This set is very interesting and is excellent for any city, although it doesn’t exactly fit with the creator expert scale, fits well with buildings found in many city sets.

Minifigures:

Man: although the head and legs are fairly common, the hair and torso are fairly scarce and therefore an excellent addition. Of course the head is not double sided, but the light blue jacket is neat which adds a laid back look to this customer.

Child: fairly uninteresting as all of the features are fairly common. At first I thought it was a boy but upon further examination found that the child has eyelashes which indicate a female.

Minifigure verdict: these two seem to fit well, but clearly noticed is the absence of a lego store employee. This is very disappointing and would have made this set oh so much better. The two included here are acceptable though.

Build: the building consists of two stories, the first of which includes a city display in the window, the iconic red brick, shelves displaying ninjago, friends, and creator sets, cash register (but no one to use it), and of course the pick a brick wall. One complaint I have of the display in the window is the cars going in front of the window are partially hidden, which could have been remedied by the inclusion of one more plate under it. At first I was curious why the door was so unstable, then I realized it was made to be exchanged with the pick a brick wall to create a different shaped building, which is a neat function and can add variety.

Second floor: the second floor is somewhat dull compared to the first. The displays in the window are neat, but the train only has wheels on one side which looks awkward when viewed from outside he window which could have been fixed quite easily. The minifigure station is very neat and quite accurate as well; no complaints there. The shelves are complete with city, creator, and junior sets. The container that is supposed to hold the big shield is rather small for what it is supposed to contain and therefore quite useless. The windows on the sides of the building are also interchangeable with the pick a brick wall and the door (of course putting the door on the second story is not quite a viable option). The first and second floors can be exchanged and put on top of each other. The roof is interesting when view from the front, but looks bland from the sides and back. The big brick on the top looks superb. (I cannot say if it is accurate as I have never been on the roof of a lego store)

Verdict: a must buy for those collecting mini modular and even for those not. The only thing that could have made this better would be a lego store employee. I highly recommend this.

Lego has produced many sets containing its own likeness over the years, and this trend continues strong with 40305 LEGO Brand Store. Looking at the information on this set, I see that it is fairly rare. I found mine at the Lego store in Rockefeller Center, New York City, for about $25.00 USD. Although this set may have a bit of an identity crisis, it is certainly worth buying even if only for the many excellent parts included.

Building the set took me only about 30 minutes and was about as challenging as one would expect a smaller Creator set to be. there aren't any noteworthy techniques involved, but it was still enjoyable to put together nonetheless.

The part selection of the set isn't particularly astounding, but the real value is in the stickers. The only printed pieces are 2 identical 2x2 dark bluish gray computer tiles, but the sticker sheet has 11 stickers 10 of which are used to create minifig-scale Lego boxes. There are 5 different types of sets here, with 2 City, Creator, Juniors, Friends, and Ninjago boxes. None of these appear to imitate real sets, but they show a red car, yellow house, police station, pink car, and red dragon respectively. The Lego logo on the front of the store is also a sticker, but everything other than that is printed.

When the model is completed, it doesn't offer too much playability, but most of its value comes from the displayability. The bulk of the set is on a 16x8 plate, with the door and various wall decorations extending beyond. And while it appears to be made of solid walls, the building uses the recent Creator modular system for the main entrance, the left-side Pick-A-Brick wall, and the side windows on the second floor, although the reason behind this isn't clear to me as the options of changing the appearance are very limited, and in my opinion don't look very good. On the other hand, this set is also described officially as a "Microbuild," despite being minifig-scaled and indeed containing 2 minifigures. These figures are just generic cityfolk, with one man in a Hawaiian shirt and a boy in a hoodie. I believe the man's shirt is fairly uncommon, as I've only seen it in 60153 Fun at the Beach.

Even though this set really can't decide what it wants to be, it is a wonderful shop, with all of the staples of a real Lego Store. This includes a Pick-A-Brick wall, a shelf on each floor with Lego sets, 3 models on display (a fire truck, a small town, and I'm really not sure what the last model is, a train maybe?), bins for holding gear (a toy shield is included), and a custom minifigure station. A wall mounted ATM is located on the wall outside, and all the flags and the 2 front awnings are movable. It is truly all of the small details that make this set wonderful, and the many small builds included could easily be used in a custom Lego Store should you choose to build one.

All in all, this little set is a great addition to any city or town display, and is one of the better minifig-scaled Lego Stores I have seen. If you happen to find one of these in a Lego Store yourself, I would not hesitate to pick it up, especially at the price of $25.00.

Note, I got this set in a local Lego store in 2019, so may still be available in your area. I got this set for my Lego train set for the toy shop purpose and for its cheapness. Now, lets look at this set.

The Build

The build is decent and can get a little repetitive. The only thing I dislike it that the front door and the side panels in between the supports can be pulled out. I wish Lego would have not put this in as is irritating if accidentally knocked out. It would've made displaying easier to. You have to be exact on place the of the studs and the current ones for the pick a brick wall as can be a challenge with a lot of little studs.

