Italy getting a LEGO Certified Store

Do you like going to Italy? Well soon you can combine that with a bit of LEGO retail shopping, as soon there will be a LEGO Certified store in the country. The LEGO Group announced that it has signed with Percassi the agreement for the opening of the first store LEGO certified shops in Italy . The first will be open by the summer of 2016, in the new shopping center in Arese , near Milan .

It will be the first in a series of shops, managed by the business company Percassi , which will be opening in the coming years throughout the country. So what is a LEGO Certified Store?

An LEGO Certified Store (LCS) is not owned by The LEGO Group or LEGO Singapore but managed and operated by a third party under agreement. An LCS is a store that is designed by The LEGO Group, and adheres to all the store fit-out and experience guidelines as laid down by The LEGO Group. All its fixtures and furniture are exclusively designed by The LEGO Group.

It offers the following unique features that inspire and develop the builders of tomorrow through creative free play and developing the imagination :

• Pick-a-Brick wall (PAB) – a custom-built fixture with cylindrical canisters filled with LEGO bricks and elements where shoppers can hand-pick and select what they need to build something based on their own design and imagination.
• Fully assembled LEGO sets in a “Brand Ribbon” around the circumference of the store to inspire LEGO fans.
  “The Living Room”, the interactive play area that’s prominently positioned in the centre of the store to give children a “hands-on, minds-on” experience with LEGO bricks.
• Exclusive LEGO sets available at the same time as their release in normal brand owned stores.

Thanks to Andrea founder of www.mattonito.com, the leading Italian language site for LEGO news for telling us about this.