Looking back at the Grand Emporium
Posted by Huw,
I suspect many of you, like me, are taking advantage of enforced time at home to tidy things up around the house, including your LEGO collection.
I've been sorting stuff out in my storage area with the intention of locating and dismantling some of my larger models to make room for more. However, there are a few that I have no intention of taking apart, among them is 10211 Grand Emporium.
So, while I have it out of its storage crate, let's take a retrospective look to see how it compares to later models in the popular Creator Expert series.
The 2182-piece set, released 10 years ago, was the 4th 'proper' modular building.
The first thing that struck me when seeing it for the first time in a while is just how visually imposing the exterior is. The well proportioned and solid-looking two-sided facade could represent the sort of 19th or early 20th century building you'd see in any European city, and perhaps a few US ones, too.
Many of the latest modular buildings go out of their way to increase visual appeal by implementing a variety of building styles, techniques and colours, most notably in this year's 10270 Bookshop. That's all very well but it does diminish the overall impressiveness of the building, in my opinion. That's certainly not a problem here.
The exterior is grandiose, then, but what about inside? This set was released some years before modulars were given a fully tiled and fitted out ground floor, and plenty of details in upper ones, so its interior is something of a half-hearted effort, with just a few shop fittings here and there: nothing like you'd expect to find in a grand emporium.
That said, the escalator, which transports customers between all three floors -- but only in one direction -- is a cool feature.
If you thought the clothing department on the ground floor was sparse, wait until you see upstairs. The homeware section on the first floor has just a few glasses and plates.
The toy department at the top is not well stocked either.
Five minifigures and provided, plus a couple of blank-faced ones used as mannequins in the windows.
These were the days when minifigs in modulars all had classic smiley heads, something I know many of you miss.
Nevertheless, the designer has managed to imbue personality into them with a good choice of torsos and hair/headgear.
Verdict
The building is large, with a visually arresting and impressive exterior. The uniformity of its design is one of its strengths. It's not dripping with details and fancy building techniques, like some later modulars, but there are enough to make it interesting.
However, all that has come at the cost of a sparse interior. Ideally, all modulars would be as big and impressive as this externally, and also have a fully fitted out interior. That would, of course, push the price up, perhaps to a level that LEGO thinks buyers would find unacceptable.
It's a trade-off, then, between big, tall, buildings with not much inside and smaller ones with fully fitted interiors. LEGO has chosen the latter and now that it has set the expectation that modular buildings have tiled floors, fixtures and fittings and 'stories' inside them we are unlikely to see a return to the former.
10211 Grand Emporium remains one of my favourite modulars and generally I think I prefer larger buildings with not much inside to smaller ones with. After all, how often as adults, do we actually 'play' with modular buildings? They are most likely going to be displayed on a shelf or somewhere for most of their life, in which case the exterior is all that matters.
That said, there is a lot of room inside, currently wasted: perhaps I should get the shopfitters in to give the store the merchandising facilities it deserves...
Like many of the early modulars it is now quite sought after so you'll need to pay about 200% of the original retail price should you wish to acquire one new. There are quite a few available on BrickLink.
140 likes
68 comments on this article
Need to buy this one :)
I always wanted this as a kid, I’d look at it in the catalog all the time.
I've only physically built the bookshop, but using studio and the free online instructions from Lego I've built most of the other modulars. That being said I enjoy the newer modulars as the interior builds breakup the often repetitive exteriors, I can understand the people who mainly display these sets not wanting the piece count to be "wasted" on the interiors. However I think at the moment the builds are nicely balanced between detail on the interior and exterior.
I was very late to the modulars, having been in a Lego dark age from ~2001 until ~2017, and only focused on Star Wars for my first year out of the dark age. I still only have the sets that were on deep discount at the last few Black Fridays (Brick Bank, Detective's Office, and Parisian Restaurant). I enjoy the little interior details while I'm building the set, but as you said, unless you install a light kit, the interior is meaningless for most of the set's life on display. That has me tending to think I would enjoy some of the older modulars more, but maybe it's just a matter of installing the light kits and bringing some of the interior back out?
Would love an updated re-release of this
This is the one modular I'm kind of sad about missing out on. I don't think the lack of products on each floor is really an issue; fewer products allows minifigures some space to move around and interact with the products in question. If I'm honest I think it puts the modular bookshop to shame; it's got a lovely exterior, but it's alarmingly thin on actual books inside, which seems like a serious oversight.
