Double digit reviews already? I have a large backlog to catch up on, so I'll be at this for a while. Every city needs buildings and I finally had the chance to add 10211-1: Grand Emporium to New Legorleans. I won't have a teaser here: get this set.

Minifigures: As always with these Creator Expert sets, the minifigures are not the best. All very common parts and the standard smiley face. That said, the bride mannequin is really nice, with the wedge piece simulating the dress and train is very intricate and detailed. As an aside, I think a trans clear head for the bride and groom figures would've been better than turning the yellow head around to the back. Sorta creepy to think about, maybe it's the Maitlans from Beetlejuice? Any way, enough with the figures.

Build: Bottom line, it was great. The blue and white inlay on the sidewalk just pops. The green half domes as awnings contrasted with the white window edges, agin just pops visually. The use of two black capes as a changing area screen was really nice touch and clever use of pieces for something new. The 3rd floor chandlier was nice as well and you can see how it inspired the Bank Bank version. I really love the window washer's scaffold and the rooftop billboard. They're ways to give life and variety to areas that can be forgotten. While the builds for the second and third floors are virtually the same, they don't feel repetitive.

That said, the four edifices on the first level are a tough slog. Very boring to stack the same pieces over and over again. The same for the two stairs/escalators. Not a fun part. The back of the building is a tiny cutout and totally forgettable. Also, there's no tiling in the interior. I usually add that to make the interior seem more real than the mere baseplate color.

It's an open set that simply rests on each level. The 1x4 tile with studs on each end wasn't used yet, so it can feel a little unstable when handling the levels. Just be careful and it's not a problem.

With that said, this is a jewel of a set. I wanted for a while and snagged a good price for it. However, it's tough to find this set at a reasonable price now. If you can get this, grab it.

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

If you wondering whether or not to buy this set, I hope that my review can be of assistance to you!

Box/Instructions

The box is very big for this set, as are all LEGO boxes for products over $100, and it is probably oversized for looks to make people buy it. The instructions are fairly easy to follow, and consist of 3 instruction packets.

Parts

This set has a very wide variety of parts. From the flowers out in front of the store to the giant "glass" skylight on the roof it sure seems like this set has it all. Even inside the store there is merchandise such as wine glasses and some toys.

Minifigures

This set includes 6 mini figures:

- A female worker

- A female shopper

- A male shopper (That appears to have no pants on in the changing room!)

- A male kid

- A bride display

- A groom display

This set has a pretty good variety of mini figs that increase the playability of the finished set.

The build

Be prepared to work a while on this one. It usually takes me only one or two hours to complete a "hard" LEGO set so I thought maybe this set would take 4 or 5 hours to complete. Boy was I wrong. The detailing in this set was amazing, but in turn it took me three days to complete this set. (Working about 3 to 4 hours a day.) Alas, it was well worth the finished product.

The completed model

The completed model reminds me of a corner shop in New York City. It is amazing to look at on the outside, and just as intricate with detail on the inside. With cool details such as escalators and a chandelier just below the skylight, this building is really complete with no loose ends to make you ask, "What in the world did they include this for?"

Overall opinion

Overall, this set captures exactly what it's name suggests. It certainly is grand, and simply calling it a store doesn't do it justice; it is an emporium. You get a lot for you money with this set in my opinion. I believe my money was well spent!

Ever since modular buildings started releasing 5 years ago, I have always watched in amazement at the level of detail put into each one, which has never been done before (2008) in the history of Lego. As much as I wanted to have a modular building or two in my city, they were mighty expensive and were quite large in size (my city takes up approximately 1 m x 1.2 m, compare that to 32x32 baseplates which take up 0.25 m x 0.25 m). However, I was fortunate enough to receive 10211 Grand Emporium as a birthday gift, and was very happy that I did.

Being the largest set I own to date, the build was not at all that challenging. It took me 7 hours, and some parts were extremely repetitive which made it painstaking (but not difficult) to build...

