Leicester Square LEGO Store - Store Report
So, yesterday I was lucky enough to be one of 100 AFOLs who was allowed to visit the brand new Leicester Square LEGO store for a couple of hours before it opened today at midday. When we arrived at the store, it was still completely shrink wrapped, with no ability to see inside, and we all had to squeeze in through a slit in the side, to rapturous applause from the staff as we slid inside the building.
The store is split onto two floors, and is much, much larger than the three that I normally visit (Milton Keynes, and the two Westfield stores). If you need it, there's a lift to take you between floors.
For me, the models that have been made specifically for the store are one of my big reasons for visiting any LEGO store for the first time, and the Leicester Square store definitely has a few of these.
The first thing that drew my eye was a distressed piece of plaster that had flaked off the wall, revealing a sub structure of LEGO bricks underneath. This was evident in a few places around the store, and is absolutely the sort of touch I love, giving the impresion that the LEGO store is actually made of LEGO bricks.
Getting slightly bigger, as with all LEGO stores, there were various non-set models in the brand ribbon windows at child height. I won't spoil any of them, but don't forget to bend down and look at these when you're in the store - as an adult it's incredibly easy to miss them. One thing that did disappoint me is that there doesn't seem to have been any word at all about whether the store will have a Community Showcase window like all the other stores in the country or not as yet. I've recently been lucky enough to have a couple of models in the Shepherd's Bush store, so I've felt firsthand the excitement that comes from knowing that people are going to be looking at your model for several months, and that you're helping to produce a varied display for the store that will help people keep coming back to see what's new. So, it's a pity that it doesn't look like we're going to have that here.
But back to what actually is in store - the big stuff. As expected, there are various large models in store to gawk at. First up is the massive Elizabeth Tower model, which spans the height of both floors, and looks like it contains speakers for the sound of Big Ben to ring out of (although it didn't ring yesterday). The detail on the model is lovely, and well worth a look. Downstairs there's also a large LEGO underground carriage which you can sit in, that's filled with various child sized minifigs. Designwise, it looks like it was expected to be viewed from all angles, but unfortunately (presumably for space reasons) it's been placed flush to the wall, meaning that it wasn't possible to view most of the minifigs stood in it properly. Finally, Brickley the green dragon that makes the rounds at various big LEGO stores is back (I first saw him at The Rockefeller Center), so it was lovely to see him snaking along the ceiling.
The big exclusive at the store that we got to buy yesterday was 21034 London Skyline, at £44.99. I've not built it yet, but it looks to be a lovely model, and the single connection point for the London Eye (meaning that it was able to be supported without any central spokes) was fantastic. I'm surprised that the use of a technic pin to connect two circularly stressed pieces of flex tube was deemed to be legal, but I'm happy that it was :) A nice bonus yesterday was that the designer of the set was there in store signing for people as well. I had a bit of a chat with him, and he said he should be there today as well for signing duties. So I'd pick this one up today if you can (limit 1 per person)!
In a not unexpected move, the 40220 London Bus was also available in store, for sale at £9.99. So if you didn't manage to get it before, now's your chance.
As well as those two London specific models, there were a few other sets available in store that I wasn't expecting since they've been out of stock for a year or more online. Particlarly of note was the 2014 flagship technic model - 42030 Volvo L350F Wheel Loader which I very nearly bought a few months ago. Also in store was the 40155 Piggy Coin Bank, and a few older Ninjago, City and Duplo sets. I would imagine that these were leftovers from the various stores around the country that were shipped over for the opening, so I would expect that once they're gone they're gone, and the store will be back to "standard" items.
Something I'd not seen before in a LEGO store was a mosaic machine. It takes a photo of your face, digitises it, and then outputs a box containing an XL baseplate and a whole load of 1x1 plates for you to put together at home. I believe this costs £99.99, but I didn't actually check myself.