That said, I do have Assembly Square and Ninjago city if my Lego people need some retail therapy, so I can't complain too much.
For me, I don't think the size of a modular ever comes into play when I'm buying it. Sure, people called the detective's office cramped, for example, but that just made it more impressive to me that they could fill it with so much detail! If that modular had included more space, with the same level of detail, it would've cost more and deterred me. Anyway, I will happily buy a big modular with limited interior, but only if it looks good. I'll also buy a small modular with a packed interior if it looks good.
I was still in my dark ages. The Palace Cinema was my first modular, which i still think has a very impressive exterior
Thanks for highlighting this classic Modular Huw. It's been on my Wanted List for several years now, as it seems like every time I consider buying it on the aftermarket there's a new "Must Have" set or another classic, like 10184, that grabs my attention/cash. One day though, it will be mine :) I'd personally go for larger exterior sets that sacrifice a bit on interior details. Coming up w/our own furnishings and stories is part of the fun imo. As an example the Pet Shop's townhouse was bare, so I raised the basement height two studs and it's now a rec room complete w/soda machine (courtesy The Brick Show) and foosball table. I let my 10 y/o daughter help decide what to place in the top floor, and it kind of became her dream LEGO bedroom lol. So, my two cents say more bricks for our buck on the outside and we can furnish plenty for the interiors. Also, TLG should really consider selling small furniture sets, kind of like the old Homemaker series, but all made Minifigure scale.
Ps. Just wanted to add that the elevators on Grand Emporium are simple yet polished and a work of genius.
Looks like a great set even if it's 10 years old now.
I prefer 3-in-1 scale buildings, but sadly LEGO doesn't make much houses in 2020.
The 2019 3-in-1 Petshop/Cafe was nice, and even the 2020 Toyshop is nice, however that's 1 city building for the entire year.
2017-2018 had 3-4 houses/shops each in 3-in-1 theme.
I also don't want to directly compare Creator Expert to 3-in-1 as obviously a big price difference, and many 3-in-1 have open backs (which I personally don't mind).
I only started collecting Creator 3-in-1 sets in 2018 so most sets I have are from 2016 or later.
We used to have it out on the fireplace and that was where it lived for years. Maybe a year ago, my dad (it belonged to him) pulled it all apart and I dreaded the thought of being told to go and fetch dozens of missing pieces from our reservoir of Really Useful Boxes, which is where we store our spare parts. He took it apart, mumbling something about his modular buildings collection. Then, I was told about the rest of the series of connectable buildings and how my dad had bought every one except the Brick Bank, I think. He’d forgotten to get that one and is now too expensive for him to think about a purchase.
I remember seeing this on the shelf as I was emerging from my dark ages and could tell immediately Lego had repositioned with me as the target market.
The second thing I did was turn the box around and was completely put off by the sparse interior. I know it’s irrational, my Lego sits on a shelf or gets turned into MOCs, but I enjoy the build more if there’s interesting details and features tucked away. I guess dark ages or not, I’m still like the 10 year old me!
This was one of my first modulars after coming out of my dark age. It's disassembled and stored now. I thought it was incredibly detailed when I built it!
Maybe I should rebuild all my disassembled modulars....
I got mine for Christmas 2013 and still have it built and on display sadly it hasn't lived its 7 years with me damage free. All the flags where chewed by my cat nearly 4 years ago, yet to replace them and dust layers on top of it sadly.
Now I look back at it I sometimes do feel like replacing the flags giving it a clean and selling it on to somebody who would appreciate it more than me. It was my first modular and tbh its my least favourite that I own. The 2014 Parisian Restaurant and 2011 Pet Shop are far better modular, and my only other modular. Though selling this would be hard as I have so many memories with this set as it was my first modular, biggest set at the time, first Creator Expert set, first 16+ set which is funny as I was only 9 back in 2013, also this set give me personal memories as this was the last Christmas that my Grandmother was around for which gives this set just some extra special memories as she helped me with some of the building.
Though I do love the letters for the SHOP sign as I have recently rearranged them to spell HOPE, changing the S to an E, in light of recent events.
The person who made this poll never owned or saw Ninjago City or the Old Fishing Store or they would have seen that LEGO can make large buildings with different stories.
@Huw. Perhaps Tiago Catarino could use a challenge and design the interior, so it would match the impressive exterior. ??
I always wanted to like this one more than I do, but the repetitious exterior and the sparse interior together made me feel like it was somewhat mundane. It is impressive though, and it’s nice to reflect back on it!
