Have you ever wondered what’s behind the pick-a-brick bins at your favorite LEGO Store? Contrary to persistent rumors, there are no elves or advanced Mindstorms robots running the show back there. Builder Dominique Boeynaems takes us behind that Employees Only door to reveal a warehouse full of shelving, boxes, and a pallet truck that should be instantly familiar to anyone who has worked in retail. There’s always something charming about LEGO builds dedicated to the less glamorous aspects of city life and Domnique’s build certainly captures the satisfaction and grace that comes from a well-organized space. The shelves are especially delightful, tightly packed with a mix of colored tiles with a few recognizable micro builds like the Hogwarts Express, Disney Castle, and a botanicals bouquet. It’s nice to see the minifig employees finding joy as well in this adorably mundane vignette.
Tag Archives: LEGO Store
LEGO announces initiatives to support neurodivergent individuals in stores [News]
The LEGO Group has today announced that they will be implementing a series of measures to make life easier for autistic and neurodivergent children and adults in their brick-and-mortar stores. Work is being carried out with KultureCity, a charity whose aim is to facilitate the implementation of such measures. This is actually not the first time the two firms have worked together; the LEGO House, in Billund, Denmark, has already received KultureCity’s stamp of approval for sensory inclusivity. The aim is for all stores in the USA and Canada to get the same certification this April, with more locations worldwide to follow later in the year.
The LEGO Life Magazine will also receive some minor updates to make it more accessible for everyone. And the LEGO Foundation has also announced five new partners in their Play for All Accelerator program:
- Social Cipher: a video game platform focused on social and emotional learning for the neurodivergent.
- Kokoro Kids: A platform in Spanish, Portuguese, and English dedicated to using play for developing emotional skills early on in kids.
- Mom’s Belief: an Indian-based organization (the largest in the country) approaching the education of neurodivergent children in a holistic manner.
- onebillion: a software publisher dedicated to publishing reading and math resources designed to help those children in most need.
- Little Journey: Using technology to bring a sense of ease to families with children amid the healthcare process.
Read the LEGO Group’s press release on these initiatives after the bump
LEGO logo leak
Don’t you just hate it when you paint a pixel-perfect mural of the LEGO logo and then a work crew drops a bucket of refined coal tar across it? Douglas Hughes created this humorous scene of a corner LEGO shop, a hardware store, and the aftermath of an industrial chemical spill. It is truly impressive how well Douglas was able to make the black tiles look so fluid. Eagle-eyed viewers will note lots of fun details sprinkled around, like the green Simpsons Squishee cup sitting on the ledge.
LEGO Gift with Purchase 40528 LEGO Brand Retail Store – Take the whole store as a trophy [Review]
For ten years, LEGO has celebrated grand opening events with delightful models of LEGO brand stores for lucky customers with qualifying purchases. While the last few versions have been minifigure scale, the original from 2012 was a stylish microscale model. This year’s update seems to be celebrating the anniversary of this concept by revisiting the design of the original. Qualifying customers at new store celebrations will receive the 40528 LEGO Brand Retail Store as a gift with purchases over US $125 | UK £125. No word on the limit for our Canadian friends yet but this should be available for new store openings in select locations worldwide after January 1st, 2022. Still, this 402-piece modern design features a larger floor plan than its predecessor and plenty of sets to catch your eye within a tiny package. Let’s take a tour around the building, shall we?
The LEGO Group provided The Brothers Brick with an early copy of this set for review. Providing TBB with products for review guarantees neither coverage nor positive reviews.
LEGO Store on 5th Avenue New York City offers a brand-new feature: Brick Lab [News]
On June 24 2021, LEGO opened a new flagship store on 5th Avenue New York City. With 7,175 square feet (about 660 square meters) over two floors, the store offers a brand-new feature called Brick Lab, which turns physical LEGO builds into digital ones to become part of the interactive story. The experience is 20 minutes long, and fills the walls, floors and ceilings with animated interactive content which then the visitors can play in, using both physical and virtual builds. The LEGO Group aims to have this feature in 100 other flagship stores in the coming year.
Click to find out all the features of the store!
Your guide to the 113 new LEGO sets now available for August 2020 including the Nintendo NES, Grand Piano, Star Wars and more [News]
August has arrived and that means new LEGO sets! LEGO has launched 108 new sets and items available today. In addition to new sets like the Nintendo NES and Super Mario lineup, Ideas Grand Piano, Star Wars 501st Battle Pack and LEGO Art, fans in the US and Canada can finally celebrate the summer arrival of Harry Potter, Creator 3-in-1, City, and Ninjago waves that you’ve waited so patiently for. Nearly every LEGO theme has some new sets–it can be a lot to process!– so we have your complete guide right here detailing each and every new set and item. [EDIT: It appears that LEGO may have delayed the US & Canada release of some of these sets until September. We’ve asked for clarification.]