The Parts

There is a lot of colourful parts in this set to represent the pick a brick wall and random Lego sets. The sets are just 1 by two bricks with stickers. If you are not a fan of stickers, like me, consider this when you are thinking of buying this set. There is a cool computer screen for the TYME/ATM on the side of the building. I do not know if there is any unique parts.

The Minifigures

The set comes with a dad and his son. Both are cool, but I wish there was a Lego employee in the set to run the store.

The Packaging

This set came in a standard box with the set divided into 2 bags, so there is nothing special.

Price

The price is decent for a Lego exclusive, especially for a two-story Lego building. The set originally costed $25 in the U.S in store. It might be more if you are buying the set of off eBay or another auction site.

Overall

Overall this is an okay set, good for display or a little play. Though it is not the best play set if you want it for playability. I wish there would be an employee with the set and the walls could not all out as easily.

Set #40305 The LEGO Store: Originally I believe this set was a free giveaway with a certain threshold amount, but after time became physically available to purchase in LEGO stores and through LEGO Shop@Home. This is definitely a first for me, reviewing a LEGO Store as a model, true the LEGO VIP set featured a LEGO store build, but this is an actual structure and not simply a vignette.

Box/Instructions

Box: The packaging for this set is your standard LEGO Store exclusive design. Using classic LEGO system colours of yellow and the imagery of a LEGO brick seen from above at the top. The model is shown predominantly in the front with a shadowy city in the background indicating this store can be found in any metropolis or Metropolis. The back shows some nice shots of all the details of the set.

Instructions: Very nicely done manual. Easy to understand and follow along with you’ll enjoy building your very own LEGO Store as you turn each page. Mine was unfortunately smashed into the box though so it does have a bit of warping going on, which is unfortunate.

Parts

Nothing in this set is printed except for the 2x4 computer screen tiles, so it’s a pristine parts pack loaded with plates, bricks, flags, sloped and curved elements in mostly white, yellow or grey with a few blue and red coloured elements thrown in for a bit of contrast. Really impressed with the amount of parts in the set honestly.

Minifigures

Father: It’s Chris Pratt, or at least the hair is one introduced for Owen in LEGO Jurassic World. The rest of the parts are common, I’ve seen the bearded face on a lot of LEGO City Firefighters and the torso has a nice flower print design for the outer shirt.

Son: All of these parts have been used multiple times in LEGO City and LEGO Seasonal Vignette sets. Nothing much else to say, standard prints and the like for both Minifigures included in this set.

The build

Bag #1 & #2: Unlike with most numbered bag sets this one has you use two numbered bags at once when building, so it’s best to keep the pieces sorted accurately and not lose any. The first two bags let’s you build the first floor with the two customers. It’s a truly modular build, I’ve used the term to describe building sets from bag to bag, but Modular Sets traditionally means you can make modules and attach them in any configuration you desire.

This means you can get multiples of a set like this and build your own levels to make taller buildings. Anyway, this build is really straight forward and fun. Easy to follow along with, though sticker placement is a huge factor here for all of the LEGO sets in the set are stickered 1x2 bricks. (And the sticker sheet likes to peel off the wrong sticker when you’re pulling for a different one you need.

Bag #3 & #4: The top floor and the roof are built with these two bags. Also the plates and extra bricks included in a separate un-numbered bag. All of the steps are easy to follow along with and the only annoying aspect will probably be the placement of stickers.

The completed model

The LEGO Store is a magical place in the real world, and an even more magical place in the LEGO world. What does that mean? Well, it’s kind of surreal to see LEGO represent themselves as a LEGO store selling LEGO in LEGO to LEGO Minifigures.

Everything is represented in this model, buildable displays, make-a-Minifigure station, the shelves lined with sets, the Pick-A-Brick wall, the cash register and the bins where you can find larger accessory items sold in LEGO stores, or the building stations for younger builders.

It’s a three-sided model, the back is opened for play, the modular nature of the model means you can take the upper floors off and play that way. The side-walls with windows on either floor are also modular, so you can remove them and place them wherever you’d like. Although it’d be strange to find the ATM anywhere else but on the ground floor.

Aside from the multiple configuration options based on the modular build design there are no play features. No stud-shooters, flick-fire missiles or trap doors. Which is just fine for the subject matter.

Overall opinion

This is a really great set. Love the modular nature and the multiple options to place the modules anyway you’d prefer. The only issue I have is there isn’t more to the roof, if you had the option to make a longer roof you could put the two large modules back to back and make a fully enclosed single-story LEGO store model, though that’s what buying multiples of this set is for. The level of detail in the model is also very impressive with a model on display on the ground floor of a city or some kind of LEGO town and a boat and fire engine on the top floor. Overall I strongly recommend getting this set.