Return to the Mall

Phase-Whatever Re-Opening! I'm not paying attention to the numbers they give out, sorry. New Jersey guesses it's safe enough to invite people back into shopping malls. And since it's been several months since we've been, let's go check out what's there!

You might not have known with all of the cars in the parking lot, so there's a big sign to tell you it's OPEN! This was probably useful for the first few people to have shown up.

It's not super-packed but there's a bunch of people here. How much do you miss "shopping"? Although we consider this an "adventure" instead.

Store capacity limits were being considered. Only so many people at a time allowed in. That way they can be better assured that people are not crowded together, even for a little bit. You can clearly see which stores are popular and had lines to get in. Everybody here waiting to find out what Victoria's Secret is.

No line to get into the Disney Store, but there were "Gatekeepers" at the entrance counting people. Fancy book covers! They looked awesome but I wasn't about to grab one to check inside. Not yet. Who knows who had been touching that!

The down time has allowed them to produce some Baby Yoda, or The Child, merchandise.

Embroidered hat. Not sure why they gave him pink bunny ears.

This shirt works well because it doesn't say his name. Everybody calls him Baby Yoda, and he's officially referred to as "The Child" but even after they find out, or give him, a name, this shirt will still be relevant. That's thinking ahead!

There were mall courtesy stations, I guess they were there to politely enforce the mask rules. If nobody wore masks, this would not be safe enough to be in. Fortunately it seems everyone in New Jersey "gets it" and wears masks without arguing.

Robot stores! Could you imagine the whole mall being like this? CVS can. Maybe the touch screen is not a good idea right now though.

What is this?! We came all the way out here to check out the Lego Store, and now it looks like we need to wait a little longer. I wonder if all the stores close for breaks?

We could peek in the window and see the new Monkey Kid sets over there. So there was new stuff to check out. Uh, I guess it's not too long to wait.

Wandered over to see the "social distancing" of the Torture Chairs. Only one open. I wonder how often it gets cleaned?

In the Go! Calendar Store we saw this awesome spoiler-ific Hodor POP! Figure, holding the door. This moment was an epic highlight of the Game of Thrones show while it was at it's peak of popularity. Just seeing this is a nice reminder of great storytelling.

This gives me an opportunity to use the joke we heard a while ago: When they re-opened the Lego Store, there was a line outside. People were waiting for blocks!

Finally in! There were three people working there, who asked everybody to stay in the middle of the store and not touch the boxes. The new sets were in the display cabinets.

The Monkey Kid sets are technically targeted to be sold in China, something new for Lego. Apparently in China, the "wealthy" families buy most of the Lego sets, so there is a noticeable lack of low-cost sets and most of these are expensive by American standards.

Another new group of sets are these Brick Sketches. This concept originated in online Lego picture sharing groups. I'm not sure if the one person who came up with this format is getting any kind of compensation for this. Somebody somewhere may be thinking "Hey! That's MY IDEA!" Or maybe they are, I don't know.

 You think this type of merchandise would have been sold in local gift shops around the world? Trick everybody into thinking you went to London!

 New York and France, too! Although I've been to New York. And my friend has a mix of great and terrible memories of the Empire State Building, so we'll stay away from that. He didn't fall or anything. Not technically.

 Lego cop blocking the pick-a-brick section. Gotta wonder how many germs live in there? We completely understand how that would be closed right now.

 Another new big expensive set is this Tim Burton Batman Movie Batmobile. It's huge! If you don't know movie history, this was the first "big summer blockbuster" to be made out of comic book material, for a totally adult-like audience. And really opened the door to the future of movie making of "kid themed movies, but for adults."

 To quote The Joker from that movie: "Where does he get such wonderful toys!" haha at the Lego Store, silly! Although it might take a millionaire Bruce Wayne to afford such sets, reports Vicky Vale. If the store was clever enough to had been playing the Prince tunes from the movie, I might have been more tempted to get this.

 I don't remember seeing this Fiat Nuovo 500 car set that was in the main display, so let's get a picture of that, too. I wonder if Lego picks these cars, or if the car companies beg Lego to make sets of their vehicles?

 On our way out of the mall, we glanced over at this baby shirt and got a good laugh out of it. Some deep commentary about "Grandma's" lack of technical knowledge, and how kids, or even babies, know a lot of new technical stuff with no effort. Or... just a funny thing for Grandma to say when she wants to hold the baby. Multiple-level jokes are the best.