Random set of the day: Grand Emporium
Posted by Huwbot,
Today's random set is 10211 Grand Emporium, released during 2010. It's one of 6 Advanced models sets produced that year. It contains 2182 pieces and 7 minifigs, and its retail price was US$149.99/£132.99.
It's owned by 19,871 Brickset members. If you want to add it to your collection you might find it for sale at BrickLink or eBay.
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52 comments on this article
One of the few sets I'm looking to sell! I personally think it's a bland, repetitive design, and the inside is weirdly barren-feeling. Doesn't help that the other designer buildings are so stellar!
Ahhh, my first modular! I bought this sucker back in January 2011 with 6 months' worth of saved up full-time job earnings along with the 2010 edition of the Clone Turbo Tank. Since I was living in a hotel for job training at the time, I kept it under my bed until I got a chance to drive home and stash it in my closet with the rest of my LEGO horde.
I finally built this set a couple of months ago! Sadly, it was not the first modular building I built (that honor goes to Downtown Diner), so I could tell how primitive it was by comparison. Regardless, I loved how big and imposing the finished structure was next to the Diner and even the Pet Shop. Minor concerns revolved around the loosely-fitted floor and roof sections (not a single stud held them together) and a bit of sparseness on the main floor. A major disappointment was finding out all of the 1x1 dark red tiles cracked in half as soon as I placed them on another brick or plate. Thankfully, I've got replacements inbound, but it makes me scared to open up my 10197 Fire Brigade.
Nonetheless, I still love the final result and it lives up to the hype I had for it back in 2010 and 2011. The revolving door is genius and the chandelier inside the building is so stunning. I admire it frequently. With the funny billboard on top of the roof, it is the tallest structure in my LEGO Town so far. Very glad I finally built it!
I will never get tired of making Chase McCain swing trapeze-style on the flagpoles.
One of the guys in my club duplicated the billboard with Benny, and I think a Classic Space logo (the design may have come from someone else). And I think there was a year when Brickworld Chicago tried to get everyone to bring in their middle floor so they could take four of these backed up against each other and make a huge tower.
This gives very "Shops behind the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade" vibes.
This is one of my "I wish I was still into Lego back then" Sets.
One of my favourite modulars, bought 2nd hand for £190 in 2018, so before prices started getting too silly.
It came fully built when I bought it, so I've never actually assembled it. I have however dismantled and washed it!
One of my 4 modulars. Honestly, it's probably my least favorite of the four. It's still nostalgic though.
Holy crap a lot of us have this!
I like it because it’s a corner building.
@sir_vasco said:
"One of the few sets I'm looking to sell! I personally think it's a bland, repetitive design, and the inside is weirdly barren-feeling. Doesn't help that the other designer buildings are so stellar!"
Agreed, sadly. I’ve tried to spruce mine up by adding 3661 in front of one of the sides (and by tiling the first floor)… I realize that’s not in the spirit of the Harrod’s-esque design, but it makes it much less repetitive. It still feels… lacking, though. I’ll also never get over only having one escalator between each floor… are they reversible, or something?
I want to love this set, and it does so many almost-impressive things, but it’s just never hit all the way home for me.
@MeisterDad said:
"I will never get tired of making Chase McCain swing trapeze-style on the flagpoles."
He did it all the time in all the games and it was always fun to do. I just wish we would get it again since Traveler's Tales is not doing Lego anymore.
My first, and one of my favorite modulars.
Nice--I love it when the obscure little forgotten themes get some attention, good pick.
My first modular and I was hooked.
@ozbrickcreator said:
" @MeisterDad said:
"I will never get tired of making Chase McCain swing trapeze-style on the flagpoles."
He did it all the time in all the games and it was always fun to do. I just wish we would get it again since Traveler's Tales is not doing Lego anymore."
Wait, they're not? The Skywalker Saga was the last one?
@ra226 said:
"Nice--I love it when the obscure little forgotten themes get some attention, good pick."
Yes, it would be great if they bought the theme back.... l think it could be quite popular....
CONSUUUUUME!!!
This modular looks a little bland both inside and outside but all cities have that kind of building. I like it because this set looks like the perfect filler building. Although I don’t like how this set doesn’t use studs to attach the floors, just tiles and protruding tiles to hold it in. Apparently it wasn’t popular since they reverted in the Pet Shop a year later.
I bought 3. I doubled the width and made it another story higher. It also gave me an up and down escalator. https://brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=5528704
This was my favorite early modular. The exterior was interesting without being florid. The colors were nice. The chandelier was a great interior detail in an era where the interiors were still sparse.
