New Lego Store Opening Up Near Cleveland

[lukeskywalker]

Finally a Lego store that's not 3 hours away. http://stores.lego.com/en-us/Beachwood/ ... etailstore

[jsnweitzel]

Finally a Lego store that's not 3 hours away. http://stores.lego.com/en-us/Beachwood/ ... etailstore

It's about time! I've been waiting for more news on this. But I'm also a little disappointed.
A limited edition mini-figure set? What the hell? Other places get opening event sets based on local landmarks, etc.. Cleveland gets a few generic mini-figs? Somehow this is Lebron's fault, I know it!

I'll have to put it on the calendar and take my son out there for a visit but I don't plan on buying anything.

I've only been to a lego store once (in Orlando) so I don't pay attention to those deals. Guess I'll have to re-read old posts to catch up.

Hey, lukeskywalker, what part of town you from? I'm a westsider - Fairview Park.

[lukeskywalker]

West Side too, Probably 10-20 minutes away from you.

[jsnweitzel]

Received a postcard in the mail today for the LEGO grand opening in Beachwood, OH (Cleveland).

"Bring this postcard to get your free LEGO brick of R2-D2 with any purchase at the LEGO store, while supplies last! Plus, enter to win $50 LEGO Gift Card!"

"Here's your chance to find out! A LEGO master model builder is coming to the new LEGO store near you and you're invited to help him build an 8 foot tall LEGO R2-D2 model!"

"You'll get an official lego building certificate for participating.!"

[lukeskywalker]

I didn't get anything yet :(

[jsnweitzel]

I didn't get anything yet :(

The postcard arrived with my son's name on it. LEGO only has his name because of the quarterly kid's magazine. So I would guess that if you don't get that magazine, maybe you won't get a postcard?

[lukeskywalker]

I have it now.

[jsnweitzel]

The family and I just got back from the Beachwood (Cleveland) store opening today. We were at the mall for approx. 4 hrs. I wasn't watching the clock but I think we got there about 11:30 and the lines were already very long.

First we waited to help build R2D2 and that line went relatively quick. They had a table at the front to sign up for lego membership but because we are already membership, skipped that and went straight to the building. They had 5 or 6 tables to build white, grey or blue blocks for R2. Never done this before and I was suprised. I had thought my son would just get to put one 2x6 block (or similar) on R2 but instead each child was building a larger 3 layer brick from smaller blocks. The kids could build as many as they wanted also.
Each child got a slip of paper to turn in at a different line to get the building certificate with their name written on it.

The master builder was nice and would pose for pics or answer questions. I wondered what happened to the statue after building and he explained that after displaying for a few weeks, it was dismantled and moved to the next new store to be reassembled. They held an informal contest while we were building. They gave away a Duplo set, the wampa cave, the smaller fire truck set, the new gungan/droid set and I think one other. The builder asked silly questions like guess what his shoe size was or name the star wars character he was thinking of,etc.. That made it fun and interesting for the kids also.

I had told my son we would go to see the store but that was before I found out the line was 2hrs long. Oh well, I sorta promised, so I waited in line while the wife and son went to eat. As the store employee explained, we had to wait in a line to get to the line to get in the store. We waited in one long line and then were escorted to an additional long line in front of the store. As people left, they would allow that many new people in the store. This is obviously necessary due to fire regulations and to prevent madness but it was very aggravating. I was surprised how patient all of the young children were, no screaming or fussing at all for having to wait as long as they did.

We finally got in the store and my son enjoyed looking at all of the pre-built sets they have around, especially the Death Star. No lego statues in the store to pose with for pics, that was kinda disappointing. I've only been to the Orlando store (which has lots of statues) so I don't know if no statues is common or not.

Nothing unique in the pic a brick wall. That doesn't surprise me with it being a grand opening. I did not see any CMF parts in the build a mini-fig area but they had been open for Fri and Sat morning before we got in so it's possible those parts were gone if they were ever there.

We bought a few mini-fig keychains cause my son will never get the real thing due to the cost and I bought a large grey base plate to get to $35. So we got the 3 free collectible mini-figs. We also had the postcard for the R2D2 duplo block and got that by making a purchase. They were also handing out free copies of the Lego computer game so that was a nice bonus.

The collectible mini-fig package has a background with a water tower and the name beachwood on it. I'll post a pic later if I have time.

Now I'm going to sit on the couch and do nothing the rest of the day.

[jsnweitzel]

here's a pic of the mini figs. Not good quality, sorry.

[sweener]

jsnweitzel thank you for your very detailed description of the Cleveland store grand opening and posting the pic. I almost made the trek up from Columbus (hoping for some unique PaB elements or a cool grand opening set) but now I'm glad I didn't waste the gas or time. All I can say TLG... lame.

[jsnweitzel]

jsnweitzel thank you for your very detailed description of the Cleveland store grand opening and posting the pic. I almost made the trek up from Columbus (hoping for some unique PaB elements or a cool grand opening set) but now I'm glad I didn't waste the gas or time. All I can say TLG... lame.

Your welcome. If it had been just for me, I would not have stayed. It's not far from my work and I can stop by during the week. But I'm guessing the children that had parents patient enough to wait enjoyed it very much.

I wouldn't say lame. Most people aren't AFOLS and probably enjoyed the small display builds. I got a kick out of seeing a complete DeathStar. But I would have been disappointed if I had driven several hours to get there.