LEGO Brand Store Visit - Tysons Corner, VA

I’ve been to this LEGO brand store before back in 2016 and ended up stopping by again 8 years later. I visited on a Friday afternoon and it was pretty busy with lots of families and adults alike. They were pretty well stocked with just about everything, but the majority of the stuff was at full price except for a few discounted Dreamzzz sets.

The front of the store had a few large scale minifigures from the Dreamzzz line shown here. They also had a large shark minifigure, but I couldn’t get a picture because there were either shoppers or workers in front the whole time.

All the large figures had a sign next to them with the total number of pieces used, it’s weight, and the amount of time that it took to build the large figure.

I was excited to see the new Technic McLaren P1. I hope to own it some day, but I’ll wait for a sale or enough Insider points to get it cheaper than the $450 retail price (before sales tax).

The store had a few new sets on display which were built to include #10368-1: Chrysanthemum and #10369-1: Plum Blossom from the Botanical subtheme as well as #10337-1: Lamborghini Countach 5000 Quattrovalvole (another set I hope to own if I can find it at a discount).

One Easter Egg from the store… they had #75371-1: Chewbacca™ holding one of the roses from the botanical theme. If you look closely, you’ll notice the minifigure version is holding a small bunch of red flowers too.

I wanted to try out the Pick and Build wall with the new boxes. The pricing was $9.99 for the smaller box and then $17.99 for the larger box. The taxes were pretty awful as well so it probably wasn’t worth it, but my kids and I had fun filling the boxes. Definitely can’t fit as much in them as you could in one of the cups, which was a disappointment. The store had a pretty good selection of parts though to include a lot of gold colored pieces. The theme they were running was to build a race car. They had wheels, steering wheels, some windscreens, and other parts you could use to build a car.

Here is the “Large” box. It was slightly overfilled as I did my best to stuff in as much as I could (unlike the lady next to me who stole a part by putting it in her pocket and then pulling out a tissue like she was putting her hand in her pocket to get a tissue… yeah I saw you!). The store worker didn’t seem to mind that my box was stuffed. He put a sticker on it to keep it closed and off we went after paying (and not stealing). My kiddos got boxes as well and we failed to label them before leaving he store. We figured it out later on though pretty easily.

Here is the full stash. I went for mostly small pieces, but I threw in a few larger bricks and plates. Lots of flower pieces including some of the larger ones. Also some clear windows and lamp posts. If I lived closer and was working on a particular build, it would have been good to stop with a list of items I was looking for. I don’t live near an official brand store so it was fun to stop by one and pick out some stuff. We’ll see when I visit another one. In the meantime, happy building!

Store Review - Brick Heads - Middletown, PA

I recently had the opportunity to stop by Brick Heads in Middletown, PA. Brick Heads has two stores in PA. one in Middletown (near Harrisburg) and the other in Lancaster, PA. The store sells retired sets, minifigures, bulk parts, and some LEGO like products such as LEGO compatible base plates. It is somewhat similar to Bricks & Minifigures except it’s not associated with that company and they do not sell any of the currently available sets new in box.

The store had a bunch of sealed old sets, sets that were used, but certified, and sets in the original box, but opened. It was a good walk down memory lane to see some of the Pirates of the Caribbean sets, the old Indiana Jones sets, and a whole bunch of Star Wars.

Lots of the old pirates and castle sets as well. It was cool to see one of the old ships.

Saw a few sets that I have, but not in the box. I have #3221-1: LEGO Truck, but not in the sealed box. Wow! Also, #6989-1: Mega Core Magnatizer is one of my favorite sets of all time. I have the pieces somewhere and should probably re-assemble it at some point. It was cool to see the box although this one was opened.

A new in box Taj Majal next to an Atlantis themed set. They also had a decent number of modular buildings too. Some new in box, some assembled, and some as certified sets.

And of course, don’t forget the minifigures. They had some of the rarer and more expensive Star Wars minifigures to just a few older ones like some space minifigures.

They had a bunch of cases to include this Star Wars case for your army building needs, a Marvel case, and a few others.

The store had these fun shelves with minifigures on them and the price was based on which shelf it was on. There were hundreds of these and kids definitely enjoyed looking at them all. They even had a Friends mini-doll wall.

I didn’t get a picture of it, but they had a build-a-minifigure area too where for a set price, you could pick out hair, a head, a torso, legs, and an accessory for the minifigure you built.

I always enjoy these stores for the bulk tables. Brick Heads had a pretty extensive table filled with parts. They have the old LEGO Store Pick-a-Brick cups. You take your full cup to the counter and they dump it into a bag. If you get two cups, you get a dollar off each which is what I did while I was there. I found some good pieces to include some minifigure accessories, minifigure parts, and a bunch of the colors I was looking for to finish future builds.

If you are looking for specific colors, they have sorted bins by color for a slightly higher price. I recall seeing yellow, red, blue, and dark gray. Next time, I’ll take a picture so I can remember all they have. .

You could also buy a plastic tote with unsorted bricks for a set price. I didn’t pick one up to see how much was in it, but it could be an opportunity if you want a bunch of random bricks.

I went on a Saturday afternoon and there was a steady flow of customers going through. It was a good mix of AFOLs and kids with parents. The staff seemed friendly and helped folks out trying to figure out what to get when needed. I don’t have price comparisons between this store and other reseller type stores, but they are usually regional so you save funds by shopping local. Regardless of the price per brick, typically the bulk tables in these stores are a good deal if you don’t mind used pieces to finish off a MOC. Check them out if you’re in the south central PA area. I’ll definitely be back.

Happy building!