Leicester Square store now open!

I wonder if it has higher prices, like the two Lego Stores in Manhattan.

If (like me) you want to know what a mosaic from that mosaic maker looks like: http://www.digitalspy.com/tech/feature/g24393/you-can-now-make-yourself-out-of-lego-and-its-amazing-heres-how-the-lego-mosaic-maker-works/ .

Now only to convince my wife that we need to go to London again...

What are the special items for sale? The promotional doubledecker bus?

All this talk of Lego stores is making me jealous :p, but at least Melbourne will have a discovery centre next year and I guess that's a start. Hopefully I'll one day be able to return to London and get one of those mosaics they look pretty cool :)

The decision is now made. If this doesn't make me want to go to London next year, I don't know what will!

The queue to get in if you arrive now is ridiculous. They are already saying that they don't know if everyone will get in today. Beginning to regret my decision to come.

Got here just before 12, not even at the point the queue first turns back on itself. The lady at the front of the queue has been stood there for at least half an hour and they are showing no signs of letting her in any time soon.

The special items for sale are the London Architecture set 21034 available early and the Mosaic Maker is currently only available in this location iirc set 40179.

You can also get the London Bus instore for £9.99 and you have a (slim) chance of winning a Lester figure if you go over £55 iirc.

I heard one comment that there was only 275 Lester figures in total

Correct. if you win the card says number x of 275.

And I would have known that if I'd read the review ??. Oh well, given up now, try again another day.

The queue has been reorganised to make room for the queue for "Fantastic Beasts". Probably another 2-3 hours before I get in!

My idea of popping in on the way to the theatre tonight is not looking promising!

2 hours in and it barely feels like we have moved. They seem to be really slow at letting people in.

Got to the back of the queue at 1pm. Now 2pm and have hardly moved. Going home and coming back on sunday. It may be the largest Lego store in the world, but it will never be big enough, in my opinion.

They will be absolutely packed inside if they have let 200+ people in.

I queued for well over 2 hours (starting at about 11:45) before deciding to give up for the day. I'm not sure I was even halfway through the queue.

They were warning people joining the queue that there was no guarantee of getting in today.

I was so close to going today ..so glad I decided against it...I wonder what time people started queuing? Good luck if you are there

For some reason they are letting people in more frequently now. Didn't think we would be in until gone 5 but at this rate we will be in by 3 I am guessing.

I attended this morning and unfortunately it was one of the worst run store openings I have been to. Started quing at a little after 9 and after an hour or so we were moved from the que into the 'viewing area' this was a free for all and it meant that people who arrived well after me and others around me ended up in a better spot. They then started giving out some freebies, would have been great if this had been at random but the staff ran it badly so some people got two or three of the same kit whilst others got nothing (though kudos they did make sure every child there got a freebie). There was little in the way of buzz or entertainment whipped up by the staff at other store openings for other brands I have been to being in the que has felt like a special event this just felt flat. The store opened 15 minuets late and even when it did shoppers weren't allowed in initially so the press could get photos (surely that is what last night was about?). Finally got in and the store itself is OK, again no special events inside the store to create buzz on the first day. The Tube train and the London skyline mosaic are excellent and there are some nice touches but nothing that says to me this is a flagship store. In the end picked up my kits, got the store mini modular and got out which took an age as due to the scratch card system for Lester every transaction took that bit longer at the till. Overall wished I'd waited till the weekend to enter at my leisure then attend the opening shambles.

That's cool in one way that Lester seems so limited edition, but also disappointing and means most of all people won't get one. Including myself, especially as I am attending on Sunday where they are surely all going to have gone by then?!

Anyone know how bad the queue is now? Thinking of heading up there this evening.

Walked towards the store at 1pm thinking it wouldn't be so bad - saw the place was swarming and went the other way. I'm glad I have the Lego store in Watford, just means I won't be spending as much or getting opening day benefits.

Will the opening offers still be on next week?

