IAMBRICK Corner Store & Izakaya Review

Not IAMBRICK’s Best Set. Maybe One of Its Most Enjoyable.

The IAMBRICK Corner Store & Izakaya is a 1,745-piece, two-storey Japanese-inspired building, with a corner store downstairs and izakaya restaurant above.

It's open-backed, which makes sense for this particular model as there's a definite play element to it. You also get an 8-wide Azure Night Runner car, two characters, 52 printed elements and integrated lighting with four light points.

It measures around 25.5cm wide, 25.5cm deep and 25cm tall. A decent-sized model, but still something you can comfortably build in an afternoon.

There's quite a lot here.

Packaging & Unboxing

The packaging is good quality. I really like the box art and there's a quality feel to the whole thing.

I do have an issue with how the sets are packaged for delivery.

They tend to be packed very tightly inside the shipping cartons without much additional protection. This one arrived with a large hole punched straight through the outer cardboard and the actual set box. Fortunately it didn't hit anything inside.

I appreciate a lot of this falls on couriers and, if you throw the box away anyway, it probably doesn't matter. But this has happened to some degree with the last four sets I've received.

I think IAMBRICK needs to look at whether a little more protection can be added for shipping. It's not make or break, but opening a shipping carton to find a damaged box immediately starts the experience badly.

Inside, things are much better.

There are a lot of bags. Like many alternative brick companies, there's still a huge amount of plastic involved. I'd really like to see a move towards paper bags, or at least fewer bags per stage. Opening four or five plastic bags for one stage feels excessive.

The presentation itself is excellent.

You get a good-quality manual and a set of cardboard sorting pots. I really appreciate these. They're simple, genuinely useful and I'll happily take them with every set.

The lighting kit and power supply are packaged separately as well.

So, damaged box aside, it's a nice unboxing. I'd like better protection during shipping and considerably less plastic inside.

Instructions

The instructions are great.

This is an area where I've seen a lot of improvement. The printing is crisp and clear and there are some enhanced instructions throughout that make everything very easy to follow.

Instructions matter. You can have a brilliant model ruined by a poor manual, particularly when you get into more complicated sections.

No issues here.

The manual looks and feels good and adds to the quality of the overall package.

The Build

I really enjoyed building this one.

I'm always excited by modulars, even open-backed ones, but I've had a few builds recently that haven't been particularly enjoyable. I've probably been responsible for some harsher build-experience reviews because of that.

This was different.

The first couple of bags involve loads of tiling. I love tiling, so I was happy immediately.

Then there's the base.

A solid base makes such a difference. You can pick the model up, turn it around and actually build with confidence rather than constantly worrying about something shifting underneath.

From there, the build had a really nice drumbeat to it.

Build. Detail. Progress. Something new. Onto the next bit.

It just flowed.

There were plenty of delight moments as well. Little sections where something comes together and you suddenly understand what you've been building towards.

I built the entire thing in around five hours.

That wasn't because I was rushing to get the review finished. I wasn't.

I just kept building.

There's a really nice pace to it and enough variation that I never reached the point where I wanted it to be over.

I've had a few builds recently where I've been pleased to reach the final bag.

With this one, I simply enjoyed getting there.

Brick Quality

Brick quality is good and I've found that fairly consistent across the IAMBRICK products I've built.

Where alternative bricks can sometimes struggle is with more complex or finer elements. I didn't have any of those issues here.

Clutch was good as well.

There's a balance with clutch power. Too tight and you're practically injuring yourself trying to force pieces together. Too loose and you start losing structural integrity.

This was pretty much where it needed to be.

Nothing stood out as being particularly tight or loose and, importantly, nothing interrupted the flow of the build.

I'm also becoming less convinced that every alternative brick set needs to be judged against LEGO.

This is IAMBRICK.

The bricks worked. They held together. I didn't have quality issues and I thoroughly enjoyed building with them.

I've enjoyed this build more than some recent LEGO sets.

That doesn't mean the bricks are better. It means the overall building experience was more enjoyable.

Design, Exterior & Interior

I love the Japanese aesthetic, particularly Japanese buildings, and the exterior is easily my favourite part of this model.

The basic structure itself didn't blow me away. It's fairly straightforward.

Then you start adding everything to it.