Oooh the first big set (over 1000 pieces) from my collection... It was given as a present by my father's former boss since I helped his son building some sets (most of the early Ninjago sets, 10188, 8097, 8098, 10189, 8037 and 10225 from what I recall). Otherwise I would never own that set since my family could not afford it back then.
The set remained as the largest in my collection until 2021 when I got 71741 and now it is the fourth largest of my collection (10305 and 42115 surpassed it). Great memories.
Looks pretty grand, and one of my picks for the most underrated in the series. I will get it one day.
I don't collect Modulars but they are certainly beautiful to look at. This one is also good looking from the outside but as many have mentioned, seems to lack necessary interior. Then again, this is Lego we're talking about, you can always accessorize it yourself. I used to keep my sets built as per instructions. After joining a LUG, my take on Lego has changed. Now I modify my sets as I see fit. Like the Captain's Cabin in 6285. Before there was only a treasure chest in the cabin, but then I managed to turn it into a more colorful one https://brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=585289. So, it's in your hands really.
I have yet to get a 'modular'...'Price' is partial an issue, lack of space/lack of 'a space' (as in I don't a spot to build even a modest set-up/city), and...well, many I don't find 'fit'; as they look like they're set somewhere between the 50's-70's (give/take)...although that "Brick Bank" set...and even those Ninjago ones...one day, I may have to 'crack'...:)
With all the unique faces that get featured in modular sets (and City in general) these days it is slightly unnerving seeing all those generic, identical smily faces staring out at me
@Randomness said:
" @ozbrickcreator said:
" @MeisterDad said:
"I will never get tired of making Chase McCain swing trapeze-style on the flagpoles."
He did it all the time in all the games and it was always fun to do. I just wish we would get it again since Traveler's Tales is not doing Lego anymore."
Wait, they're not? The Skywalker Saga was the last one?"
Rumour has it that there is still one more coming, but they have confirmed that they are no longer willing to create any more games with lego.
If Skywalker Saga was the last one, what a finale it is! Great game, and I hope TT games will live to make games with Lego another day!
Even if the interior is sparse (hey, at least it has some detail in there, the very first Modulars didn't have any!), I'd still like to have this one, as I'd love to have one of the corner Modulars, and that billboard is cool..
@Brickalili: Yeah, if and when I get 10246 out of storage, its figures are going to look weird next to the ones from my other Modular Buildings, 10270 and 10312.
I have enough parts in my collection to build this (according to Rebrickable). But I won't as I don't find it very appealing. It's a fine city building, but too boring of a build, especially by today's lego standards.
Ha! Just submitted the last missing bricks of this set to the LDraw Parts Library the other day:
Minifig Cape Cloth (Formed Curtain)
https://library.ldraw.org/tracker/30025
Minifig Torso with Female Pirate Corset and Light Blue Ribbon Pattern
https://library.ldraw.org/tracker/30712
Slope Brick 65 2 x 2 x 2 with Robe, Belted Gown and Gold Chain Pattern
https://library.ldraw.org/tracker/30713
Now you're able to rebuild the Grand Emporium digitally with all 2182 pieces present in the library.
Many people are saying how oldschool this building compare to the much more modern ones, which is true however this is a shopping mall not flat or a restaurant. As shopping mall it is a great addition to every cities, and the interioir is just fine. You got a full sized building back in the time at least, which you can not tell about the last 3-4 buildings...
I’m surprised people are so down on the exterior of this one. I still think it looks great. The interior is sparse (and the single escalator is weird) but arguably cheaper to deal with than the cinema.
Just reminds me of a House of Fraser here in the UK, not a good thing ahaha.
I got this Christmas 2013, first modular and at the time loved it, loved changing the arrangement of the letters at the front, I think it went a few years having POSH and now it says HOPS. The interior of this set lacks a lot, I think had it been released after 2014 then it would have defo got a more detailed packed interior with more stock and shelving and even store decoration.
One thing I do love though is the billboard and the overall exterior design, its simple but effective for a commercial building, defo gives a Harrods vibe, though a little less grand mind you.
@ozbrickcreator
“No longer willing” sounds ominous, like there’s been a falling out. That actually their wording or just the source’s way of putting it?
Good old modular...
Bought it second hand with incomplete interior. Still doesn't own the yellow ball from the toy corner. Ridiculous part, I think most people wouldn't recognize that it's a lego part. So low offer . Maybe sometimes I get it after 3 years on wish list
Wow! I love all of you. Great stories. Happy Easter!
Now! This is podracing... oops, I mean Brickset.
Excellent looking set. Wouldn't want to miss it in my modular collection. :-)
This was my first modular purchase. It felt so decadent to spend $150 on a toy for myself. I even thought if I build it and get bored with it, I could turn around and resell it without too much loss. That was 12 years ago and I have purchased each modular that came after it and have never sold any of them.