I like the detail of modern modulars, but I also liked the “classic” ones if only because they set the expectation for what a modular “is.” The empty interiors just provided an opportunity for creativity! My favorite to this day is still Café Corner, because it was the first and because I’ve put so much work into mine creating an interior. I have a more personal connection to it than I do the fancier, but unmodified, ones.
The set that made me came back from my dark ages. The overall building experience was amazing, everything was new and at a very large scale!
So beautiful and detailed!
I will never disassemble it, it's an important piece of my lego permanent collection.
After seeing probably my favourite modular featured, I had to sign up and make a comment after browsing for several years. I love this building - it looks similar to an independent department store in the uk, where I actually bought the set! since then (along with most of my modular) I have extended and altered the set extensively - it now has a side extension to add another 32 studs of width, 2 full additional floors and a mansard roof in dark grey with cut in dormers made to look like it is all formed of lead. such modifications are now prohibitive, not just due to lack of headroom with shelves which run over my town but also the cost of the dark green windows on Bricklink...
I have kept the insides as designed and tend to do minimal internals on my other 'modded mods' although in the case of the Emporium, I do have the escalators in place (being part of the building) even though the remaining floor space is even more sparse!
My favourite part of this building is the sign on top and the window washer dangling on the side. The minifig in his underwear in the change room trying on pants is fun too.
This was the second modular I got, I got Cafe Corner, skipped over Market Square and Green Grocer, then finally got back in with Grand Emporium. Its impressive on the outside visually, but I think I prefer a more detailed interior over just a single facade. Cafe Corner was arguably a worse offender, its a hollow building with nothing inside; while the later Town Hall and Theater which both have an interior... still suffered due to being such a massive building and what felt like sparse accommodations inside.
The later D2C's with an interior I got (the Monster Fighter's Mansion, the modular series Detective Office, Idea's Fishing Store, and the Disney Castle and Train) all benefited from interior detailing.
This is without a doubt one of my favorite modulars, I got this set sometime after it retired and the store I got it from had two left in stock, a couple months after I got one I noticed the other one is still in stock collecting even more dust and enduring more shelf wear so I decided to pick it up and double up the Grand Emporium vertically, this did leave the ground floor of the second one unused so the parts all got sorted in the bins.
I'm not really bothered by the lack of significant interior detail at all, while I do appreciate the effort that's been going into the interiors starting with the Parisian Restaurant I don't like the fact that it's taking a noticeable toll on the exterior, I think this year's modular is suffering from that the most as aside from it's somewhat small stature the exterior looks kinda bland to me honestly.
I think it would've been best to leave substantial furnishing as an optional thing for people to customize on their own rather than using up several hundred parts for hardly seen interior details, on a positive note I guess we can appreciate that they're there even though we don't always see them.
I nearly won that one in a building competition, where you had to build a shopping centre, unfortunately I came in second and only got a 7498 Police Station. The funny thing is, now that I'm looking back at my entry, I notice that even the build, I entered when I was 12 years old had a much more rich and detailed interior than this.
Ever since building and displaying Ninjago City, the allure of all the modulars, including Grand Emporium, has lessened for me. That said, it's one of my favourite modulars. Highlights of the building experience were the chandelier, wording at the front of the store and escalators : )
If anyone is interested, the "Relax With Lego" YouTube channel is currently building the Grand Emporium - but doing so from the instructions, without the kit, and embellishing a lot of details.
https://twitter.com/legowith
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVqwtQUUzam6wCiCdKOruiQ
I'm not sure I really favour any of the options in the poll - I like lots of detail in the build. quite happy for it to be larger and contain lots of detail (and be more expensive as a result).
Wouldn't mind if they only did "half" a building - e.g. one of the units in the bookstore - but with more details. And we can just buy more of the kits and arrange them as we see fit.
That said, I would rather that they stick to a "single" baseplate - either a large build like the Downtown diner / Parisian restaurant , or as in the case of the bookstore, each unit on a single baseplate .
Things like Assembly Square are great, but they can be awkward to find room to store them. so constraining the size so that one (or two side-by-side) can fir in a 34x34z34cm cube would be ideal.
What about a 4th option to choose from?
* Large modulars with detailed interiors for eye-watering prices
@danieltheo said:
"After seeing probably my favourite modular featured, I had to sign up and make a comment after browsing for several years.!
Welcome! It's great to have you join, and if this article encouraged you to do so it was worth writing!
...and this is why I like the Haunted House and the "doll-house" style of hinged openings for buildings...
