Lego will complete this year's rollout of eight units next week when it opens at the Taubman Centers-managed Stoneridge in Pleasanton, CA, in the Bay Area. That opening will bring the chain's total to 23.Next year Lego plans to open 10 stores. The company has not released further expansion plans and has grown slowly since opening its first unit in 1992 in the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN.

Even slow growth outpaces other toy retailers in the current environment. The chain is expanding when toy retailers have faced financial problems due to competition from such discounters as Wal-Mart and Target. Toys "R" Us said earlier this year that it would consider selling its 1,400-unit global toy business to concentrate on the company's 200 Babys "R" Us stores. In January the company closed its 146 Kids "R" Us and 36 Imaginarium stores.

Meanwhile, mall-based chain KB Toys filed for bankruptcy protection at the beginning of the year and closed just over 350 stores, leaving it with around 750. And FAO Inc., the former owner of the famed FAO Schwarz chain, closed 13 of its stores last year, leaving it with two units, in Las Vegas and New York City. (FAO also liquidated its 89-unit Zany Brainy concept and sold its 34 Right Start stores.)