The new LEGO store at Chinook Centre in Calgary will be opening this Friday, though the Grand Opening won’t be until the following weekend (July 16-18). It’s going to be a lot of fun, and very busy, I suspect.

The San Mateo store is pictured above.

I’ve volunteered to help out at the opening, as well as at the Chinook Centre Stampede Breakfast. LEGO has been kind enough to involve SALUG (the Southern Alberta LEGO Users Group) in the festivities. My understanding is that, in addition to the display we’ve built, which can be seen at Centre Court in Chinook Centre, we’ll be assisting one of the LEGO Master Builders in creating a giant sculpture for the store opening. Not sure if I’m at liberty to disclose what the sculpture will be, so mum’ the word for now.

A local LEGO store will open up some interesting opportunities for me. Not so much in the way of buying LEGO sets, as those are not that hard to find, and I don’t buy that many of them. Really, the advantage will be in access to the pick-a-brick wall, which, for those of you not in the know, is a giant wall with a number of small bins filled with bricks and other LEGO elements. You purchase either a small or large cup (in the US they’re $8.99 and $14.99 I think) and then proceed to fill the cup with whatever elements you choose. The only rule is that the lid must be able to sit back on top when you’re done. I’ve done the pick-a-brick thing twice so far (excluding the BrickCon event), once in Orlando, and once in San Mateo.

The wall in Orlando.

What to choose???

Apart from that, it will be great to have more contact with The Lego Group as a result of the store, and hopefully SALUG will have a relationship with the store, providing some smaller displays, perhaps access to specials, etc. I was going to write that the downside is that Chinook Centre isn’t that close to my house, but I guess it’s a bit closer than the store in Seattle.

Anyhow, very exciting stuff! Hope to see you there.