This was my first modular. I purchased it at the same time as the firehouse. I prefer it a lot over the firehouse since it has 3 floors vs 2. I have purchases every modular since (except for the town square) and looking at it now, I still think it is the best looking one from the outside. I sure do miss the days when everything was brick built and there were no stickers or giant prints. The sign billboard here looks so much more charming than the "soap and suds" sign on the side of the police station.
I am up to 5 Modular buildings now. I would love this one, just for the escalators!
There was/is a good discussion over in the Brickset forum, which in turn inspired me to have a go at designing and building a couple of my own using smaller sets as a starting point.
This is the shop from Hell. You can go up the escalator, but there is no return. literally, there is no way back down. You're stuck up there forever, doomed to be in the perfume dept. for eternity. Also, they play Christmas music on loop ALL YEAR ROUND!
Too many of the modulars are corners so I am rebuilding a second-hand copy as a linear design with no back. Why no back? Because my granddaughters love being able to see inside and re-arrange the figures and make up stories about them.
@Murdoch17 said:
"This is the shop from Hell. You can go up the escalator, but there is no return. literally, there is no way back down."
Out the window and down on the window cleaning platform, thus bypassing the tills in the process! Thieving bunch in Legoland, hence so many police stations.
You can't see it in this picture, but this set comes with a little mosaic billboard of a minifig head to place on top and I always thought that was really cute
Same as 10224 Town hall, I gave up on owning this set as it was already very expensive - even second hand - by the time I started collecting the modular buildings.
Fast forward to July 2020, and I managed to buy - at a *very* reasonable price - one each of 10224 Town Hall, 10211 Grand Emporium, and 10197 Fire Brigade, including their instructions and boxes from someone that were selling their entire collection.
Having built the set, I must admit that it isn't as detailed on the inside as one would have hoped for, but that façade makes up for that! It really is one of my favorite modulars.
This is one of 3 moduars I do not have, and I started with Cafe Corner, Market Street, and the Green Grocer, so I should DEFINITELY have this, the fire station and the cinema, but I was an idiot and put it off and out it off, and now I am out of luck. I was living in rural Korea 4 years ago, and a guy was selling a brand new, sealed Pet Shop for 170,000 won (Approx $180 CDN, so about its MSRP... Things in South Korea tend to be priced pretty similarly to Canada), so I jumped don that of course. Lesson learned: ALWAYS PICK UP A MODULAR, even though the two Lego stores in my city are in suburbs way across town from the North end of Vancouver and are annoying to get to.
@Brickalili said:
" @ozbrickcreator
“No longer willing” sounds ominous, like there’s been a falling out. That actually their wording or just the source’s way of putting it?"
Put it into google!
LEGO reportedly ending agreement with TT Games following recent allegations
The LEGO Group is reportedly ending its exclusivity agreement with developer TT Games following allegations of poor working conditions at the studio. Back in January, Polygon quoted multiple current and former employees at TT Games in a devastating report on the company’s alleged ‘crunch culture’, referring to expectations from management for staff to work longer hours to finish a project. One employee described it as ‘soft-spoken blackmail’, while another noted that the crunch was ‘premeditated’.
I've collected and built all the modulars. I like this one better than most, and I don't agree with the criticism that is looks primitive. It looks imposing, and the escalators and chandelier are awesome. Interior details are great when you build it , but who ever looks at them again once it's built and in your city. The newer modulars are small by comparison, and seem to be getting smaller year over year.
@ozbrickcreator:
What you've just described is the entire video game industry. If not TT Games, then who?
@sir_vasco said:
"One of the few sets I'm looking to sell! I personally think it's a bland, repetitive design, and the inside is weirdly barren-feeling. Doesn't help that the other designer buildings are so stellar!"
The upper two floors are a bit barren. Which wasn’t uncommon in the early Modulars. But they are astonishingly easy to flesh out and fill up just using those various mini builds and toys from the City Advent Calendar’s. It’s also one that I find whenever I take it down for its period ing dusting I add more and more of whatever new minifig accessories have appeared to its shelves. Hats. Umbrella’s etc.
This one and the Town Hall left you quite a bit of room to add things, without having to do any major redesign. None of the newer ones really do that.
@Faefrost:
Another option would be to put a real estate agent showing a potential tenant around.
@Faefrost said:
"This one and the Town Hall left you quite a bit of room to add things, without having to do any major redesign. None of the newer ones really do that. "
A bit like the current 10317 in reverse, where people would like it to be available with or without all of the accessories!