Tagged: Collectables

3:37pm

Thu December 13, 2012
Business

Why Legos are so expensive — and so popular

Originally published on Fri January 11, 2013 7:26 am

Credit Thomas Samson / Getty Images

I went to Toys R Us recently to buy my son a Lego set for Hanukkah. Did you know a small box of Legos costs $60? Sixty bucks for 102 plastic blocks!

In fact, I learned, Lego sets can sell for thousands of dollars. And despite these prices, Lego has about 70 percent of the construction-toy market. Why? Why doesn't some competitor sell plastic blocks for less? Lego's patents expired a while ago. How hard could it be to make a cheap knockoff?

Luke, a 9-year-old Lego expert, set me straight.

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