I know that creates other display issues, but, that is my preference in terms of balancing interior and exterior.
I'm thinking about picking up the Bookshop to keep me busy during quarantine, but it's a bit pricey.
Come on Huw, detailed interior is not about playing (too cramped anyway I guess), it’s about knowing it’s in there! ;)
I'm fortunate to have bought one 10 years ago, which got me started with collecting Modulars ever since. Not my favorite Modular but I do love it and my only dislike is that top heavy Billboard which seems to fall off all the time.
I have recently pulled all of my modulars out of storage and have all 14 on display, having recently bought Garage and Bookshop. I really didn't like the Garage when it was released last year so waited for a discount over black friday 2019. This didn't happen, but all good things come to those who wait and i got 15% off it last month from John Lewis.
It does bug me that Green grocer and cafe corner are empty. I should add 'fill them with furniture' to my 'to do' list!
I agree about the older Creator houses. I was lucky to pick them all up 2nd hand a few years ago, so i have all of those on display too. 4954 being my favourite. I wish they'd do some of those again. The newer ones are just not the same.
We bought this for my mom as a Birthday present back in 2013-she still has it displayed on her dresser with her numerous other sets and minifigures :)
Hey Lego, if you're reading this... please can we have a half-size modular building (on a 16x32 plate) to buy maybe half-way through the year at half the price(!) to add to our prized collections. Thanks!!
Assembly Square: excellent exteriors and improved, detailed interiors. Ninjago City: same. The Grand Emporium was my first Modular, but all three interior floors have since received some modding, as have other pre-Parisian Modulars. It doesn’t have to be one or the other.
I love the modular sets and they are part of my permanent display, in glass cabinets. They attract a lot of attention from visitors, old and young!
The Emporium has a top shelf spot and is currently the exterior for my COVID shopping frenzy scene, populated by minifigs in a pre-lockdown scenario stocking up on essentials. In that respect, the empty interior makes a bit of sense.
However, before this, the empty interior still had lots of excellent details (the chandelier, escalator, changing room, manikins, signboard on the roof). And the rest of the space let you add your own mods! What else could you want with this hobby?
Still, the floor did always look a little plain to me. Never did get to fixing that up...
Together with Cafe Corner this set isn't just a "modular" building.
The building as such is modular. You could buy 4, 8, 12, 24 or 48 of these and combine them into one single large/gigantic building!
Indeed, you could combine 48 Green Grocer or Pet Shops and create a nice street of terrace houses/ townhouses, however, most people would run out of space for that.
Great set & a must have. This isn't my favorite modular due to the somewhat tedious build (all those green windows!) & sparse interior - but there's plenty of space for additions & to let your imagination take over. I'm also tempted to add another floor to make it taller and create a rooftop dining/cafe space. The exterior looks quite impressive & my Lego town would be much poorer without it.
I've got one dusty in storage, and thankfully another still sealed since 2014 - wow time flies! And someday when space permits I'll be putting the two of these together on the corner of the block, knocking down some walls and joining the interiors - then we'll have up & down escalators!
I read the paragraph near the end that you were going to get the shoplifters to help fill things in--I was rather confused for a moment...
I think this one still epitomizes the Modular line- fantastic details on the buildings, great play value when added to a city, and creative use of Lego without special pieces made just for it. A really impressive building. We enjoyed it. The idea is to allow your own detailing of the interior, which is some of the fun. They've really done a great job with all the buildings since this one, we can't wait to build the Birch Book Store soon.
I think I got my Grand Emporium around Spring 2010. It was a good time for me as I started my adventure with modular buildings...
The same day I put my hands on 10197 as it was one order from Lego and within that year it was followed by 10185 . By mid-2011 I managed to find 10182 ... I remember very well opening the box and' building my first modular which was the very 10211 ...
I still have photos from days I was building in my lounge on the floor. I was so absorbed that called my work to ask for a day of holiday so I could fully enjoy and just stare at those beauties.
There is something amazing about Modulars, the pleasure of building, the satisfaction of displaying and the constant hunger and need to stare at them.
I do regret I was unable to buy additional boxes as my intention was to have 2 of each. But at the same time I was heavily investing in my 9V Trains collection and I suppose one cannot have everything.
Great read so Thanks Huw
This was the first modular I bought after rediscovering Lego in 2012, and it is still built and on display. It obviously hit a note as I haven't missed one since and Lego has since become a large part of my life!
