Reviewing the LeLightGo Light Kit 10211 for My Grand Emporium

Hey fellow brick builders! 

I've had my Grand Emporium sitting in my city display for years now and it was finally time to light it up.  It's part of my ongoing project to get every one of my Lego compatible modular buildings lit up eventually.  The Grand Emporium is one of my favourite modular buildings and I recently installed an elevator inside to replace the escalators.  While the interior is still unfinished I wanted to focus on beautifying the exterior.

Enter the LeLightGo light kit, which I just installed recently. Spoiler: my Town Hall modular building is also lit up using a LeLightGo light kit and I reviewed it here: https://bricksandfigs.blogspot.com/2024/03/first-look-at-lelightgo-led-light-kit.html

Thanks to LeLightGo for providing the Grand Emporium light kit for review!   Here's where you can get yours:  https://lelightgo.com/products/light-kit-for-grand-emporium-10211?ref=lH7ucgo8sdN7Xf

Currently priced at $76.99 USD.  But save another 25% off the price of the kit using my code: itsnotlego Shipping is free to Canada, but check on the website for your country's shipping options.

Unboxing: Simple Packaging, Serious Shine

The kit arrived in a compact, branded LeLightGo box—nothing flashy, but sturdy enough to protect the delicate LEDs inside. 

Here's what's inside the box.

I counted seven pouches in the box.

Pouch 1 contains the light standard.

Pouch 2 contains and assortment of Led light strips.

Pouch 3 looks like it contains the same elements as pouch 2.

Pouch 4 has more LED light strips and connecting wires and connector hubs.

Pouch 5 includes two sets of wireless connector pads.

This unmarked pouch contains a long hub and a USB plug.

And finally, another unmarked pouch that contains a USB battery pack.  I found a sticker in the box that says 10211 Classic Version SKU 10211-cv.  I think that it was supposed to be applied to the boxtop.

On the LeLightGo product description, it says you get a AA battery pack, but mine uses AAA batteries.

FYI. You'll need to provide 3 AAA batteries.  If you don't want to use the battery pack, you can also plug the light kit into a USB hub if that's your preference (that's what I do).

It's a good idea to test both your batteries and the light kit elements before installing them into your set to make sure everything works properly.   Not that I had any issues, but I'm pretty sure you could reach out to LeLightGo via their website or social media channels to get replacements if you encountered any faulty items.

The installation guide is found on-line on the LeLightGo website.  They don't tell you that inside the kit, so you have to figure it out for yourself.  Here's the link to the instructions for all their sets if you need it: https://lelightgo.com/pages/user-guide-and-instructions-guide

Installing the Light Kit

Upon reviewing the on-line instructions, I wanted to make sure that my own Grand Emporium customizations wouldn't be impacted by the Light kit, and thankfully they weren't.  You basically go floor by floor and work your way up from the base to the top.

As mentioned above, my custom Grand Emporium has interior changes, so all of the furnishings have been removed and there's only an elevator shaft left.   This is how it looks after connecting all of the first floor lighting elements together.  I will clean it up later, I proimise!

Here's the LeLightGo kit installed into the first floor.

Here's a closer look at the lighting near the revolving door.

The street lamp is super bright!

For the second floor, it's a bit tricky to get the light strips into the arch bricks.  You can see some of the LED wires because I'm an impatient person.   Also, I found that some of the adhesive tape that secures the LED strips into the arches doesn't stick that well.

The second floor wiring isn't as messy as the first floor.  

That's because of the wireless connector pads we installed between the first floor and the second.  It means I can separate the two floors of the building without having any wires attached.

Here's the first and second floor lit up.

The second and third floor are the same.

Even the rooftop sign has lighting.

The LED wires go from the sign down through the rooftop.

So, between the third floor and rooftop, there is no wireless connector pad.  Instead it uses a standard wire to send power to the ceiling lights and the sign. So I can't just lift off the roof easily like I could between the other floors.  I wish that LeLightGo had included an extra set of wireless pad connectors for the third floor as well.   

The Pros and Cons

**Pros:**

Lighting elements for the most part were easy to install and integrate into the Grand Emporium modular building.   You can power the set using either the battery pack or by connecting to a USB powered hub.

You get close to 40 different lighting elements in the kit.  That's because it not only lights up the exterior but also the interior space as well.  Each of the 18 arches in the Grand Emporium is lit up, not to mention the ground floor lighting and the street lamp!  That's pretty good value for this light kit.

