I was in the Washington DC area this past weekend with my family and with some downtime decided to stop at a nearby mall (mainly for the air conditioning on a hot day). As it turns out this mall had one of my favorite stores in it. The LEGO® brand store in the Tysons Corner Center happened to be open while we were there so of course I hadto check it out. In walking around the mall it seemed that the bags you saw people carrying most were either Victoria's Secret or yellow with a red 2x4 brick on it. We followed the bags and ended up at the store. It was busy. Lots of kids all over the place building in the various free build areas and running around excited to see all the sets. A store worker was near the entrance to greet people. I'm not sure they appointed the right person as this worker was rather quiet and didn't give a smile. We got "have you been to a LEGO® store before?" and "your kid's outfit is cute." Great. Whatever. I wasn't there to chat with the employees.
The store seemed to be pretty well stocked with all of the different themes. I didn't inspect each and every one, but I didn't see holes on the shelves either. One of the items on display in the front of the store was the new Creator Expert - Big Ben #10253.
As my NLS (non-LEGO® Spouse) commented, it looked beautiful. I've seen the pictures and designer video, but seeing it up close and personal was pretty cool. They did an amazing job with the design. Here's the box on the shelf.
Another set that I finally got to see in person was the LEGO® Technic Porsche 911 GT3 RS (#42056). First off, it looks incredible and very sleek! Secondly, it is definitely a lot bigger than I expected. The picture I took is pretty bad because it's behind glass so you get a reflection and some of the paint on the window, but it's still an impressive model. The set was on the shelf, but the box was listed as "for display only." I didn't pick it up to see if it was just the box or the actual set. My guess is that if you wanted it you had to request it from the workers. I didn't ask to see if they had them in stock or if you had to order them.
Other things to note about the store... Collectible Minifigures Series 16 releases on 1 August 2016 (I believe), but they were on sale at the store. I saw at least one AFOL trying to feel through the bags to get the ones he was looking for. Also, it was a good mix of people buying different items. Lots of families with kids walking out with smaller bags including Angry Birds sets and Friends. We also saw someone walk out with a Tower Bridge (#10214).
Did I make a purchase? Yes! My NLS did let me or maybe I pressed ahead without asking before she could say no. Either way, I am a big fan of the Pick-a-Brick wall in the back of every LEGO® brand store that I have been in. They have 2 size cups that you can pick from and fill as you want. I picked the larger cup that cost $16.95 in Virginia after tax. They had a range of parts in different colors and sizes. I tend to stick to the smaller pieces so you can fit more in and I pick the colors that are not as prevalent. I have yet to open my container, but I was impressed that the store worker used packaging tape to make sure my container didn't explode so that was good (I'm sure it's from experience and having to clean up messes in the store). My cup is below:
My favorite by far is the sand green parts that were available. They had 1x1 bricks and 1x2 plates. That's not a common color that I tend to see often so I was glad to grab a few.
Update (August 9 2016):
2 pictures below of the bricks I picked up from the Pick-a-Brick Wall. I didn't merge them together, but hopefully you can see where the pictures match up. You'll notice I went for most of the smaller pieces to try and fit more pieces into the container. In the end I counted 753 pieces from the container. With the Virginia tax the final came out to be about $0.02 per piece. I can't complain about that.
My favorite by far is the sand green parts that were available. They had 1x1 bricks and 1x2 plates. That's not a common color that I tend to see often so I was glad to grab a few.
I called it a review so I should give my opinion. Should you go to this store? Or any LEGO® brand store? The selection is great and the additional benefits are useful such as the Pick-a-Brick wall and minifigure creation station. Plus you get store workers who understand LEGO® and can help you get sets you don't have if they aren't in stock. They also have some of the harder to find sets that aren't typically in your average retail store. Finally you can get and use VIP points for your purchases. The downsides... you don't get the discounts that you can find at places like Target, Walmart, or Amazon.com. Everything is at the full retail price. So should you go, I recommend going if you're looking for a harder to find set or price is not your main driver. The Pick-a-Brick wall is useful if you stack the cup right too. It's a fairly decent way to get pieces. Once I open up the cup I purchased, I'll give an update to this post with the number of pieces I got and the different types.
Do I wish I had a LEGO® brand store closer? Yes! Maybe it's better that I don't when it comes to my credit card bill. What are your thoughts of the LEGO® brand stores?