3D pilot welcomes passengers to LEGO world’s largest airport store

A new stand-alone store at Dubai International Airport (DXB) offers a wide range of familiar Lego building blocks. Currently, it is the largest outlet for toy brands among the growing number of stores located at airport entrances. In the United States, the Danish brand began developing an airport network in his 2020 with Salt Lake City Airport.

Measuring just over 2,000 square feet, DXB’s colorful and eye-catching store is built to resemble a giant Lego brick, with carefully crafted installations to create a sense of place for passengers. Masu. These include a mosaic wall of Dubai’s distinctive skyline, which took 134 hours of work and 33,219 bricks to build, and a 6-foot-3-inch tall tower made of more than 45,000 bricks. Includes a 3D Lego pilot that is the size of a tall person. With a heavy weight of 295 lbs.

These structures are designed to fascinate and excite people. Annette Rosendahl, head of travel retail at Billund-based Lego, which has annual sales of about $10 billion, said: This allows DXB passengers to inspire their creativity and imagination to create fun and memorable experiences. Our mission is to inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow. ”

Hands-on is one way to describe the store. There is an interactive zone that serves as a play area for children, and an “Adults Welcome” sign allows parents to play as well. More than 1,000 Lego gifts were handed out to travelers as part of Sunday’s World Lego Day celebrations, commemorating the day the Lego brick design was patented in 1958.

The store, run by duty-free operator Lagardère Travel Retail, is ultimately a sales vehicle, and digital will play a role in achieving that. Vadim Motlik, CEO of Lagardère Travel Retail UAE
United Arab Emirates
said the store will provide an “extraordinary physical experience” by integrating play and technology. He added: “Our goal was to create a space that brings fun and creativity to travelers, more than just a destination to buy the latest LEGO sets. To realize this vision, we We’ve hired a team of passionate LEGO enthusiasts and creators.”

digital journey

Upon entering, customers are interactively greeted with the opportunity to scan their hand and instantly bring one of LEGO’s many minifigures to life on the screen. Inside the vehicle, passengers can explore a wide range of both classic and modern box sets, with fully assembled models on display.

Also featured is Digibox, an augmented reality solution that brings LEGO sets to life. This allows customers to put a LEGO 3in1 Creator set in front of the camera and see short animations of the set being built and different ways to play with the moving elements.

Eugene Barry, executive vice president of commercial at state-owned Dubai Airports, which operates Dubai International Airport, said this type of store would help improve the airport experience to meet changing consumer expectations. He emphasized that it was helpful.

The new store location is in Terminal 3, Gate B. It is mainly used by UAE’s main airline Emirates, with some flights also used by flydubai, United Airlines and Air Canada. Concourse B has approximately 115,000 square feet of retail space and is the largest of the terminal’s three concourses.

According to the family-run Lego’s 2022 annual report, there were just over 900 Lego-branded retail stores, of which 719 were partner-owned and operated Lego Authorized Retailers and Lego Travel Retailers.