Arizona\'s First Lego Store Opens in Chandler

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Jun. 26--The Lego Store grand opening
What: A Lego master builder will give out Lego prizes and constructan 8-foot-tall Lego R2-D2. Where: On the second floor of ChandlerFashion Center, 3111 W. Chandler Blvd. R2-D2 will be built on thefirst floor, outside Sears. When: The master builder will work 11a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6p.m. Sunday. Store hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday throughSaturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. Cost: Free Information: (480)899-0228 or www.lego.com/legostores
The East Valley keeps landing more and more high-profile retailchains: Barneys New York is coming to Scottsdale in 2009, as isH&M. But how can you tell we've really arrived? We now have thestate's first Lego store.
The Lego Store opened a couple of weeks ago on the second floor ofChandler Fashion Center and sells a variety of Lego sets -- bothones that you could find at other stores and others previously onlyavailable in this area if ordered online -- as well as individualLego bricks and sundry items like Lego salt and pepper shakers andLego key chains. To celebrate the grand opening, this weekendChandler Fashion Center will host Lego-themed events like triviacontests, games, meet a "master builder" and help construct an8-foot-tall Lego version of "Star Wars" droid R2-D2.
To help get you into the brickbuilding mood, here are some Legofacts and figures.
Summer blockbusters love Lego: The Lego Group holds lots ofhighprofile licenses, like "Star Wars" and "SpongeBob SquarePants."This year they released sets based on three summer movies: "SpeedRacer," "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" andthe upcoming Batman sequel, "The Dark Knight." Disappointingly, no"Sex and the City" Lego sets yet exist.
Adults love Lego: Obviously, many children enjoy building Legosets, often starting with the big bricks of the preschool-aimedDuplo line. But much like many other pursuits once considered onlyfor kids (comic books, action figures, baseball cards, cartoons,etc.), there are plenty of adult Lego fans -- and plenty of coolsets aimed at them. The Lego Store boasts the "Ultimate Collector'sMillennium Falcon," suggested for ages 16 and up. (That's right,15-yearolds. Build this at your own risk!) It's a staggering 5,195pieces and available for $499.99.
Also aimed at adult collectors are town sets like "Green Grocer"($149.99) and "Cafe Corner" ($139.99), which, when assembled,resemble charming European city scenes -- with Lego people. Girlslove Lego? One of the great things about Lego is that the toys areessentially unisex and can be enjoyed by either gender. Apparentlynot unisex enough, though, since the company introduced the"Belville" collection in 1994. Though hard to find in your averageTarget or Wal-Mart, the Lego Store has plenty of thefemale-focused, predominantly pink and purple sets with names like"The Blossom Fairy," "Royal Summer Palace" and "Sunshine Home."Reinforcing gender roles, brick by brick!
Artists love Lego: The Lego sets that come with detailedinstructions on how to make the tiny bricks into something coolaren't creative enough for some people, who instead make their owncreations, which are often really neat. Check out Web siteswww.mocpages.com or www.brickshelf.com (or just poke around onGoogle, there's a lot out there) for such homemade Lego creationslike a meticulously detailed Wrigley Field or "the Pathfinder," aLego spaceship with several complete rooms, escape pods and more.
Lego does not love "Legos": "I bought my kid some Legos for hisbirthday." "Pick up your Legos." All sound like perfectlyacceptable sentences, right? Not for the Lego Group, which believesthe term "Legos" leads to trademark dilution -- you know, the kindthat turns every digital video recorder into a TiVo or every shredof facial tissue into a Kleenex. There are a lot of similarproducts out there, after all (Mega Bloks, which Lego has sued,being the most notable). To avoid such dilution, the company wants"Lego" to only be used as an adjective, preceding terms like "Legoset" or "Lego bricks."
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