LEGO fans have been very excited about the upcoming #60097 LEGO City Square that will be released later this year, and for a good reason. It has a sweet tram with a station, a small coffee-shop, a car-repair station, a LEGO store and many other great details. And as you may have guessed, one of the most talked about features is the two-story LEGO store that you can see on the right-hand side, and includes a LEGO delivery truck, a Pick-A-Brick Wall, and a green Futuron minifigure – amongst other things. For those not familiar with Futuron, it is a LEGO Space theme from the late 1980s, with minifigs wearing uniforms with the LEGO Classic Space logo and a diagonal zipper across the chest. The original Futuron minifigs came in yellow, red, blue and black – never green – so the green minifig included in the #60097 LEGO City Square is just as special and exciting for older LEGO fans as the green LEGO Classic Space minifigs in the #21109 LEGO Ideas Exo Suit. 🙂
As I mentioned above, one of the most interesting features of the #60097 LEGO City Square that LEGO fans have been talking about is the LEGO store. But did you know that there is a currently available LEGO set that also comes with a LEGO store? It is a small store, more like a little outlet, but it’s still worth mentioning. It is included in the #60050 LEGO City Train Station. I hear few people talk about this set, but it is actually quite nice; basically a well designed train station that you can add to your LEGO train layout (the set itself comes with four train-track pieces).
Here is the official description of the #60050 LEGO City Train Station: Browse the shops while you wait at the busy LEGO City Train Station! Take a taxi to the busy LEGO City Train Station, a place that never sleeps! On arrival, go up the stairs and through the opening doors. Check the time on the large clock hanging from the roof and the map of train services by the ATM. While you wait for your train, browse around the shop selling LEGO City products. Feeling hungry? Head to the kiosk and order a croissant or pizza and a drink from the menu signs hanging above the desk. Then take a seat on the clean platform, enjoy your snack and relax. Includes 5 minifigures: conductor, chef, taxi driver and 2 travelers. 423 pieces. Price: $64.99 – BUY HERE
As you can see, the price per piece ratio of the #60050 LEGO City Train Station doesn’t look too good, but this is because it includes quite a few larger (and very useful) pieces that justifies the smaller piece-count with higher than normal price. The set is actually quite large and substantial, and it also comes with great details like the train map area, the well designed and well stocked food kiosk, and of course the LEGO shop. After all what else would a minifig buy at a train-station than LEGO?
The small LEGO store is stocked with two different LEGO sets represented by the 1×2 and 2×2 plates with stickers – one that looks like a police car and the other with a tow-truck. I should mention here that all the decorated parts you see in this set are stickered, with the exception of the computer screen, the newspaper, the clock and the pizza (which are standard printed elements that appear in many other sets). There is also an iconic LEGO sign above the store display, and a cash-register. It appears that the security camera is squarely aimed at the LEGO store to make sure minifigs don’t steal the LEGO sets. One thing I would have liked is for the cashier girl to wear the standard LEGO store employee uniform of black shirt and yellow apron as that minifig design is still quite rare and hard to find.
In the video-review below JANGBRiCKS will show you all the details of the #60050 LEGO City Train Station. You will see that it is very fun. Somehow the picture at the front of the box is not as exciting, and this is likely the reason why people pass on this set and don’t talk about it that often. However once you turn the box around and see all the details, and especially after you build the set, you can see it is a really well designed and worthy train station that would look great in any LEGO City layout with trains.
If you are interested in sets with LEGO stores, besides the two mentioned above, there are also a couple of others. The first one is the #3300003 LEGO Brand Retail Store that has been given away as a promotional item at newly opened LEGO stores since 2012. It is a micro-size set, so you can’t put minifigs in it, but it is a nice little collectible that you can still find on the secondary market for about $75-$100 – see listings on eBay.
The second set is the #40145 LEGO Brand Retail Store that should be available sometime in 2015, and is likely a replacement for the previous promotional set – although I hope it will also have a wider release. It is minifig size, and can be opened to access the inside, which is full of great details – as you can see on the pictures below.
So what do you think? How do you like the #60050 LEGO City Train Station and the other sets mentioned here that include a LEGO store? Are you considering adding them to your LEGO City? Feel free to share your thoughts and discuss in the comment section below! 😉
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