For Patrick Pesengco, who has been distributing Lego in the Philippines through LAJ Marketing Philippines for around eight years now, Lego isn’t just business.

“We believe in Lego. It’s really educational,” says Pesengco, who has fond memories of playing with the colorful bricks when he was a little boy. “We want people to go back to basics, use their hands and play well. It’s the foundation of creativity.”

They have built just the place for that. Lego Certified Store, the country’s first licensed Lego store in the country, is paradise for Lego lovers of all ages.

Full experience

“The Lego group sees the potential of the Philippine market. They feel it’s about time to have the full experience of Lego for the Philippines,” he said.

(READ: 10 things you can do at the Lego Certified Store)

Sharlene Tsai, business unit head for Lego Certified Store, likened the creation of the store to playing with Lego.

“It was a lot of work. We had to spend a week just setting up all the modules, everything came from abroad, everything was shipped here. There were specific ways how to install it, just like how you build Lego.”

Lego even flew in people to assist in the installation.

Inquirer Super got a sneak peek last week. We love the Filipino touches like the jeepney and Andres Bonifacio Lego murals. We were also happy to see a wide variety of Lego sets available at the store: Disney Princess sets including the coveted Frozen boxes, Elves, The Hobbit, Ultra Agents, Star Wars, Ninjago, Chima, Technic, DC Comics superheroes, Creator, Marvel, Jurassic World, Mine Craft, Pirates and more.

There were a lot of mini figures available, including the recently released The Simpsons Series 2 blind packs.

Apart from the abundance of stocks, Lego Certified Store is home to a number of products and experiences that Lego fans wouldn’t be able to find in any other store in the Philippines. There’s something for everyone, whether you’re a budding Lego fan or a seasoned collector.

Exclusive sets

It’s the place to go if you want to get your hands on exclusive sets including the Lego Ideas Birds, Lego’s Architecture Studio, The Simpsons Kwik-E-Mart and Pesengco’s favorite, The Avengers The SHIELD Helicarrier.

There’s an engraving corner where you can get Lego brick keychains stamped with your name (it costs P100 to engrave one side). There are different colors of bricks and engraving to choose from. The gold brick keychains are really pretty; we think they’d make great wedding souvenirs.

You can build your own minifigures for P499.75 for a set of three. Choose a head, a torso, legs, hair or headwear and add an accessory.

If your collection is lacking certain bricks, check out the Pick a Brick section where you can choose specific bricks to buy for P649.75 for every 100 grams.

The spacious store has blank Lego walls, tables and chairs—great spots for unleashing your creativity. Tsai said, “We are looking forward to seeing a lot of kids and happy families in the store.”

Monthly Mini Build

Kids between the ages of 6 to 14 can join the Monthly Mini Build at the store. Each month, the store will give away kits that kids can build inside the store and then bring home for free, no purchase required.

To celebrate its opening, Lego Certified Store is currently having daily builds this entire week. Drop by at at 2 p.m., 4 p.m., 6 p.m. or 8 p.m. and get the chance to build a spaceship today (May 15) and a robot tomorrow and on Sunday (May 16-17).

If you spend P3,000 on a single-receipt purchase until Sunday, you will get a gift with purchase—a Painting Easter Eggs Lego set today that usually costs over P800, and a Build a Mini set of three, tomorrow and on Sunday.

The store officially opened last Wednesday and it celebrated with a lot of Lego fun—Clone Trooper building contests, a taste of the monthly builds, 3D models and people in costume. They even cut the store ribbon

with specially made Lego scissors.

Donation

Lego Certified Store also wanted to kick things off by donating half a million pesos to World Vision. Lego fans who want to help can do so in two ways—by purchasing a Lego Spider-Man Glider for just P50 (the entire amount will be donated to World Vision’s Malabon Brigada Eskwela Project) and by joining Lego’s #BricksToClassrooms Instagram campaign.

Use 20 Lego bricks to build a creation that symbolizes education, post a photo of your creation on Instagram and tag #BrickstoClassrooms #legostorephxWV and @legostoreph. Lego Certified Store will donate P100 to World Vision for each entry.

The Lego Certified Store is at the Park Triangle, 11th Avenue corner Rizal Drive Bonifacio Global City Taguig (beside Kidzania).