Review: 40574 LEGO Brand Store (2022)

The August 2022 LEGO release slate is incredibly massive, and adding to the deluge of exciting new sets going on sale is 40574 LEGO Brand Store, a cute little LEGO Store build that features the brand new “white” retail store experience that has been rolling out to all new LEGO stores.

The recent Melbourne Central LEGO store is one such store, so check out my post to see more photos of the new retail experience, which is less yellow, and features more white in their design, and brand new visual merchandising and look and feels for things like Pick a Brick and Build a Minifigure.

This is not to be confused with 40528 LEGO Store, which is a LEGO Store Opening exclusive gift with purchase that also features the new store retail layout, but is a micro-scale version, and you can only get those when new LEGO Stores open, so are much rarer.

It’s quite a rare thing for LEGO to release a proper, minifigure-scale LEGO Store as a standalone set, especially one that’s easily accessible from LEGO.com (I believe the last was 40305 Microscale LEGO Brand Store), so I suspect this will likely be a very popular set upon release.

40574 LEGO Brand Store goes on sale on 1 August 2022, and will retail for US$36.99/ £30.99. It hasn’t shown up in the Australian LEGO site yet, which is a little worrying, and it might mean it’s delayed.

See below for regional pricing and links:

Let’s get into the quick review!

3140574 LEGO Brand Store Set Details

Name: LEGO Brand Store
Set Number: 40574
Pieces: 541
Price: AU$TBD | US$36.99 | £30.99 – Buy from LEGO.com [AUS] [USA] [UK]
Exclusive to: LEGO.com / LEGO Stores
Theme: Iconic
LEGO Designers: TBD
Release Date: 1 August 2022

Here’s a look at the instruction manual, which now comes with the ubiquitous white design which I actively dislike.

And here’s a look at the sticker sheet. If you hate stickers, do cover your eyes, as this set makes heavy use of stickers for the interior decorations, as well as LEGO set tiles, the latter of which is to be expected.

One of the more interesting things about these LEGO Store sets (apart from how meta they are), is the inclusion of miniature LEGO set tiles, which I love, despite them being stickers.

In this set, we get a great selection, with LEGO Ideas, Ninjago, Technic, Creator 3-in-1 Friends and Duplo.

via The Rambling Brick

Some of these have included in the 40528 LEGO Store (check out The Rambling Brick’s review for a better look. There is some crossover here such as the Lambo Sian, and City Boat, but new to this set are LEGO Ideas set stickers, featuring the Typewriter, Dinosaur Fossils and Grand Piano.

There are 2 minifigures included in the set, a lady and her son. It looks like they’re on a fun trip to the LEGO Store to get a gift for the son (and maybe for mum herself as she might be an AFOL).

Nothing too new here, but the lady does have brand new coral legs – I believe these are new as I’ve never seen them before.

The lady has an overjoyed dual-sided face, and they both have back printing.

A big miss here, but I wish they had included a LEGO Store employee. The staff that work at LEGO Stores are always a pleasure to deal with, and they provide such excellent customer service that it’s a shame that they weren’t honoured as a minifigure in this set.

Surely someone needs to run the store? Or is this a dystopian look at LEGO’s future plans where they phase out all human employees at LEGO Stores, and have them fully automated with self checkouts? Bleak.

Here’s the completed build from the front. It’s a fairly compact building, but the sides can swivel out to give is a much wider ground floor footprint, and look like it has 2 large display windows on the side.

Here’s how it looks like folded in for the more compact version.

Here’s a look at the sides, where there are these large 3 x 3 posters featuring the new design motifs from the new LEGO Store experience, which feature poppy and colourful LEGO elements.

The architecture of the store is simple, but I like how effective it is. LEGO Stores always give off these clean modern vibes, with clear lines, and large windows, and the exterior does a great job of capturing the design language of the new stores.

Here’s the store in its enclosed form from the back. The upper level is fully open and it has no roof which gives you easy access to the interiors. It wouldn’t be too hard to slap some plates to enclose it if it bothers you.

You can also swing open the back, which enlarges the space and lets you peer into the LEGO store.

On the right side is the hallowed Pick a Brick wall, as well as a small Build a Minifigure station.

On the other side are more wall art and posters, as well as some plants, and cardboard animal standees!

Quick detour to the front, where there are some LEGO sets on display, partly obscured by these large potted plants, as well as the iconic red 2 x 4 brick (it’s actually a plate in this set for space reasons), peering out the front display windows.

Over on the inside are the cash registers, which feature mini renditions of the flags, and red cash registers, as well as a cute LEGO minifigure mural behind them.

