LEGO, as arguably the biggest toy brand in the world, is available at every turn even here in South Africa.

From LEGO speciality stores stocking nothing but bricks down to little corner shops with a handful of sets, local customers have a huge amount of choice when it comes to spending their Rands.

But with so much choice comes a huge range in value, benefits, customer service and other factors you should think about before you buy another set.

On top of this wildly varying factors, much has changed in the local landscape compared to our previous guide on buying LEGO in the country which we released more than two years ago at this point.

Great Yellow Brick / LEGO Certified Stores

Online store link: greatyellowbrick.co.za

Pros: Standardised pricing | Free delivery with no minimum spend | Robust loyalty system | Free Gift With Purchase sets | Exclusive sets | In store bonuses | Usually has new sets first | Several physical stores

Cons: Sales usually on older sets online | Strict promotion rules

Great Yellow Brick is the online storefront for the physical LEGO Certified Stores, of which there are six in South Africa. By carrying the LEGO name – overseas LEGO operates these stores themselves – Great Yellow Brick has a high standard to meet and it achieves that, usually being the first place we look for new sets.

Great Yellow Brick pricing is the standardised RRP in South Africa so you know that whatever they’re charging online or in-store is the baseline for those products. This is important as some stores we will discuss later actually sell most of their stock below this RRP, while one or two sell above it. Having this store has the gold standard for pricing and benefits not only makes it a no brainer to pick up sets, but it must be what all other stores are compared to.

Shopping here also comes with other benefits like a robust – but sometimes confusing – loyalty system, access to sets not available anywhere else, Gift With Purchase (GWP, essentially free sets given away after spending a certain amount of money in one order), early access to certain products and more. Shopping in-store also gives you access to buying loose bricks on the Pick A Brick wall and access to the Minifigure station where you can build and then buy custom minifigures.

In-store we have also found that the employees are not only knowledgeable about LEGO in general, but also about the sometimes complex loyalty system and GWPs, so ask them if you ever need help. Online support is also available for the same reason.

Import A Toy / BrickTopia

Online store link: www.importatoy.co.za / www.bricktopia.co.za

Pros: Arguably the best pricing in the country | Fantastic customer service | Super fast delivery | Free sets and other promotions

Cons: Free shipping only for Gauteng | No loyalty system | Limited time sales come and go quickly

This pair of companies requires a bit of an explanation. For many years now Import A Toy has offered great pricing on LEGO, usually selling most of their stock below RRP and routinely running sales to drive those prices even lower. Despite the name this isn’t a speciality import store, but a local South African toy company.

This gets a bit more complicated as, in 2024, a sister company called BrickTopia opened. Running under the same management, BrickTopia has its own separate online store and a physical store in Boksburg. We will discuss these two storefronts as one in this article as our observations apply to both.

If you need a LEGO set and you can wait a few days for delivery, Import A Toy / BrickTopia is usually your best bet as you don’t need to wait for a sale, due to the regularly lower prices on most of the stock from the stores. While some other stores we will discuss later have deeper cuts, no other companies offer such consistency in lower pricing.

With the introduction of BrickTopia, super low, in-store only pricing has been a common promotion to get people through the doors. We have visited the single Boksburg location and it’s a nice day out for kids and adults alike, especially with the other stores surrounding it.

The aforementioned sales sometimes last for several days, but the best deals are seen on the limited ones which can last an entire day or just one hour. Missing these sales sucks and we’d love a bit more lenience and longer durations.

Amazon South Africa

Online store link: www.amazon.co.za

Pros: Low regular pricing | Incredibly steep sales | Sale stock counters | Buy other stuff at the same time, not just LEGO | Impeccable delivery and returns

Cons: No loyalty system | No Amazon Prime | Odd stock selection

Amazon South Africa didn’t exist when we last did a LEGO guide and, in a bit of a surprise, it may be the new best place to buy LEGO (at least purely based on price).

We’ve been watching Amazon South Africa like a hawk since it launched in the middle of 2024 and the pricing on stock has been a shock. We have seen many items priced much lower than the competition, with some items being listed as half the price compared to other sites.

