Earlier this year, LEGO released the delightful LEGO Bike Shop & Cafe set as part of the LEGO Creator 2014 sets wave. I really liked that set, as it give consumers a chance to buy modular buildings that are trimmed down and about half the cost of the super-expensive LEGO Creator Modular Buildings such as the LEGO Parisian Restaurant and Palace Cinema. And in winter 2015, LEGO is expanding the block with another LEGO Creator Modular building: the LEGO Toy & Grocery Shop 31036 is joining the neighborhood!

Building a LEGO town is a favorite pastime of both AFOLs and many children, so it’s no surprise that the medium-sized LEGO Bike Shop and Cafe modular buildings set released this year was a big hit. I was hoping we’d see a followup set in 2015–and we’ve lucked out, because LEGO indeed has a new LEGO modular building set coming our way this winter!

LEGO 31036 will combine two of my favorite things in the world–toys and food!–as the set is a dual Toy Shop and Grocery Shop. This set is basically just some storefronts with little apartments above them in its primary configuration, but the set has two alternate builds where it’s less spread out and looks more like a legitimate store (one, not two).

There are some nice details on the main build such as the LEGO gumball machine outside the toy shop and the LEGO fruit pieces included, but this is an instance where the alternate builds clearly look much better than the main one.

The LEGO Creator Toy Shop & Grocery Shop 31036 set will include two minifigures: a child and a woman. The woman minifigure isn’t particularly exciting (and I swear that torso print was used just this year), but I love that the boy minifigure is wearing a white LEGO Spaceman minifigure T-Shirt! That’s so cute!!

There’s not a lot of “extras” included with the Toy and Grocery Shop LEGO creator set, but the boy does get his own four-wheeled yellow scooter (I hope he didn’t shoplift it from the LEGO Toy Shop!), and there’s also a toy train that can be removed from the shop.

The number of pieces included with the LEGO Toy and Grocery Shop is currently unknown, as is its price-point. The set definitely looks like it will contain fewer pieces and cost less than the LEGO Bike Shop and Cafe 31026 and its 1,023 pieces/$89.99 price tag.

The 31036 LEGO Toy and Grocery Shop set is part of the 2015 LEGO Creator sets wave, and is due out in stores around January 2015. This particular type of LEGO Creator set tends to be more popular than most of the other sets in the theme, so it may be a little bit troublesome to find at first (particularly if it manages to arrive in some stores before the holidays). I’ll post an update to the Bricks and Bloks Facebook Page once the LEGO 31036 Toy and Grocery Shop arrives in retail stores, so be sure to ‘Like’ us on Facebook if you don’t already.

What are your feelings on the LEGO Toy & Grocery Store 31036 set, LEGO collectors? Do you like this type of smaller LEGO Modular Buildings, or do you prefer paying twice as much for buildings that are a lot more complex and grandiose?