The LEGO® Winter Village sets have been a staple of the LEGO Group’s festive offerings since 2009. Each year a new set is released and many LEGO fans use these Christmas-themed builds to craft their own magical festive displays. They began life as Advanced Models before falling under the Creator Expert brand and more recently the Winter Village sets have been positioned as LEGO ICONS sets. This year the Winter Village Collection expands to feature a festive shopping street. Ahead of its early access VIP release next week here’s my review of the 2022 Winter Village Collection set.
Product Details
Packed with Yuletide cheer, the LEGO® Christmas High Street (10308) set is the latest addition to the popular LEGO Winter Village Collection. Build a sweet Christmas village display complete with a toyshop, music shop and shoppers, plus the shopkeepers and their cosy apartments. Then build the tram, ready to take the shoppers home after a fun outing.
Riding through the snow
What better way to travel than on a festive tram? Enjoy building all the details of the vehicle, including seats for 4 minifigures. You can even motorise the model by adding LEGO Powered Up and your own track and lights (all sold separately).
- Set Name: Holiday Main Street/Christmas High Street
- Set Number: 10308
- Pieces: 720
- RRP: £89.99/$99.99/99.99€
- Number of Bags: Bags x xx + loose elements
- Stickers: Sheet x 1
- Minifigures: Two shoppers, a child, two shopkeepers & a tram driver
- Instructions: Booklet x 1 + LEGO Building Instructions App + Build Together
- Availability: LEGO Stores & LEGO Online from October 3rd (VIP Early Access) & October 7th (General Release)
You may have noticed I didn’t mention the set’s name above and there’s a very good reason for that as it has two names. The product listing in most regions calls the set the Christmas High Street. But the North American listing as well as the box and official product images note the set as being the Holiday Main Street. For the purpose of this review, I’ll be using the Christmas High Street name. I’ve never been a fan of the term ‘Holiday’ in relation to Christmas but understand not everyone celebrates Christmas.
Now on with the review. Whatever you call it, the festive period is a time for families to get together and this set is one of just a few which can be built with others through Build Together. This splits the build process up so more than one person can construct the set at the same time. This breaks this particular set-up into four sections – the tram, two separate buildings and various bits of festive scenery. Each part has its own instruction booklet.
If following the numbered steps, the build begins with a small section of scenery. This features a vintage-style postbox and some snow-covered fences. It’s not the most exciting section on its own but when combined with the rest of the set it adds to the story of the set. This section also features a buildable Christmas tree. There have been so many different ways to create a tree, this one uses a core of 1×1 bricks with side studs. This is used to connect four triangular plates. The result is a simple little festive tree.
Bags 2 and 3 cover the construction of the tram. In keeping with the quaint nature of the Winter Village sets, this is a vintage-style trolley car. It’s very detailed, with various festive adornments and a couple of advertising panels connected to the shops featured in the set. It can run on standard train tracks, which isn’t included in the set. The tram is also built in such a way that it can be easily converted to include Powered Up elements. So the roof section can be popped off allowing room to add a power box next to the seating area. A train motor replaces some of the undercarriage of the tram. Plus lights can be placed on the roof and front of the tram. Although I have physically added these to the build myself. It seems like a lot of wires to try and squeeze into such a small space. Adding the Powered Up elements is covered in the instructions and you can see what extra elements you’ll need here.
Each of the shops follows a similar style of build. So they are open-backed, allowing easy access to the interior and each building is two floors high. They vary in the wares they have on sale and the exterior architecture is different but in essence, both shop’s buildings are fairly similar. I much prefer the exterior of the Toy Shop, I especially like the little flourishes over the upper window. It’s the opposite for the Music Shop, I prefer inside to the outside.
Bags 4 and 5 are focused on the build of the Music Shop. The shop is located on the ground floor of the building and features a number of instruments on display. Many of them are various minifigure accessories. But there is a simple little buildable drum kit. Upstairs you’ll find a simple kitchen, which I like to think is a breakroom for the ship’s staff. The kitchen has a retro vibe to it, I especially like the little cabinet with a built-in stove and oven.
Finally, bags 6 and 7 create the Toy Shop. As you would expect, this is filled with various toys. Many of them are similar to the tiny builds featured in past Winter Village sets and LEGO City Advent Calendars. I would say it’s quite lacking in toys. But this is partly due to the limited space the shop has to work with. I do like the toys displayed in the windows along with the flag sign above the bunny. Upstairs is a small bedroom, which oddly is far more colourful than the toy shop below it. The same thing can be said about the smaller Christmas Tree. This is far more dazzling in terms of colour than the larger one featured outside.
The set includes 6 minifigures, as with previous Winter Village sets they are fairly generic and some reuse parts from other sets and themes but at least a couple of them have some fun torsos, especially the shoppers. The shopkeepers are a little plain, it would have been nice to have them a little more unique to their relevant shops. It’s also a shame there are no animals in the set beyond a small blue bird. If you like using the Winter Village sets to create fun scenes at Christmas, you’ll be able to easily add more minifigures from the LEGO City sets and they wouldn’t look out of place with those featured in this set.
Review Round-up
It’s a neat addition to the Winter Village Collection and on the surface seems to be a quite basic set compared to some of the past sets. However, it really isn’t, the fact the build is split across 3 buildable sections plus the scenery makes it feel like it offers less but the two shops and the tram do require a lot of building. This configuration of the set also feels like it offers something different. But I can see why people would prefer a larger single building. I hope the design of the Winter Village sets is not being compromised in order to make them fit the Build Together experience. Sure, it’s fun for a set to be built by multiple people but I’d rather it not dictate the style of the set.
For
+ Offers something different for the Winter Village range
+ Tram is very detailed
+ Little details in the two buildings are fun
Against
– Adding Powered Up elements almost doubles the cost of the set
– Would have liked more uniqueness from the minifigures
– Larger Christmas tree needed a little more colour
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This set was provided to BricksFanz by the LEGO Group for purposes of review. The thoughts within this review are that of BricksFanz and do not reflect those of the LEGO Group. Providing a set for free does not guarantee a favourable opinion of the set.
