Lego Builds Slowly

NEW YORK CITY- Lego Systems, the Denmark-based company that makes the famous plastic building bricks, is slowly opening stores in U.S. malls, during a period when the toy sector of retail is taking a hit.

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.