Turned up around 1030 as others noted few throw out give aways once in-store complete chaos. Once in queue to pay nearly 1 hour wait they also had issues taking card payments. Also VIP points not displaying but they said the points would add. I think its also double points for opening day. Spent £131 so got Toy Solider, Christmas 24 in 1 , exclusive store. Scratch card turned out to be parrot and sticker for free calender in December. Plus as queues so bad they were handing out free random polybags..so got afree C3PO. So good offers thou not great shopping experience.

As much as a I want to take advantage of the offers I think with the drama I've read above, the added craziness of a movie premier and a 45 min train journey each way I think I'll give it a miss.

Just got out. Queue took us 3 1/2 hours but is obviously much smaller now. Spent 45 mins in there and far too much money. Saw one guy win a Lester though but sadly not me.
First time in a proper Lego store for me but I am lucky that my local retailer has such an impressive range anyway so there wasn't a huge difference for me but it is easy to see how impressive it could appear for some. I loved all the store displays and the staff were all really friendly. I'm sure i'all be popping back in next time I am in London.

I started queuing around 10.45 and just missed out on being among the first crowd to enter the store - my girlfriend and I were the first ones to be stopped and told to wait for the second wave of entries. They didn't start letting the first lot in until around 12.15 and then I waited until 1.30 when they finally started letting more people in. Bit gutting that arriving a few minutes earlier would probably have saved us over an hours wait! It was clear they were attempting to clear the store a little though as the queues inside were huge and the PDQ card machines crashed at one point. Understandable to be honest.

The store itself wasn't as big as I imagined but the display builds are brilliant and I'm looking forward to going again on a quieter day to have a proper look at them. I got an abundance of freebies - the lego store, 24 in 1 box and toy soldier offered with your purchases, plus a batmobile, city helicopter, C3PO and duplo duck handed out by way of creating excitement/apologising for delays. I was also lucky enough to win Lester with my scratchcard and was cheered by staff (who were all very friendly and chatty throughout) and fellow customers, and was promptly offered £100 by somebody to sell it to them! I declined. Left the store around 2.45. For the amount of stuff I left with it really was worth the wait and a brilliant experience.

After reading all these comments, I'm quite relieved I didn't get the train down from Newcastle as I'd been considering. Instead I sent my brother who works in Soho. I was already grateful for him spending his lunch (and more) hanging out in a queue, but after reading about this carnage I'm thinking that maybe a lego parrot as his commission isn't quite good enough I probably owe him a few pints.

Sounds totally crazy today... no amount of freebies could make me want to take on that much stress. Very slim chance of getting Lester figure, and the Lego Store set freebie is on sale for £20, so no need to spend £125. Who would queue for hours for a twenty quid freebie. Crazy. Save yourself the stress and just buy it on eBay!

I thoroughly enjoyed the day. I had expected long queues, and mild chaos, but the rain held off and everyone seemed to be having a good time. I would like to thank all those in the queue, and all those inside the shop, for their good behaviour and hard work. The customer at the till next to me won a Lester, which is probably as close as I'm going to get :) I think I need to go back to get one of those mosaic sets.

Lester 0; Parrots 3.
Bonus Flower Cart in the queue, swapped for Olaf's Summertime Fun.
Lots of VIP points

Actually, other than the fun of attending at the opening, I have to agree with Huw's preview - it isn't noticeably better than the other LEGO shops I've been to. I think its prime purpose will be serving the tourist customers.

I can't imagine Hamley's will be selling many of their bargain (>20% above RRP) LEGO sets now!

All I want to know is - have all the 275 Lesters already gone?!

I can't get to London til Saturday so it would be a shame to go from a 1 in say 200 chance of getting a Lester to literally impossible because they've all gone. Maybe a free mosaic or set will ease my pain? :) That mosaic machine looks really good, takes the annoyance of trying to pixelate and balance colours on Photoshop away because it never provides a guide as good as Kev's was in your report.

Also, can't wait to see the Star Wars Identities exhibition at the O2 this weekend too - looks really interesting! Is anyone else going to be seeing it? I've tried to merge visiting that and the Lego Store together.