LEGO is also offering two free gifts-with-purchases at the start of August. The first is 30385 Super Mushroom Surprise, free with purchases of LEGO Super Mario sets more than US $40 through August 16th or while supplies last.
The second freebie is LEGO is also 40414 Monty Mole & Super Mushroom Expansion with in-store purchases of the 71360 Adventures with Mario Starter Course through August 9th or while supplies last.
See the entire August 2020 wave of new LEGO sets now available
Celebrate Christmas in July with a free LEGO mini-gingerbread house with purchase [News]
If you missed out on the 2019 holiday gift with purchase last year, have no fear–Christmas in July is here! 40337 Mini Gingerbread House set is a 499-piece microscale version of the 10267 Winter Village Gingerbread House and is available with any order of $100 or more in the US or Canada through 8:59pm PT on July 26th or while supplies last.
As always, clicking through the links in the article above helps The Brothers Brick continue to provide the quality LEGO content you’ve come to expect from us. Thanks for the support!
Your guide to the 130 new LEGO sets now available for June 2020 including the Technic Lamborghini and more [News]
Summer 2020 has arrived, and LEGO has launched 130 new sets and items available today. Fans of Technic, Creator 3-in-1, City, Friends, Architecture, Hidden Side and more have a lot to choose from. The new Technic Lamborghini is also available today as well as a slew of exclusive polybags not previously available from LEGO’s online store and a Hogwarts Students booster pack. Nearly every LEGO theme has some new sets–it can be a lot to process!– so we have your complete guide right here detailing each and every new set and item.
Because LEGO releases summer waves at different times across the globe, the majority of these sets are available now in the UK. You can see the complete list of all 130 sets and items after the jump. Sets with a Red Indicator are currently available in the US and Canada as well (61 in total). The Americas will get access to the rest of the sets later this summer.
LEGO is also offering a free gift-with-purchase of 40409 Hot Rod with purchases more than US $85 | CAN $85 | UK £85 through June 21st or while supplies last. You can check out our review of 40409 Hot Rod to see if you want to add it to your collection.
See the entire June 2020 wave of new LEGO sets now available
LEGO DOTS summer 2020 sets now available [News]
The second wave of LEGO DOTS products are now available. New sets include a bracelet mega pack with five bracelets and a “super rare” tile, picture frames, a desk organizer, a jewelry box, three individual bracelets, and the second expansion pack of “Extra Dots.” Prices vary from US $3.99 to $24.99.
Notable tiles scattered across the various products include new animals like a penguin and monkey, BFF hearts, new emojis, a “super rare” circle of hearts only included in the bracelet mega pack, food including pizza and popcorn, a pink version of the new gem element, and a classic space ship (almost as good as the one in our LEGO SPOTS April Fools joke).
Look at each new LEGO DOTS set now available.
LEGO Star Wars UCS A-wing Starfighter now available with other May the Fourth deals [News]
LEGO is kicking off Star Wars Day celebrations early ahead of May the Fourth by launching the 75275 A-wing Starfighter. In addition to the UCS A-wing becoming available, LEGO is offering 40407 Death Star II Battle as a free gift with Star Wars purchases more than US $75 | CAN $75 | UK £75 (available through May 4th or when supplies run out).
LEGO is also offering double VIP points on all Star Wars sets (like the new helmet series) and various deals on other Star Wars sets throughout the weekend. The new Star Wars sets join several other LEGO products that have recently become available including Wonder Woman vs. Cheetah and the buildable Minions (which both have 2x VIP points for the entire month of May).
Click to get a closer look at each new LEGO Star Wars set now available for purchase
76157 Wonder Woman vs. Cheetah now available from LEGO [News]
The newest LEGO DC Comics set 76157 Wonder Woman vs. Cheetah is now available from LEGO. The set comes with 371 pieces and includes three minifigures of Wonder Woman, Cheetah and Maxwell Lord. The set is currently available for US $39.99 | CAN $49.99 | UK £34.99 (with 2x VIP points for the month of May).
The Warner Bros. film Wonder Woman 1984 was originally slated for June 5th, though it has been delayed until August 14th because of the coronavirus. The Wonder Woman set is now available from LEGO along with the new Minions sets and Star Wars helmets.
Click to see more photos of the Wonder Woman LEGO set from our original product announcement.
Your guide to the 25 new LEGO sets for mid-April 2020, including Star Wars helmets and D-O [News]
Most of us are at home right now, but if you are in a position to fill your time with some LEGO building, there are 25 new sets and items to choose from for April–with six new sets as part of a mid-month wave. Notable sets launching today are the new Boba Fett, Stormtrooper and TIE Fighter Pilot helmets, the droid D-O from Rise of Skywalker, and Collectible Minifigure Series 20.
The new Star Wars sets and minifigures are in addition to several other new sets launched earlier this month on April 1st including the LEGO Ideas Pirates of Barracuda Bay and the Technic Fast & Furious Dodge Charger.
See the entire mid-April 2020 wave of new LEGO sets now available