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Oh I was somewhere along the wall in the long green jacket. Probably doesn't help, lol. I was at Fairview again this morning for the t-shirt and I overheard the district manager mention that they may be opening another Lego Store in Vancouver for Spring 2012! Here's the t-shirt for the Fairview opening. I really like the tshirt for this one. :D

I just got back from the Fairvew grand opening. The store opened at 9:30 but I got in line at around 7:30, and I was around 18th in line =) When I finished paying it was 9:45 and at that time I am guessing there were maybe 200-250 people in line. It didn't look as crazy as the Sherway lineup, but it was still pretty long. Just like Sherway, the lineup for the cashiers was brutally slow because of people signing up for the VIP card. I was hoping to pick up the VW Camper but they are currently sold out at the store. I picked up a few desk calendars instead. Here are the exclusive minifigs they were passing out. I got 399 of 500, which is kind of a nice number:

I was at the Sherway opening and got there around 30 minutes before opening. I was one of the first 300, but I don't think I was too far from the cutoff. It still took me about an hour to get inside, and at least another hour just to line up and pay at the cashier. I hope they have additional checkout crew for this opening, because they really needed to improve that at the Sherway opening. I suggest going as early as you possibly can.. if you arrive an hour early, you'll likely save an hour just waiting to get in so it works out the same anyway. If you arrive right at the opening time, you will probably have a 2 hour wait to get inside and by that time the first 300 will be gone for sure.

I was at the Fairview location today and they open. The actual grand opening will be October 21/22/23rd though. On those days they are giving out the exclusive minifigs and the t-shirts to the first 300 customers, plus kids can participate to help build a giant Yoda.

I think I saw a bin of 4x4 gray tiles but I could be wrong. The only Pick a Brick item that really interested me were some coloured 2x2 slopes and the 1x3 black slopes.

The Sherway store has started selling the new Brick Calendar about a week ago: http://www.brickset.com/detail/?Set=853195-1. They are $15.95 each. I also noticed they replaced all the Castle and Kingdom sets with Cars 2. I don't think Medieval Market Village will be returning.

$2.99 for series 3 and $3.49 for series 4. Series 4 is marked up from the older series, not series 3 being marked down.

Zellers holds this deal every few months. Next time around I'm sure the POTC sets will be better stocked on the shelves.

Fairview is a much better location than Sherway. It's immediately accessible from the two busiest highways (400 and 401), and it has an actual subway stop so transit riders can actually get there. Yes you can get to Sherway via bus, but TTC buses are notoriously slow and unreliable. I don't think Toronto is big enough to support two LEGO stores. They should've opened at Fairview in the first place.

The Sherway store is no longer a mad busy like it was on the grand opening weekend, where it was a 2 hour wait to get in and an extra half hour for the cashier. I was there again on Monday, and you can walk right in and browse comfortably now. Sherway is a nice mall and it will generate enough traffic to support the store. But I still would have preferred a central Toronto location that is better accessed by transit.

Here are pictures of the minifigs and the t-shirt they were giving to the first 300 customers