I got there at 11.55am and the queue took 3.5 hours.

The staff were super friendly, but did a poor job of managing the crowds outside. At one point, the queue was snaking round in such a way that passers-by got caught in a loop forcing them back towards others who were making the same mistake. One AFOL a few people behind me took advantage of the chaos to queue barge, saving himself about an hour of waiting - disgusting! On the plus side, the staff were handing out polybags and I managed to snag two for myself - one Nexo-Knight and the other City - as well as an NK one for a stranger immediately behind me.

Perhaps because it was a school day, most of the people in the queue seemed to be AFOLs. There didn't seem to be many adults buying for kids or indeed many kids.

The store bills itself as the largest in the world, but didn't look all that big to me. I was at Legoland, Billund a few months ago and the store by the entrance there seemed just as large. I think the London store may have been counting the area occupied by the displays - which were impressive - as part of the retail floor space.

I didn't spend much so wasn't eligible for any freebies but did see that they had lots of the store sets ready for the big spenders. Someone in the other thread asked if there were any non-set promo items. The answer is yes, they were selling T-shirts in sizes S to XL for £9.99. I didn't get one.

I'm glad I went if only to say that I earned my stripes by waiting three-and-a-half hours in the cold and for being there the first day. The visit also sated my curiosity.

I hate to think what the store's rent and rates must be; the overheads are probably eye-watering! I wonder if it will stay open even if it makes a loss because it's the flagship store. It's the closest brand store to me and I hope it's a commercial success.

Believe it or not, tomorrow we are flying to London just to see this store (and buy a lot of sets). Hope there will not be queue because after 3 hours we have to go back to Stansted ;)

I have question about VIP. I'm living in Poland and I'm VIP member but... I do not have VIP card (it's not possible to get it in my country). Of course I have a VIP number so is it possible to earn and redeem VIP points in store without VIP card? Maybe I can just give them my VIP number?

@gr00vybaby - I think I was behind the person in the queue who offered you the £100 when you got your Lester figure. Either that or multiple people were offered £100 for getting one!

@Brcloud
Yes, you'll be fine, you can earn VIP points without a card. I usually forget mine, so they ask me for my address/email/number/username, whatever I can use to identify my account.
I've even been into a store in the USA without my card and they looked me up and I got my points.

@omnium Thank you!

Was at the store about half an hour ago and it's still busy, but nowhere near the mayhem of yesterday. There's a queue, probably about 30-40 minutes worth, but I'm guessing it'll get shorter and shorter. Tomorrow shouldn't be that bad... but then again, it's Saturday so you'll never know...

any of the exclusives like london architecture, london bus etc still available to purchase?
looks like the lego store/rooster are gone?

London bus and architecture are still here to purchase. No lego stores or scratch cards left though, they're just doing normal offers now

My apologies, there are scratch cards and Lester's remaining. I only found out when I got to the till

I went today, about a 20 minute wait to get in around 11 am but plenty of staff handing out stickers and welcoming people. No rooster or store set left sadly but plenty of scratch cards

I went at 7:30pm today, Friday. 20 minute queue to enter, and they have now also run out of the 24-in-1 Advent sets (though they expect more tomorrow). Some smaller display items were sold out too, and I was surprised they don't stock the full range of sets. E.g. The two largest Technic sets not on sale. It seems to have a smaller range than other Lego stores, but more small gift items instead.

The 225th Lester was won by the guy in front of me, which suggests they are nearly out of scratch cards.

@Roger Kirk - I wouldn't be surprised if a few people got that kind of offer, though looking at how much the asking price is on eBay £100 now seems like a steal! Im happy to say that for now Lester is safely BNIB on my shelf and not going anywhere.

I did wonder if I was the guy next to HugeYellowBrick when I won as he had two Parrot scratchcards and upon congratulating me he mentioned that he'd sent his wife off to get another card! A third parrot? It really is a shame there weren't enough to go around but boy did it feel good to scratch away that silver and unveil a Lester!