And across the room is a whole wall filled to the brim with LEGO sets that the little boy can gawk at. He’s trying to figure out the best way to convince his mum to walk out with the 42115 Lamborghini Sian FKP 37.

“It’s going to retire soon” he pleads! “Think of the VIP points!” he continues!

There’s a small display island in the middle of the store (with 2 set tiles affixed to it) that curiously don’t have anything on display. In the LEGO store, models are often displayed out in the open. There’s a stud there, and it’s quite strange they didn’t include anything on it.

Next we head to the upper level. For accessibility, the designer has cleverly included a ladder, although I’m pretty sure I’ve never had to climb a ladder to access the upper floors of any LEGO stores I’ve been to.

It makes sense for minifigures though, so at least there’s a believable way to access the top floor.

The upper level if quite small, but features more large sets on display. I believe that’s the 71040 Disney Castle proudly on display in the window, and a large, black steam locomotive. Shoutout to all the long-suffering LEGO Train fans. Hopefully this is a sneaky teaser that we’ll get a proper LEGO ICONS-scale Train/Locomotive soon.

There’s also a brick pit in the middle of the room for kids to play and interact with – it has some studs on the inside of the pit.

And here’s a look at the sets on display on the shelf upstairs.

This is a pretty fun set, one that can be slotted into any LEGO City or display fairly easily. Here it is next to 60347 Grocery Store for a sense of scale.

And finally, here’s a comparison with the rarer 40528 LEGO Store, which is a micro-scale set. I much prefer the minifigure-scale one as it better translates the in-store LEGO shopping experience and has way better playability, so I’m glad this one isn’t as hard to obtain as the Store Opening version.

What I liked:

Plenty more LEGO set tiles to collect
A LEGO Store set that can be purchased
Fun design and many key LEGO Store features captured well
Small and compact footprint makes it easy to display

What I didn’t like:

Lacks a LEGO Store Employee Minifigure
Lacks yellow LEGO shopping bags
Soooo many stickers with the smaller ones quite hard to apply

FINAL THOUGHTS:

For a US$36.99 set, this is a fun and inexpensive set that’s really meta at the same time.

If you’re like me, trips to the LEGO Store are always very positive experiences, even if you’re not there to buy anything, but just window shop, so to be able to easily add this to your sets on display, or LEGO City is a boon for fans who aren’t lucky enough to visit a LEGO Store Opening and score the special GWP.

The new LEGO set tiles (albeit stickers) are also fun new additions, and it’s great to see LEGO Ideas finally make their debut. The stickers are a pain to apply, especially if you don’t have deft fingers like me, so prepare yourself for plenty of sticker action which is never fun.

This is a fun set to display, but there are 2 major flaws – the lack of the Store Employee being the most notable one, and something I can’t quite comprehend, unless it was to keep the set’s price low.

When I think of LEGO Stores, the first thing that comes to my mind are the large LEGO shopping bags, carried out by beaming kids and adults after they’ve finished shopping. Those bright yellow backs are instantly recognisable, and are the universal signal of “this person is going to have a great time soaaaon, be jealous”.

Not including a brick-build one for the boy to carry out is a big miss in my opinion, as it’s such a core part of the LEGO shopping experience.

That said, I’m glad LEGO have made this easy to get your hands on, and I expect this to be very popular among LEGO fans thanks to its relatively accessible price. It’s also a fun little souvenir that you can buy at The LEGO Store for fans that don’t visit one often, assuming they don’t run out.

If you’re picking up any of the August releases, be sure to remember to add 40574 LEGO Brand Store to your cart too!

Rating and score: 3/5 ★★★✰✰

Build [3] – Pretty fun build experience, slightly marred by all the stickers
Real Value [3] – Pretty affordable, but the lack of the LEGO Store employee minifigure knocks this down a notch
Innovation [3] – Some really cool techniques to change the form of the building, which I really liked
Coolness [4] – It’s a minifigure-scale LEGO Store filled with miniature LEGO sets and a miniature Pick a Brick
Keepability [3] – Not something you’ll have on display permanently, but fun to play and enjoy until the novelty wears off

Thanks so much for reading this review!

40574 LEGO Brand Store will be released on LEGO.com on 1 August 2022 and will be available online, or at your local LEGO Store. This set is unlikely to be available at other retailers, so hey, a great excuse to visit your LEGO Store, as if you needed an extra one!

What do you think of 40574 LEGO Brand Store? How does it compare against LEGO Stores of the past?

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