One final exclusive is the 40145 LEGO Brand Retail Store, which for the first time ever was available to purchase on its own, for £19.99 yesterday. So, you can either get it for free with a £125 purchase, OR you can buy it on its own (limit one per person, you don't get to buy one to take you to £125 and then also get a free one we were told yesterday). I haven’t actually had it confirmed for me whether it’ll be available for purchase or just as a freebie today, so take the ability to purchase with a pinch of salt.
Oh, and as if that wasn't enough, there's also a hotel delivery service advertised around the shop!
Pick-a-brick Wall, and Build-a-minifig
My other big reason for visiting LEGO stores is the Pick-a-brick wall, although since the introduction of the Build-a-model taking up a lot of space on the walls, the selection across the stores has certainly become homogenised. This is not to say that the selection hasn't been good recently - cerainly a lot of the pieces in the models have been very useful, but it's given less incentive to come into the stores more than once every three months, and certainly has given less incentive to go to different stores in the same period.
The store also have two large BAM stations, one upstairs and the other downstairs, which seemed to have all the normal pieces you'd expect in it yesterday. As always, I forgot to go and give it a proper look. I should get better at that.
So, does the Leicester Square store buck the trend? Yes and no. Certainly, the PAB wall is bigger than I'm used to, and there are more parts in it. But, most of them are 2x4 bricks, and there wasn't a lot that excited me personally on it at this moment. I'll keep an eye on it though, and see how it changes over the months ahead. As a tourist focused store, I recognise that they need to stock the items that will sell.
Which leads me on to my first real disapointment of the event - the availability of various items on opening day of the flagship store. At least two major 2016 sets were just not available in store yesterday - the two biggest Technic sets, 42055 Bucket Wheel Excavator and 42054 CLAAS XERION 5000 TRAC VC. This was quite surprising, and not something I would have expected for opening day.
Unfortunately it wasn't the only missing stock for day one either - I'd planned on purchasing another 8878 Rechargeable Battery Box and an 88002 Train Motor for motorising the 10254 Winter Holiday Train. Neither were in stock, so don't plan on buying a Winter Holiday Train including the motorisation options in store today. The staff were fantastic around this disappointment though, with the Store Manager Paul doing a brilliant job to turn my frown upside down.
So, that scratchcard, eh? Well, the bad news is that from my very informal keeping an eye on who got what on their scratchcard yesterday is that your chances of getting a Lester are about 1 in 10. I didn't get one. Not that I'm bitter at all.
Other news about Lester is that he doesn't come with any accessories - he's just a minifig in a minifig holder. No umbrella, no LEGO bag. I know a lot of the AFOLs yesterday were hoping for a brand new umbrella mould, but I guess it just wasn't meant to be.
How do I get to go to events like this?
One thing I noticed on Facebook yesterday were people asking "how do I get to go to these events?". The simple reason I've been able to do these things is that I'm a member of a recognised LEGO User Group (rLUG). These are groups that organise LEGO events and are recognised by LEGO as being an organised group of fans, and as such get a level of support from them. In this instance LEGO released a set of tickets to various rLUGs around the country and then it was up to them to distribute those tickets amoungst their members as they saw fit. (NB there were nowhere near as many tickets as there were people who could get time off work to be able to come yesterday).
I'm a member of London AFOLs, a wonderfully friendly LUG based in London that meets up on the second monday of every month in a pub room near Euston to play with LEGO. You should come and join us. We use meetup to coordinate, and it's our christmas party next month: http://www.meetup.com/LondonAFOLs/
There are various other rLUGs around the country and the wider world too, and there's sure to be one that makes sense for you to join. I'm also a member of Brickish - http://www.brickish.org/ - a lovely group of AFOLs who are mostly based online, but span the whole of the British Isles (and in some cases a bit further).
All in all, the store looks great, and the staff are friendly and informative. The extra bits of unexpected stock are nice during this opening period, but I'd expect that once they're gone they're gone, and the store will be back to "standard" items again. For me, as always, the reasons to visit the store come from the store specific models that are on display, and the PAB wall. I'll definitely be making another visit in the coming weeks to see how the store ends up bedding down once all the tourists arrive!
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