**Cons:**

Hiding cables takes some finesse; not ideal if you're short on patience like me (just don't look at my ground floor interior).

Some of the backing tape of the LED strips in the arches could have been stickier.

I also would have liked an extra set of wireless connector pads between the third floor and the rooftop.

Final Verdict

The Grand Emporium looks amazing with the LeLightGo light kit!  I love that the lights are really bright even when just using the battery pack.  Installation was a breeze!

Overall, I'd rate it 4.5/5 stars, would have been a perfect 5 if there were an extra set of wireless connectors and stickier tape used.

Feel free to check out all of the other great light kits on the LeLightGo website!  

and don't forget to save another 25% off the price of the kit using my code: itsnotlego

Have you used LeLightGo to light up your Lego modular buildings?  Let me know what your experience was like in the comments!

Thanks for looking, bye for now!

What Lego compatible sets are available in South Korea in 2025?

 

Hey brick fans!

I just returned from a 2 week sightseeing vacation in South Korea visiting the lovely cities of Seoul and Busan.  While Lego is pretty much sold in every major mall and department store, it was a lot harder to find alternative brick brands.  I was hoping to see a lot more of the domestic branded Oxford blocks, but I only found them sporadically and the selection wasn't as much as I had hoped for.

There were predominately three places that I found Lego compatible sets in Korea.  They were:

• Daiso discount shops
• Lotte malls
• Random shop in Changsin Toy Alley

Note that I spent only a bit of time looking for building block sets because my main focus was visiting Korea for the first time.  Anyways, here's my report for what it's worth.   

Daiso, Seoul

The Daiso discount shops can be found in many locations around Seoul and Busan.  The Daiso brand originates from Japan and they started out as a 100 yen shop selling household items, stationary, and other miscellaneous items but now due to inflation, most of their products have gone up in price.  The ones I visited were in the shopping districts of  Hongdae and Myeongdong in Seoul and in Seomyeon, Busan and most of the items came in at about $5 CDN and under.

Daiso locations in Seoul.

Daiso locations in Busan.

Each Daiso had pretty much the same selection, and was mainly focused on smaller Loz sized brick sets for which I had little interest.  There were some Oxford branded  Lego sized brick sets but mostly focused on vehicles. Pricing was in the 3000 to 5000 korean won range.  At the time of this blog post, 1000 korean won is about $1 Cdn.

4 stud wide cars priced at 3000 won.

6 stud wide vehicles priced at 5000 won.

Some store displays.

A smattering of other small Oxford and generic sets.

Changsin Toy Alley, Seoul

The Changsin or Dongdaemun Toy Alley is a street full of toy vendors.  Most of the toy stores sold cheap Chinese toys that one would find in your typical dollar store back home, however I did find one or two shops selling Lego and Lego compatible building block sets.

Once you exit the Dongdaemun metro station, head east along the main street and you will find a Rubick's street marker at the entrance to the toy street.

This store sold mostly Lego and an assortment of Oxford Blocks.

This one and only store in the Toy Alley sold Sembo sets.  However, there was no staff in the store that I could find and the prices weren't marked.

Here's a look at some of the Sembo sets that were on display at the shop.

Lotte Mall, Busan

This next store is a few stops south of the Busan Station in Gwangbok district.

Lego is still the number one building block set in Korea.

As I entered the toy area, I was hoping to find more than just Lego.

The Oxford Blocks section in this store reminded me of the sets I saw in the Changsin Toy Alley.

Mostly the town life sets and police sets.

Some military sets.

Some Keepplay mini block sets. Not sure if this is a rename of the Keppeley sets or a different brand altogether.

The same Crayon Shin-chan sets I saw in Changsin Toy Alley.

There were three or four medieval fortress sets.  This one is JK36432 being on sale for 68,700 won or about $69 CDN.  It says it has 1168 pieces.

Some branded tie-in sets I didin't see in Seoul Toy Alley.  A locker room set for 14900 won or $15CDN.

And this baskin robbins ice cream shop selling for 32800 won or $33 CDN. 

I was really hoping to find some of the older Oxford blocks sets especially in the Changsin Toy Alley, but they were just selling the latest sets.  If you happen to know where to find some cool Lego compatible in South Korea, please let me know!

Thanks for looking bye!