...But the final result is stunning. The combination of grey, tan, and touches of dark green goes well together with the 1930's art deco style of architecture, which is evident through the abundant use of arches that adorn every window and along the edges of the roof. The pillars on the ground floor adjacent to the windows are very detailed and require a whopping total of 68 headlight pieces. The green domes are also very appealing and, together with the pillars, prevent the windows from feeling "jutted out". Being a corner building, the emporium is designed to be placed at the intersection of 2 roads, which is realistic if you wish to attract more people. The sidewalk is also very detailed, being made of many small tiles, and is decorated in front of the entrance. Finally, the yellow words "SHOP" hang over the entrance and span the corner of the building using a flexible rod. Needless to say, the building techniques used were extremely creative and there is no way that I would have ever thought of anything like it.

The back of the building is completely blank except for a couple of small windows, but this is required if you have other modulars to connect to.

This set comes with a total of 7 minifigures, all of which have the classic smiley face. Two of these minifigures are used for the mannequins and thus have their faces inverted behind their hair pieces. The human minifigures include a female store clerk, a man (with and without pants XD), his wife and son, and a window cleaner.

On to the details of the floors.

The ground floor consists of the landscape immediate to the emporium and the main floor to the emporium itself. Outside, to the left, there is an ice cream stand and a brown garbage bin. To the right is a fancy lamppost and mailbox. Two large flower pots surround the main entrance. The entrance has revolving doors which lead to the interior. The first floor is the clothing department. Here, there is a table with perfumes and cosmetics, a table with hats for men, children's pants on side shelves, mannequins displayed at one of the windows, and a checkout area with an old-fashioned cash register on top of a glass case displaying some jewelry. There is even a small corner for a changing room (made up of 2 minifigure capes for the curtains and flexible rod for the railing). At the back of the building is a rear exit. Escalators (first ever!) lead up to the second floor.

The second floor is the house ware department. Here, there are some very expensive looking wine glasses and eating plates. There are 2 green/2 white wine glasses and two golden plates. Once again, an escalator leads up to the third floor.

The third floor is the toy department. There are two tables that display a scooter and a doll house, plus a shelf with a yellow and blue ball. An excellently-designed chandelier (also a first!) hangs over the open space where the escalators are. Outside is the cleaning platform where the cleaner can work, the platform hangs from the roof using fixed pieces of rope (how will he clean the 2nd floor windows?).

The roof was surprisingly more detailed than I first thought, consisting of well over 100 pieces. Up here is a skylight made of very large window pieces, plus a neat advertisement board with realistic details such as the flood lights.

Because it is a modular building, the floors can be easily lifted to allow access to interior. I was actually surprised to discover that neither of the modules were connected by studs whatsoever, but it makes sense otherwise it would be quite difficult to remove the sections (and maybe even fall apart in places where it should not).

Looking back, I guess it was necessary for the build to be repetitive because the architecture of this building simply demanded it. Repetition actually creates the undulating and harmonious aesthetic that was so characteristic of this building style. Without it in this case, the building would feel out of place and cluttered, which was clearly not the intent. I know that some people may find the Fire Brigade (10197) or Green Grocer (10185) more interesting to build, but it is a result of a different architectural style.

In terms of furniture, the set provided the essentials. However, there is always room to add more things here and there (Suggestions to add more toys from 10199 Winter Village Toy Shop, add a few Lego sets from 3221 Lego City Truck, etc.)

At $200 CAD, this set comes out to 9.2 cents per piece, which is very good, so I strongly recommend it if you don't have it already.

Overall, I enjoyed this set to the max. Being my first modular building, I am truly taken aback by all the detail Lego put here. Also, it is the first department store set released in the history of Lego, so it is without a doubt an integral part of any Lego city and absolutely necessary to keep Lego citizens happy.

Set 10211, Grand Emporium, was the second Modular Building I got my hands on, back in early 2012. I went hurried through the building process before embarking on a weeklong trip out of town, so it wasn't until months after that I truly started enjoying this set and its elements, especially with other Modular Buildings I ended up adding to my collection. I really like this set, especially in terms of playability and configuration.

