This set was my first modular building. In 2011, I found one on eBay which was an unwanted Christmas present and I got it for just £90. It arrived and the box was in relatively bad shape; crumpled, crushed and a bit ripped; but I couldn't complain because I got it for nearly £50 less than the original retail price.

I began building the first floor and I love it; I'd never built anything like this before. I had previously been restricted to City and Creator but now I had found my deep love for complicated sets. The first floor was very detailed: changing rooms, fully-fledged till, ice cream cart, even an escalator!

I opened up the bags for the second floor and the construction went a bit... strange. The way it slotted onto the bottom layer when it was finished was weird and it was able to slide around somewhat. I don't know, maybe I'd built it wrong. It wasn't too bad but I expected it to work a bit better. I still really like the details on the second floor and now I was ready to make up the third floor.

I laid out all of the pieces and began putting it together. The exterior was very much the same as the previous floor but the interior was quite different and the chandelier was beautiful, even though it took a few tries to complete properly. The roof was very finicky and was very hard to build. It wouldn't stay put and flexed inwards. I was quite disappointed with the roof because it was extremely fragile.

I do love this set; it's what introduced me to the modular buildings line and it's one of my favorite buildings. It's the only department store building from LEGO I know of and it would be hard to beat it.

Pros:

• Good detail
• Realistic colour scheme
• Attractive design

Cons:

• Fragile in places
• Fiddly build
• Becoming harder to find

Conclusion:

So, should you buy this set? Well, I think that the only thing stopping you is the price tag. It's around £250 BNIB now and will definitely go up in price very soon. If you want this set, buy it now because it is just following in the footsteps of Cafe Corner, Market Street, Green Grocer and Fire Brigade in terms of its pricing lifespan. Whilst it's certainly not the best LEGO set, it's high up on my favourites for all of the reasons I've explained.

8/10