Going to the NHM of London soon. Anyone know of anything good in the gift shop?

[Raptoress]

So I'm going really soon for the first time in a few years to see Sophie the new Stegosaurus and I'm really excited. I just wanted to know from anyone who's visited recently if you found anything good in the gift shop? I have £30 to spend. I collect model animals as well as primarily dinosaurs so anything like Papo or Schleich would be good for me as well.

[DinoToyForum]

Prepare to be disappointed in the gift shop...

But have a great time in the museum!

[Raptoress]

Aw. Are you sure? The online gift shop seemed promising?

[DinoToyForum]

Aw. Are you sure? The online gift shop seemed promising?

The books are good, but if you are looking for toys or models, it's more or less 'chinasaurs' all the way...

[Raptoress]

That's a shame. Oh well, I'm still looking forward to seeing the beautiful fossils. ^^

[triceratops83]

They're not great, but you should probably pick up a couple of the Toyway figures while you're there, they go for unreasonable prices on Ebay.

[Takama]

Yes i was going to say the same thing.   The Museum has its own line of Dinosaurs made by Toyway, and as far as i know, the museum is the only Store that sells them offline.    I was there Once, and i foolesly got my self a Big Ugly T.Rex model.

[deanm]

I am thriding  on the Toyway figures at the museum.

I got my Toyway Diplodocus there - for a decent price (compared to ebay silliness).

[suspsy]

The gift shop was profoundly disappointing for the reasons others have already noted. And honestly, the dinosaur hall is long overdue for a complete revamp. The skeletons are decent, but the fleshed out models are woefully outdated. More importantly, the design of the exhibit stinks. You feel like you're part of a herd of cattle as opposed to a museum patron who can move about at leisure.

[Sim]

I live in London, so I've been to the Natural History Museum at different times in my life.  Unfortunately the gift shop is now worse than it was when I was a child.  Back then it was pretty good, it sold the Invicta figures and many other things including some nice dinosaur books.  Now it's... quite different.  I don't think the permanent parts of the museum have changed much over time, but I think the NHM is good, especially if you haven't been before.  It would be really great if the prehistoric animal parts got updated though!

If you're able to get to other areas of London (the tube system is very useful for getting around quickly!), the John Lewis on Oxford Street sells some Papo and many Schleich figures.  Also, Marks & Spencer (which have stores all over London) are selling Tedco Prehistoric Panorama: http://dinotoyblog.com/forum/index.php?topic=2177.msg81459#msg81459 and some of the Mojo dinosaurs.

I hope you have fun!

[suspsy]

Do you know any stores in London that sell CollectA? Kind of a moot point now, but in case I ever get a chance to go back.

[Sim]

I don't know anywhere in London that sells CollectA, which is surprising since CollectA is a UK company, right?

In addition to the shops I mentioned earlier, I know a toy shop relatively close to where I live where I saw 2 big WWD Gorgosaurus, some Papo figures, and unsurprisingly lots and lots of Schleich figures.  The dinosaur toys in the toy shop in the biggest shopping centre in West London are only Schleich dinosaurs...

I had a look at the NHM's dinosaur section in their online shop and it's got a lot less Papo figures than when I last looked at it a couple of months ago.  It's the first time I see the big CollectA Triceratops on there!  On each product's page it should say if it's exclusive to their online shop under the "Additional product details" section, like in the case of the Papo Allosaurus and CollectA Triceratops, e.g.: http://www.nhmshop.co.uk/dinosaurs/dinosaur-models/triceratops-scale-model.html  The product that looks most interesting to me in their online shop is this: http://www.nhmshop.co.uk/dinosaurs/dinosaur-models/dinosaur-model-collection.html  You can even get a 360 degrees view of the figures.  It doesn't say its web exclusive so you should be able to find in the gift shop at the museum if it's of interest.