melbourne

Brickvention 2024 Tickets On Sale Now: Public Expo and Convention Day

ramblingbrick LEGO Event, News , , , , , ,

January is still a few months away, but Tickets are now on sale for Brickvention 2024. The Public Expo will Take Place on January 20-21, 2024 at the heritage-listed Royal Exhibition Buildings in Melbourne.

With International borders now well and truly open, and a Melbourne Summer providing a welcome respite from the Northern Winter, there is also the chance for LEGO® Fans from around the world to attend Convention Day on January 19. This also includes admission for the duration of the public exhibition.

This year we will have over 300 exhibitors from across Australia and Around the World displaying their new and creative builds from a wide variety of themes and genres – there will be something for the entire family to enjoy. For the Die Hard Fans, there are still tickets available for the Convention Day – a day of games, workshops, talks and a chance to wander around the exhibits the day before the show opens to the public .

Continue reading →

Melbourne Central’s LEGO® Certified Store opens May 7th

ramblingbrick Lego , , , , ,

We have heard a few things about the new LEGO® Certified Store Opening in the Melbourne Central Shopping Centre over the last few months. And the day is almost here, with the store set to open at 10am Saturday 7th May 2022. I was fortunate to be able to attend a preview of the new store.

Continue reading →

Alquemie Group in partnership with the LEGO® Group to unveil the Southern Hemisphere’s largest LEGO® Certified Store at Melbourne Central

ramblingbrick Lego, News , , ,

Great news for Victorian based LEGO fans, young and old alike. A few weeks ago we revealed plans for a new LEGO Certified Store to open near Melbourne’s Central Business District- information obtained by scouring LEGO related job ads. Today we can confirm that the store will be located jn the Melbourne Central shopping centre, and is due to open in April. The centre is located centrally, and has easy public transport access.

The store will also feature the LEGO MOSAIC MAKER- the first in the Southern Hemisphere. At this time the store is expected to be the Largest Certified Store in the Southern Hemisphere.

Continue reading →

In Local News: Melbourne To Get a New LEGO® Certified Store

ramblingbrick Lego , , ,

Thanks to an Sue Ann Barber for the heads up: there is a job ad online for a Store Manager, at a NEW LEGO® Certified store, in ‘the CBD or Inner Suburbs’

“A new LEGO® Certified Store in the inner suburbs of Melbourne is in the advanced stages of planning and expressions of interest are being sought for the position of Store Manager. The Store will feature life-sized LEGO® models, a Pick-a-Brick wall, hard to find product releases and amazing bricks in hands engagement opportunities.  Designed in partnership with LEGO® Australia to a new format, this store will be an integral part of our LEGO® Certified Store network.

The store manager is responsible for leading and driving an engaging, customer driven culture within their team. You will be self-motivated and driven by success in a retail environment. You will understand and be inspired by the importance of engagement and role play has in a child’s development. “

Continue reading →

Riding the Rails of my Youth with The Big Brick’s Custom W-Class Tram

ramblingbrick Lego , , ,

If there is a single vehicle that might be described as an icon of the City of Melbourne, Australia, it would be the W-Class tram. This vehicle was introduced in 1923, and continued to be built locally through to the 1950’s. These green and yellow trams continued in general service throughout Melbourne until the early 1990’s, when they were moved to the City Circle line. In recent years, a fleet these trams has been restored, to allow for modern electrical controls and safety standards, and put into service around the inner city. Today, the Big Brick – a Melbourne based company specialising in custom printing of LEGO Bricks, tiles and minifigures – have released a custom set based on this cultural touchstone.

Continue reading →

The World’s Biggest Minifigure Swap at Brickvention 2019

ramblingbrick Lego , , ,

This crossed my desk today, from the LEGOLAND Discovery Centre in Melbourne. They are organising some great opportunities in conjunction with Brickvention, coming up at the end of next week:

WORLD’S BIGGEST MINIFIGURE SWAP

LEGOLAND® Discovery Centre at Brickvention 2019

LEGOLAND® Discovery Centre is hosting the World’s Biggest Minifigure Swap at Brickvention 2019, Australia’s premier LEGO® fan convention taking place from 19-20 January at the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne.