Think the exterior is much grander than the interior but a nice set nontheless. The set also inspired me to discover Bricklink and build the Greengrocer from parts.
Great read Huw, how about rediscovering some more of the early modulars?
@Seb82dk said:
" @Huw. Perhaps Tiago Catarino could use a challenge and design the interior, so it would match the impressive exterior. ?? "
Exactly!!! It’s Lego! Build an interior! That’s what I did with my Palace Cinema.. I built a grand staircase with a bathroom underneath the stairs, updated the service counter, added another row of seating and an enclosed camera booth in the theater, and put in a tile floor On the first level with an area for a few arcade games.
I actually think this modular would make a great candidate to be modded into a bookstore with a coffee shop, or reflect an updated take on a department store (since, quite frankly, deportment stores are dying)
I don't usually buy the modulars, but I do like a balance of interior and exterior detail. Palace Cinema (which I do own) handled that nicely. I do love the look of the book shop, though, and I think I may give it to my partner for Christmas this year...
Unfortunately I came too late for this the first time round, just like with Green Grocer and Town Hall, which I also would have loved to get back in the day, had I not still been in my Dark Ages.
Great set all around. I wouldn't even mind the rather sparse interior. Hell, the Green Grocer has even less inside and still is one of my favorites of the theme.
Indeed an impressive building! The first modular building I purchased! This started it all for me!
Also my earliest modular on exiting my multi decade dark age in 2014. Got me hooked on Modulars and have everything since. I’ve made some minor mods and additions to fill out the sparse interior; prefer that option to the more recent cramped interiors but as it’s Lego there’s always the option to make changes.
I remember getting this set for Father's Day 2012. It is an impressive building. The repetition didn't bother me considering this style of building is going to be very symmetrical.
I r has been sitting on my shelf since I got it, but last fall I took out some green so does for a different modular MOC I was building. This is still mostly together so now I'm at the point I either use different colored Windows or take it apart completely.
I like the sparse interior. I actually didn't notice that it was sparse until the internet told me so.
I will say this, all the modular sets have their charms and everyone has their favorites. I knew that when the Cafe Corner came out that this was likely a line that would stick around for a long time. It was just so detailed and wonderful looking. Each mod has its positives and negatives, but all are still very unique and IMO well done.
As much as everyone complains about the sparse merchandise in this store, it is an astonishingly easy thing to remedy. Just fill it with all the little micro builds you get in a City Advent Calendar.
This was my first modular purchase. I had built Harry Potter castles with my kids & was looking for something larger like that to build. One of the things that drew me to this besides the exterior was actually the chandelier and the escalator on the interior, I loved those details. I don't mind that it isn't fully furnished, it has just enough to inspire ideas, to add to it at some point if needed. It would be nice if LEGO made interior sets maybe in their Extras line, like living room furniture with a rug, or for other rooms as well. Or maybe a Creator interiors assortment set, with multiple ideas and color choices for interior furnishings. My favorite modular is still the Parisian restaurant, beautiful exterior along with decorative details. I recently purchased Assembly Square, with the help of my VIP points, eagerly waiting for its arrival, shows shipped so any day now...
My first ever modular building! It was this or Fire Brigade, I missed out on fire brigade however I think I made the right decision.
For certain types of buildings big and sparse is alright like town hall which wasnt too bad for interior detail. However I think buildings like Parisian Restaurant, Detectives Office and Brick Bank have shown that Lego can do reasonably sizeable buildings while maintaining a good (great in fact) interior.
Personally I disagree with those who are only interested in large, un-detailed modulars and who want interior details removed from sets.
$250-$300+ for just a shell of a building? Really? At that point a lot of MOCs are better and if one is going to spend that kind of money you might as well get an interior, at the very least use it for parts if it annoys one that much!
Ah, there's nothing quite like revisiting old sets.
I started building Modulars with the Town Hall and Fire Department. Nice, but they weren't as "awesome" as I expected. Then I built this guy - love it. It's still on display since I built it 4+ years ago. It's definitely a favorite of mine (Palace Cinema is a close second).
So glad I own them all. About 5 years back I sold all my SW sets and started to buy these sets. This one was still available at the time so no worries. But Cafe Corner, Market Street & Green Grocer did cost a lot. But until now, they're worth every Euro I spend on them.
Here's an idea, Large, detailed exterior and empty interior, but an expansion set for the interior. Like more advanced furniture, like in the newer ones. Maybe parts for tiles and such.
