LEGO Store New York City – Spring 2011

Couldn’t help but make a quick trip to the LEGO Rockefeller Center Store when I was (merely) 20 blocks away. Here’s a tour:

The main entrance of the store:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center New York City

The side entrance at street level:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center New York City

A view out to Rockefeller Center:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center New York City

As usual, incredibly crowded, especially in the Star Wars section, where they also put the Pirates of the Caribbean, the LEGO Store New York Exclusive Items, Technic, and some computers for little kids. They really shove a lot in this corner:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center New York City

The new Alien Conquest sets and Ninjago taking up a smaller spot than I would have imagined:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center New York City

Series 3 and 4 collectible minifigures and other assorted items:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center New York City

Some exclusive items to this store:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center New York City

More New York items:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center New York City

Pirates:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center New York City

These kids were checking out the Death Star:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center New York City

Feeling the series 3 packages, looking for certain minifigs:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center New York City

The new Kingdoms sets, and Harry Potter:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center New York City

A sea of blue boxes! LEGO City:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center New York City

Emerald Night is still in stock, and you can see the new Pet Shop on the right:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center New York City

More LEGO City:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center New York City

I haven’t seen these before, magnets from the new Police Station:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center New York City

LEGO Creator:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center New York City

A view of the Pick-a-Brick wall:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center New York City

One of the sculptures overhead:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center New York City

The big Rockefeller Center sculpture:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center New York City

A LEGO Store employee wondering why I am taking all these photos:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center New York City

A view by the register:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center New York City

An obligatory Duplo photo:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center New York City

New LEGO Cars 2 sets:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center New York City

Lots of brown bricks on the Pick-a-Brick wall:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center New York City

More brown:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center New York City

The white horses were a surprise:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center New York City

The weirdest element I have ever seen on a Pick-a-Brick wall:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center New York City

Some tall white pieces:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center New York City

These seem to be pretty popular:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center New York City

Black inverted slopes:”
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center New York City

Even more brown:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center New York City

Long black bricks:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center New York City

Window elements:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center New York City

Dark gray 1×1’s – another popular item:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center New York City

More brown:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center New York City

More dark gray:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center New York City

The build a minifig station:
LEGO Store Rockefeller Center New York City

All in all, a great selection!

A Trip to the LEGO Store for Summer 2011 Sets

I stopped by my local LEGO Store for the first time in months, and was able to check out all the new sets they have released, plus see what was on the pick-a-brick wall. Of course, I snapped photos the entire time so I could give you a guided tour. Let’s get started:

The new Pet Shop modular building is displayed in the front window:
LEGO Pet Shop

A closeup of the buildings. Really liking how the two smaller buildings look side by side. Also: a TON of sand blue in this build.
LEGO Pet Shop

The back of the Pet Shop:
LEGO Pet Shop

The roof of the Pet Shop:
LEGO Pet Shop

They also had the Maersk Train displayed in the window, and the Death Star. I was surprised they chose this set – not sure how many kids are looking for the Maersk Train:
LEGO Maersk Train

Stepping inside we see the box for the Pet Shop:
LEGO Pet Shop

Along with the other large LEGO sets:
LEGO Pet Shop

The Maersk Train on the shelf:
LEGO Maersk Train

The new LEGO City Harbor set:
LEGO Harbor

The space shuttle and other new space sets:
LEGO Space Shuttle

The incredible looking Kingdoms Mill Village Raid:
LEGO Kingdoms Mill Village Raid

A stack of LEGO Cars 2 sets:
LEGO Cars 2

The new Creator Lighthouse:
LEGO Creator Lighthouse

I was surprised Alien Quest didn’t have a bigger presence in the store. It seemed kind of shoved in the corner:
LEGO Alien Quest

More Alien Quest:
LEGO Alien Quest

The LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean sets were prominently displayed just as you walk into the store. Here they are on the shelf:
LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean

More pirates:
LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean

This is the emptiest I have ever seen the store. Only two customers came in during the time I was there. Each bought something, one of the sales was Ninjago, which seems to still be really popular:
LEGO Store