Trade your superhero for a villain or your pirate for a police officer at LEGOLAND® Discovery Centre’s Brickvention booth, whereyou’ll have over 3,000 LEGO® Minifigures to choose from!You might even get lucky and find that one Minifigure you’ve been searching for, such as the rare C-3P0 or the popular Harry Potter!

“Last year we hosted a swap meet with over 1,500 Minifigures – this year we’ve got double the fun making it the World’s BiggestMinifigure Swap. LEGO® fans of all ages can recycle their pre-loved or duplicate Minifigures to refresh or complete their collection,” said Dave Holder, LEGOLAND® Discovery Centre Master Builder.

Continue reading →

Going Independent

ramblingbrick Lego, News , ,

You’d be forgiven, if you had your ear to the ground in Melbourne lately, for thinking IMG_5799 (1)that the only thing happening in the world of LEGO® Retail was the opening of the LEGOLAND Discovery Centre at the Chadstone shopping centre.

Get out of the malls

Do not think, however, if you don’t like shopping centres, or malls, or giant retailers that  you don’t have the option of finding some places around town where you can get your fix of LEGO® retail opportunity.  There are a number of independent stores, away from the larger centres, which offer a large range of current, and retired LEGO® sets, as well as providing the option of off brand, third party add ons for your LEGO creations.

Bring Bricks to Bayswater

One such store is Toybricks. The original store opened in the inner northern suburb of Fairfield, about five years ago.  A second shop has just been opened in the outer eastern suburb of Baywater.  With around 200 square meters of retail space, the shelves are filled with the majority of the current LEGO sets, as well as a few officially retired items. The new space has plenty of new stock, mini figures available for individual purchase as well as an area for MOCs to be displayed. There is a good range of Creator Expert sets in stock.

In addition to official LEGO products, Toybricks also stock Lifelites lighting systems, as well as the ME rails – both metal and plastic.  A selection of clothing and books are also available.  As well as LEGO, there is a small section of other modelling toys, as well as 3D jigsaw puzzles and robotics kits. Dean also has play tables, with (non-LEGO branded) baseplates on.  These plates certainly have impressive clutch power, holding oa small mock in place as the table top was lifted up and tipped on its side. To help you sort you parts, they also stock a variety of Australian made Fisher Storage Boxes.

Another service offered is a shopfront for the Ozbricks Bricklink store – preorders can be delivered to the shop for pickup, and a limited selection of parts can be purchased on site.

The shop has it’s grand opening this weekend (12th May), with some opening weekend specials including 25% off the RRP for the Creator Expert Big Ben 10253; 40% off selected sStar Wars sets, and Buy 2 get one free with 7499 Straight and Flexible Tracks.

This new store at 697 Mountain Highway Bayswater is close to the Bayswater railway station, and there is plenty of parking nearby.

Not only but also…

As well as their other store at 70 Station street Fairfield, there are a number of other independent retailers specialising in LEGO and related products around Melbourne including:

I’m Rick James Bricks at 49 John St, Pakenham.  As well as LEGO Sets, and a wall of bricks to select from and a build a minifigure station. Rick also sell’s Citizen Brick printed figures and tiles, as well as Brick Arms accessories and Brickmania military figures and kits.

Build and Play Australia can be found at 1387 Toorak Road, Camberwell. In addition to their range of LEGO sets and minifigures, they carry a range of Graphic Novels and Funko Pop Vinyl figures.

Shopforme have a retail location at 23 Dawson St, Coburg North, and in addition to LEGO sets stock a wide range of collectibles, and a strong online presence.

Bricks To The World, based in Gippsland offers online only service, with a wide range of current and retired sets, and prompt delivery.

I’m sure there must be some other independent resellers around Melbourne, and indeed Victoria: these are the ones I know, in the parts of town I tend to travel through.  Who’s your favourite? Who have I missed?

Disclaimer: This is not a paid advertisement.  People often ask where can they buy LEGO locally, and it’s often a bit easier to have a post to point them to rather than pull out the back of an envelope…the opening of a new store made it feel timely.

I would also like to acknowledge that there are  many great independent and franchised general  toy shops out there, for whom LEGO is not the primary business. They can also be a great source of LEGO sets, without the seasonal shortfall that you often see with the major retailers.

 

Play well.