This was the first modular I ever bought and its such a great set (so many dark green windows for example)
From old modulars I bought MiSB Grand Emporium in December 2018, Town Hall (MiSB) about two months ago. Even MiSB Green Grocer in March 2018. Happily I bought Cafe Corner in 2008. Unfortunately I didn't buy in those days Market Street...
I have: 10182, 10185, 10197, 10211, 10218, 10224, 10232, 10243, 10246 and 10260.
"Five minifigures and provided, plus a couple of blank-faced ones used as mannequins in the windows."
I believe there were no blank-faced ones. The smiley faces for the mannequins were just turned towards the back so that their hairs cover it, no?
I got a couple of these, but only for the green windows. Can never have enough of those.
The tan arches left over got me a whole extra two storeys on my cafe corner extension too.
What a great building! I missed this one :-( I missed the first few actually - Green Grocers, Town Hall, Fire Brigade... I live in hope of finding someone that has an unopened one they’d like to trade for my unopened Palace Cinema or Pet Shop...
My first modular was the Parisian Restaurant, and damn did it set the bar very high. Awesome exterior, and amazing interior too. And I think both are quite important, it's a joy to build up the interior and discover the little details, even if they only show a little through the windows. I followed up with Assembly Square, Brick Bank and Detective's Office, to similar delight.
The older ones were a bit disappointing in that regard. After finding them and paying the price for it, they have nice ideas going on, but the lack of interior always annoyed me. I tried filling a lot of them a tad more through the People Packs: there are a few in there that really enhance the city overall, from 60134 Fun at the Park, to 60202 Outdoor Adventures and 60234 Fun at the Fair. This last one had quite a few attractions that actually fit into the lobby of Grand Palace Cinema, if people were thinking about adding stuff to it.
retro this set lego 10211.
My first modular building was 10218 Pet Shop and--since I missed the modulars that came before it--I have been parting them out at my two local bulk brick stores (Brick Swap USA in Manchester, Connecticut and Bricks & Minifigs in Southington, Connecticut) and Bricklink. Given how much these sets go for on the secondary market I've found that this is the best way to get them without paying exorbitant prices.
I managed to build 10224 Town Hall (which actually came out *after* 10218 Pet Shop, but which retired before I was able to buy it) in about a year and a half and for about $150 (I only had to make 1 substitution for an element that was selling for $25!).
By the time I got to this set, I was able to finish parting it out in less than six months and for only about $50! It's a beautiful set.
I am now about 75% of the way through collecting the elements I need for 10197 Fire Brigade, but because of the pandemic I've had to put it on the back burner (no pun intended).
Although I was able to get half of the Sand Green Modified 1x2 Bricks with Groove that I needed for 10185 Green Grocer from a $6.00 bulk purchase at Brick Swap USA, this element as well as Sand Green 1x8 Bricks are extremely expensive on Bricklink, so I'm going to skip this set until LEGO reintroduces these elements in this color. On to 10182 Cafe Corner!
@TomKazutara said: "We need smaller buildings aswell as big ones. Creator and City needs more building, familyhouses for excample, like : 4956 , 4954 , 4996 , 6754 , 5771 , 31012 , 3661 , 8403"
I think 4956 and 4954 were by far the best family houses produced by Lego in recent times. I unfortunately missed them. My first house was 6754, of which I bought 2 sets. I also bought 2 boxes of 6119 Roof Tiles as well as 2 boxes of 6117 Windows and Doors. These 6 sets enabled me to build believable houses which also satisfied my sensibilities as an architect.
My personal impression is that the quality of design of Lego family houses has steadily declined to the point that I can no longer see myself buying any of them.
As far as Modulars go: I bought 3 of them: Fire Brigade 10197, Green Grocer 10185 and Grand Emporium but only completed one storey each of Fire Brigade and Green Grocer, partially because my attention was caught by the then new Lego Architecture sets, which I still find much more compelling.
I’m currently rebuilding all the Modular Buildings that I own (which is all but Cafe Corner, Market street and the latest one, although I’ll get that eventually). My 5 year old daughter and I have a great system ... she plays with the people and the floors I’ve already built, whilst I build the rest. She likes making up stories for the people and I love listening to her do it.
Tomorrow’s choice is Brick Bank.
"By Lordmoral in United States, 15 Apr 2020 15:20
The person who made this poll never owned or saw Ninjago City or the Old Fishing Store or they would have seen that LEGO can make large buildings with different stories."
Yep, that's @Huw . The guy just doesn't know much about Lego...