Okay, let’s check out the Pick a Brick wall:
LEGO Store Pick a Brick Wall

Getting closer:
LEGO Store Pick a Brick Wall

I was surprised to see dark red 2 x 4 bricks. Unless these are reddish brown?
LEGO Store Pick a Brick Wall

They also had other dark red pieces:
LEGO Store Pick a Brick Wall

Dark blue roof corners:
LEGO Store Pick a Brick Wall

Little dark gray pieces:
LEGO Store Pick a Brick Wall

I can’t remember if these windows have been here before:
LEGO Store Pick a Brick Wall

Tan slopes:
LEGO Store Pick a Brick Wall

Other tan bricks (these are new to the wall):
LEGO Store Pick a Brick Wall

White slopes:
LEGO Store Pick a Brick Wall

Overall, I was impressed at some of the new items on the Pick a Brick wall, and really enjoyed seeing all the new sets in stock. Also had a nice conversation with one of the LEGO Store employees.

LEGO 2011 Sets at Toys R Us and Target

Finally made a trip out to my local Toys R Us and Target to check out there stock of the new LEGO 2011 sets. Toys R Us had a full lineup of them.

I absolutely love the new Kingdoms sets, which are very similar to the Medieval Market Village. I do have to wonder how many barns & windmills they will sell compared to the more castle-themed sets. Toys R Us had these, and many of the newer sets displayed in the front of the store:
LEGO 2011 sets at Toys R Us

Some of the new city sets, including the Harbor. I have the original this is based from, which came out in the late 1980’s, I believe.
LEGO 2011 sets at Toys R Us

A closer look at the Marina:
LEGO 2011 sets at Toys R Us

The Space Center seems like a scaled-down version of the shuttle sets I remember buying in the 1990’s. Not a fan of those huge molded plastic pieces used to makeup the rocket here:
LEGO 2011 sets at Toys R Us

Ah, Alien Conquest. These sets simply look incredible. The headquarters truck looks huge, there is something so retro about all of this. Somehow a combination of 1950’s alien theme, and 1970’s LEGO space colors and styling. I don’t usually pick up the LEGO space stuff, but I will likely make an exception here:
LEGO 2011 sets at Toys R Us

Ninjago continues to sell:
LEGO 2011 sets at Toys R Us

Collectible Minifigures Series 4 were plentifulL
LEGO 2011 sets at Toys R Us

Tons of train stuff. LEGO seems to really be embracing this – there are so many train sets in their current lineup, including this station:
LEGO 2011 sets at Toys R Us

The Public Transport set is destined to be a classic. Something about it is very Playmobil, there is a lot of realism to it:
LEGO 2011 sets at Toys R Us

The larger Atlantis set is really nice:
LEGO 2011 sets at Toys R Us

The Creator Lighthouse just hit stores.
LEGO 2011 sets at Toys R Us

Creator Log Cabin:
LEGO 2011 sets at Toys R Us

Pharoah’s Quest:
LEGO 2011 sets at Toys R Us

LEGO Harry Potter is back in stock after the holidays wiped out most stores. And of course, Pirates of the Caribbean is now in stock. These are some nice sets, and LEGO put a huge focus on creating tons of original minifigures for them:
LEGO 2011 sets at Toys R Us

I can’t believe Prince of Persia is still on the shelves. Who is buying these at full retail?
LEGO 2011 sets at Toys R Us

More Pirates:
LEGO 2011 sets at Toys R Us

A pretty good sale on the At-At, I believe it’s $89.99 and the sale runs for nearly a month:
LEGO 2011 sets at Toys R Us

Funny to see Series 3 Collectible Minifigures still plentiful, even as Series 4 are on the shelves, and photos of Series 5 are all over the web.
LEGO 2011 sets at Toys R Us

Okay, moving over the Target – they had an end-cap display of Pirates of the Caribbean:
LEGO 2011 sets at Toys R Us

More Pirates:
LEGO 2011 sets at Toys R Us

But very few other new sets. LEGO has an entire aisle on both sides at Target, so I was surprised to not see any new Alien Quest, Kingdoms, City, etc.
LEGO 2011 sets at Toys R Us