When a sale does happen on Amazon South Africa, we have been able to pick up LEGO sets at 40 or 50 percent off, with one or two discounted even further than that. During some sales Amazon South Africa seems to be selling certain items (including LEGO) below cost price to draw in new customers.

We don’t know how long this pricing will last but we will appreciate it while it does, including the added benefit of an indicator of the percentage remaining of sale stock, so you know if you need to hurry up and pick something up.

Our only real complaint is that Amazon South Africa stock is a bit all over the place. For LEGO, the store doesn’t carry the full range of available sets and there are some odd exclusions which force us to go to other stores when we would have preferred to stay on Amazon.

Takealot

Online store link: www.takealot.com

Pros: The Takealot ecosystem | Sales can make it the cheapest place to shop | Seamless returns system

Cons: Damaged boxes | Deceptive pricing | No loyalty programme | No external bonuses

Like Amazon South Africa, we have seen Takealot selling LEGO close to if not below cost price recently. As the most established and trusted online retailer in the country, it doesn’t need to do that to bring in new customers, but we appreciate it nonetheless.

Sometimes Takealot will outright price an item at extremely low numbers, and other times it will offer free coupons which require a bit of extra work get the best deal.

Takealot also shares the stock issue with Amazon South Africa with many sets not accounted for. Even worse – and maybe Takealot’s biggest issue – is that it allows third party sellers on its platform. These sellers not only price genuine LEGO at much, much higher prices hoping to trick people who don’t know better, but many even sell knockoff LEGO and try to pass it off as the real thing.

The local LEGO community has constantly been trying to discuss this massive issue with Takealot with no success. It’s not just LEGO either as other popular toys like Pokémon cards are also sold at incorrect prices or Takealot stocks knockoffs which look like the real thing. Be cautious when shopping and triple check that any item is legit.

Everything else

The above stores are our go to picks when buying LEGO. If you need a set right now we recommend simply going to the store that is the cheapest, when factoring in shipping and the loyalty programmes. The differences in loyalty programme details, exclusive sets and other bonuses make this decision more difficult, but we hope we’ve given you all the tools you need.

One last mention has to be given to the physical stores as they provide the best way to go if you’re in a pinch for a present, usually on the way to a party. These stores may also offer wrapping for free or a small charge, making them even more convenient.

• Toy Kingdom used to be the best place to buy LEGO thanks to its 3 for 2 sale. These days we refuse to shop there given their higher than RRP pricing, deceptive practices (like hiding desirable stock during sales) and many restrictions placed on the 3 for 2 special. Don’t shop at Toy Kingdom unless you are desperate.
• Kiddiwinks should also be considered for all purchases. The small chain of stores also offers compelling sales, great customer service and exclusive sets. The store is also the only one in the country to offer a full set of Collectible Minifigure Series blindboxes, which we highly recommend.
• Kiddiwinks also has the easiest to use loyalty system, which is appreciated.
• Pops Toys is another recommendation from us. This store also sets itself apart with a separate Collector Shop for rarer items.
• Toys r Us is just kind of… there. The stock and pricing at Toys r Us is truly unexceptional and we rarely buy from this establishment. Toys r Us isn’t bad, it just doesn’t do anything special. The Toys r Us exclusive Bricktober sale sometimes has exclusive promotional sets, but we haven’t seen these in quite some time.
• Chain stores like Game and Makro have decent LEGO selections but their sales are rarely worth choosing over any of the other options we’ve discussed so far. Both also have very limited stock.
• The Serval Takealot price checker is invaluable to ensuring that Takealot’s rollercoaster prices are kept in line.
• Add products you’re interested in to your Takealot wishlist, and then download the Takealot app. The app will send you push notifications when an item on the wishlist is on sale. We have found that these notifications can be very hit or miss, however, so check in manually often.
• The Amazon South Africa wishlist is also handy for keeping track of prices.
• Do not try to game the system by buying LEGO sets on sale at one store, and then returning them at another store at full price. Each store has its own unique system attached to LEGO, even if the boxes are identical, making this impossible. This is a consumer tip as well as a “be a good human being” tip.