Lego amusement park to boost Docks Bruxsel shopping centre

Next year, an indoor Legoland Discovery Centre will open in shopping centre Docks Bruxsel. With this amusement park, the shopping centre hopes to attract a larger public.

Ten percent more visitors

The new attraction will replace electronics chain MediaMarkt, occupying an area of 3,100 square metres. Amusement park operator Merlin Entertainment has developed a concept especially for the shopping centre with video games, 4D cinema attractions, games and virtual reality experiences, writes De Tijd. The company wants to roll out this concept later on in other shopping centres all over the world.
 

Docks Bruxsel is counting on the covered Legoland park to attract interested visitors from all over the country. Today, the shopping centre mainly welcomes customers from Brussels and Flemish Brabant. “You have to give consumers a reason to come. People spend money where they spend time. That means where they work, live or spend their leisure time. That’s what Docks wants to focus on,” says CEO Peter Todd of Portus Retail, which co-owns Docks Bruxsel. “You can spend a whole day with us: a few hours in the Lego park, eat something, go to the cinema, do some shopping.” He expects Lego to attract 10 per cent more visitors.
 

The shopping centre could use an extra boost. Last year, Docks Bruxsel received 24 per cent fewer visitors as a result of the compulsory shop closures. And even before the corona crisis, it was a difficult story: in 2019, several big names such as Match, JBC and IKKS left the project, dissatisfied with the high rents and low visitor numbers. In the meantime, however, most of the premises have been refilled: the centre has a vacancy rate of less than 5 percent.