The tiling, signage, air-conditioning units, lighting and street furniture gradually turn it into a proper little Japanese street corner.

And then there's the bonsai.

I absolutely love it.

For such a small part of a 1,745-piece model, it has a huge impact. It's beautifully designed and genuinely feels like a tiny work of art.

I'd happily put it on a small base and display it on its own.

The lamppost is another beautiful little build. The external air-conditioning unit looks great, there's another nicely realised unit inside, and the signage is wonderfully crisp.

The exterior works because of all those smaller details.

For me, though, the bonsai is the star.

The interior is fine. It didn't blow me away, but there's nothing particularly wrong with it either. There's enough detail across both floors and it continues the Japanese aesthetic nicely.

I definitely prefer the exterior.

There are still some lovely details inside, particularly the little bonsai tree.

That was a proper delight moment.

It's ridiculously simple. A handful of pieces and suddenly you've got this perfect little bonsai.

I love things like that.

A delight moment doesn't need to involve some incredibly complicated building technique. Sometimes it's just a tiny assembly that makes you stop for a second and appreciate how clever it is.

The interior as a whole didn't wow me, but that little bonsai absolutely did.

Prints & Decals

One thing I've really come to appreciate with IAMBRICK is the use of decals rather than traditional stickers.

I much prefer them.

They're a really nice way of applying artwork and, when done properly, give you something much closer to the appearance of a printed piece.

That's particularly effective here because signage is such an important part of the Japanese aesthetic.

There's also a considerable amount of actual printing, so IAMBRICK isn't simply replacing printed pieces with decals.

The combination works really well.

The Car

The car deserves its own mention.

This was a much more detailed little build than I expected and I really enjoyed putting it together.

It doesn't feel like something that's been thrown into the set to add another feature. There's some proper building involved and the finished design looks great alongside the building.

I did have a few problems applying the decals to the car. Nothing disastrous and the finished result was fine, but they were definitely trickier here than elsewhere on the model.

That's one downside of decals. I still prefer them to stickers, but they're not always easier to apply.

Overall though, the car is excellent and adds quite a lot to the play side of the set.

Lighting

The lighting is nice.

It doesn't transform the model in the way some other IAMBRICK lighting kits do, but it certainly improves the finished display.

The Japanese signage in particular looks great illuminated.

I think that's enough here. The lighting supports the model rather than being one of its main attractions.

Display & Playability

As a display piece, it's nice.

Light it up on a shelf and the Japanese styling, signage and exterior details look really good.

But this isn't where I think the model is strongest.

Some IAMBRICK sets are clearly display pieces. You build them, illuminate them and they sit there looking fantastic.

This one wants you to interact with it.

The open back gives you proper access to both floors. You've got the car, two characters and plenty of smaller features to interact with.

It feels like a proper playset.

And I like that.

Not every model needs to exist purely to sit on a shelf. This one can still do that, particularly when it's lit, but I think its real strength is how much there is to do with it afterwards.

Value

Around £35. Seriously.

1,745 pieces. Lighting. A detailed car. Two characters. Loads of printed elements. Decals. A proper manual. Sorting trays. And around five hours of building that I genuinely enjoyed.

You really can't go wrong.

Value isn't just price per piece. I've built cheap sets that felt like hard work and I wouldn't call them good value.

This wasn't hard work.

I enjoyed building it, the brick quality was good, there were plenty of delight moments, there's loads of playability afterwards and it still looks good on display.

For around £35, that's an awful lot of set.

Scores

Packaging & Unboxing: 6.5/10
Instructions: 9/10
Build Experience: 8.5/10
Brick Quality: 8/10
Design: 7/10
Prints & Decals: 8/10
Lighting: 6.5/10
Display: 7/10
Playability: 8.5/10
Value: 10/10

Overall

There are better-looking IAMBRICK sets.

There are better lighting systems and there are models that have impressed me far more when I've stood back and looked at the finished build.

But I've also built sets I've scored higher than this that I didn't enjoy building as much.

That's the story of the Corner Store & Izakaya for me.

The solid base. All that tiling. The drumbeat of the build. The bonsai. That tiny interior bonsai. The lamppost. The car.

Five hours disappeared building it.

That's probably the best compliment I can give it.

It's not one of the most impressive IAMBRICK models I've built.

But it might be one of the more enjoyable.

Overall score 7/10.

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