La Grotte de Briques, a Lego and Playmobil temple in Chartres

“I like to say that I am not a niche, but specialized”. Bruno is the creator of the Grotte de Briques, a somewhat special shop located in the city center of Chartres (Eure-et-Loir).

Passion turned into work

A Lego player when he was younger, he made this attraction for plastic bricks a real profession. He’s been dragging around the Danish brand’s creations for ten years now, not in the marketing department, but in the sales department.

Three years ago, he arrived in Chartres, after having been an employee in a 100% Lego and Playmobil shop in Paris… After a period of observation of the capital of Beauce, he launched out and “snatched the concept of his former boss”, with whom he still has very good contacts today.

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Even if he realizes that the land in the city center of Chartres is “extremely expensive”, something he did not expect when he had spent several years in Paris, he left for the bricks.

The opening will take place, by choice, in September 2020, without knowing that the second confinement would arrive a few weeks later…

Two brands to know everything at your fingertips

Bruno insists, he only offers two brands, which allows him to know each reference at your fingertips.

His favourites? License Star Warsand he just received a new model of Dodge Challenger from the franchise Fast And Furious which he particularly appreciates.

On the contrary, he admits that there are outings that he “dislikes”. Some series are “failed”, where Lego “mistakes” in his eyes, sometimes even on products that exceed a hundred euros, and do not really offer interesting content in proportion to the prices asked. Beyond that, the brand “has no room for error”.

“Big kid by default”, he does not find it disturbing and even rather easy to sell toys to his customers. Every square centimeter of the small shop is taken up by the dozens and dozens of different boxes available for sale, most of them directly processed with Lego and Playmobil.

The rest, 10% of the store to be precise, are boxes marketed more by the two toy giants.

The creator of the Grotto of Bricks buys them on the internet via resellers, which are necessarily more expensive, and resells them, which are necessarily more expensive. Moreover, these are pieces that could well see their value explode because of their rarity in the years to come.

Despite everything, it limits itself to certain references, which today have a selling price far too far from their real value. So, the latter fall by the wayside.

Inflation in sight

Another thing that has gone by the wayside is the old tariffs.

Before the fall in the price of the euro and the Ukrainian crisis turned everything upside down, a large part of the bricks saw their prices increase, with two strategies between Playmobil and Lego: the first city announced it in January, all references will take a few eurosand a second increase should arrive at the start of the school year.

The Danish brand, meanwhile, had a different approach, with a very small increase last January, but this should change in September.

Unlike Playmobil, which chose to tax all its products but to smooth their inflation, Lego will target a small part of its range, but in a much more radical way. Some references, especially aimed at adults, will increase by 25% -boxes currently priced at €400 would go up to €450, for example – and on the contrarya large part of the Lego references will not feel the crisis pass.

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At the same time, the more the years pass, the more the strategy of Lego on its boxes evolves, assures Bruno. As time progresses, the Danish brand includes fewer and fewer bricks, for an always identical price. If licenses are also a factor in the price variation of a product – that of Star Wars, for example, is extremely expensive – Lego has increased its prices in a linear way, without increasing the number of bricks inside its boxes. .

A weak area?

The size of its lairfrom his little shop, is Bruno’s next glass ceiling.

I think that today I have reached 75% “of the potential of my business with the current arrangements, but if I want to grow more, clearly that cannot be done here.

Until then, one question remains. How can a business that only sells two brands stand up?

Firstly via the fame of his specialization. Lego is the toy number one on a global scale, well ahead of Hasbro or Mattel for example. For Bruno, whether you go out into the street and ask an 8-year-old or a 60-year-old if they know Lego, the answer will surely be yes.

The only employee, which is already a great asset, he nevertheless ensures that he “does not roll on gold”. It has only been paid since January 2022, and only minimum wage. He feeds the box and the box feeds him, neither more nor less.

If I had other personal financial expectations, it would not be possible

The Brick Cave probably won’t make him rich, but he’s “happy”, and doing something “he likes”. Customers seem to feel this passion and to be just as delighted to have such a special brand near them.

His first Lego box at… 72 years old!

The little Chartraine boutique touches all ages. Its manager sees retirees passing by, and recently, one of them came to buy his very first box of Lego… at 72 years old.

It also serves as a sort of pilgrimage. “Originality brings people in” according to Bruno, who tends to see these pilgrims visit his cave like a museumespecially for the youngest, sometimes coming from afar.

He thus met a couple from Orléans who had makes the trip only for his bricksand will return.

“We don’t have that here” comes up often, because yes, this kind of business is more reserved for large cities than provincial towns. So inevitably, it attracts curiosity.

Its primary objective is to be able to offer the almost the entire Lego and Playmobil catalogand it pleases.

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