Box/Instructions

The box is nicely sized and has depictions of many different scenes that can be staged with the set. In particular, some of the display items, such as pants or toys, can also be used by the minifigures themselves as their own personal possessions, depending on the scene I want to stage.

Instructions were straightforward and easy to follow, with each of the three booklets covering each floor.

Parts

Lots of light tan and green for the most part. The color scheme is quite pleasant.

The roof level ledges use many one-stud wide parts in repetitive pattern, and they look quite awesome once the patterns are installed.

The transparent parts used for the skylight and for the top floor chandelier are awesome. Additionally, many 1x1 and 1x2 parts are used to build various merchandise items that are sold in the department store.

There is even a rotating door.

Minifigures

This set comes with seven minifigures, all with the classic smiley as is the case for all Modular Building minifigures.

• Male mannequin: He has light beige hair (the kind of color more realistic on a mannequin than on a real human being) and wears a suit. He is displayed on the ground floor with the head facing backward to hide the printed face, but by turning the face out front, he can become another shopper or a model.
• Female mannequin: She sports flowing brown hair and a funky wedding dress, using a sloped brick as the skirt. Like the male mannequin, the head is turned backward and hidden, but by turning the face forward, she can become an extra character.
• Cashier: She looks great in a scarfed torso and white pants.
• Boy: The blue vest/red-white striped shirt look is not all that special, but he is the one who can be staged eating the ice cream or riding the toy scooter.
• Window washer: He wears a red/green overall outfit that were seen on two Winter Village minifigures as well. Because he also wears a hard hat, I like to stage him wherever I need to portray a construction site on another Modular set.
• Male shopper: He comes with two different bottoms - a blue pair of pants, and a naked bottom except for black briefs. The instructions have him built with the naked bottom, and stage him inside the curtained cubicle (fitting room) on the ground floor holding the blue pants to try them on.
• Female shopper: I like her bowed red sweater and white shirt with pink star patterns, not to mention the shiny heart necklace. I also love her black bob hair, which is similar to my own longtime hairstyle. She is my favorite minifigure of the seven - or from the entire Modular Buildings series for that matter; due to her resemblance to me, she is my designated "Mini-Me" in my Lego builds and staged accordingly for photo shoots (which I then upload to social media).

I would've liked an extra minifigure, a girl, perhaps to look at the dollhouse in the toy section.

The build

Even though I built it rather hurriedly, it was enjoyable for the most part, especially as each element, from the rotating door base to the displays, came together.

The memorable mini-builds are the two escalators which connect the floors. Although static, they look realistic, and blend well into the rest of the building.

Other mini-builds include the "SHOP" sign at the main entrance as well as the chandelier. The "SHOP" sign is mounted on a bendable rod and mounted in a curved position, and getting it to look good and even is a bit of work. The billboard on the top is another great mini-build, complete with a minifigure head pattern.

The middle and top floors are mostly identical, and that makes the build process a bit repetitive. It was even more repetitive for me because I was building this set under a bit of time pressure - though because the two floors are similar, some of the steps were easier the second time around.

The completed model

This being a corner set, it is a bit cramped, especially considering that it is a department store. Nevertheless given the space constraints, it does capture the feel of an old-fashioned department store fairly well, with three separate departments, a cashier, and ample interior light thanks to the atrium and the skylight.

Because two of the minifigures could be staged either as mannequins or as humans, and also because many merchandise items can be taken out of the store as personal belongings of the minifigures, there are lots of play possibilities. Adding even more possibilities are the ice cream cart on the sidewalk as well as the mailbox (which even comes with two 1x2 studless tile pieces with postage pattern, to represent letters).

The billboard is the main weak point of the completed model. The billboard mount column does not feel too stable despite being reinforced from all four sides by sloped bricks, and can wobble if I mistakenly push the billboard from one side. I still have to say the billboard looks great though.

Summary

This is a great set. This is clearly my favorite among the Modular Building sets, partly because it captures the essence of its subject the way a Modular Building should, partly because it looks good and has interesting design elements, and partly because one of its minifigures is my Lego doppelgänger. This set is the reason why I really got hooked on Lego again and spent a small fortune buying pricey sets throughout 2012.