 euros.”
