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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Entertainment
Caitlin Griffin

Inside the 'world's smallest Primark' where shoppers can't buy anything

Primark is loved by many in the UK and is known for its stylish clothes that come at a reasonable price. The bigger the Primark, the better - and many of the multi-storey retailers now even boast beauty salons, cafés and barber shops.

The world’s biggest Primark can be found in Birmingham. It’s spread over five floors and is 160,100 sq ft.

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In it you can find many facilities such as largest ever Duck & Dry beauty studio, Primark’s first in-store barbers salon from Joe Mills and three dining experiences which includes a Disney café.

However, the world’s largest Primark has now been shrunk, and made using Lego.

A former HR worker turned professional Lego builder, who spends her days building masterpieces has created the world’s smallest Primark.

Since Birmingham is home to the world’s largest Primark store, Michelle Thompson and her team thought she should create the smallest version for the Discovery Centre’s Mini-land attraction – the Lego version of the city, which features more than 1.5 million pieces.

The Primark model, built from 2,988 Lego bricks, features a replica of the store’s interior and exterior, including The Primark Café with Disney, a beauty salon, more than 200 items of clothing, and mini figures of some of the actual Primark colleagues.

Michelle, 42, who lives in Staffordshire but works at Legoland Discovery Centre Birmingham, described creating the mini Primark as “very challenging” and “complex”.

While this particular build stands out, Michelle said it is impossible to choose a favourite creation.

“Things are constantly coming in and out of Mini-land, to update it, so it’s really difficult to think about which ones I like best because they all represent different times,” she said.

“Every time I get asked to build something, there’s always an element of challenge to that because, chances are, I’ve never built one before.

“But if I have children come up and they say, ‘Oh my God, this is amazing’… that’s really, really good.

“It’s really nice to see people understand what I’ve built – that’s really rewarding for me.”

Michelle designs and builds everything herself, sometimes using Lego paper – a grid-patterned sheet – or a digital building system beforehand to get an idea of how a build will look.

Her creations can take days, weeks, or months to make, depending on the complexity of the design and whether she has to place an order for bricks or other parts – and she even teaches classes and has her own workshop where passers-by can come to see what she is creating.

Other masterpieces crafted by Michelle include The Wizard Of Oz’s Emerald City, Peaky Blinders sets, a giant octopus, and her largest build to date – a life-sized fireplace that lights up.

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